Cultivating flies

[chameleonneeds]

Hey everyone.

I have some panther chameleons and a new female veiled on the way. They are all around 3-4 months old and all I have to feed them are crickets. I'm looking for something more to make sure they grow well.

So I decided the easiest was flies after building a fly trap I searched flies on the forum and found a lot of people said it isn't a good idea to feed them flies you just catch from anywhere as they have bacteria and such. I was thinking though can't I cultivate them with food I provide then feed them to my chams?
I don't actually know how to cultivate them so please if you know how I should do it then let me know, I also need to know what medium to have them on to make sure they are healthy for my chameleons to eat.

I chcked my trap today and found a dead fly floating in the water and a lot of maggots, big ones and tiny ones, the trap has a piece of rotting chicken in it and crab sticks.

Remember I'm in south africa so this is the only source of flies I can get. I cannot buy from the companys in the u.s (I wish I could )

Let me know if you have some tips and pointers!

-Tyrone

 

[Solid Snake]

I have had a hard time finding information on how to best propagate them for being fed off.

Flies carry lots of bacteria, and parasites.

The only information I find is to use rotting liver to attract them, and for them to breed in.

Rotting liver sounds like not the best thing to feed chameleons though, so I am iffy about giving it a try.

It seems the only real way to cultivate them is with rotting meat though.

If anyone has information to the contrary, Id love to hear about it.

 

[patrickfraser]

Only the maggots will eat the dead animal protein until they mature and pupate. Once the flies hatch they can be fed honey. Oh what a sweet treat. I raise my own BB for my mantid collection, but my chams LOVE them. It's fun to watch them being so active and chasing them down. The "thwap thwap thwap" on the screen cage is like on rapid fire at times. I use dubias and silk worms as a primary food source, but give them the BB and the occasional mismolted mantis as treats.
Here's a link to a discussion on the mantid forum with some info submitted by myself and others. http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=22427

 

[chameleonneeds]

@Solid: I disected a kidney last week. After being exposed outside its plastic container for just an hour the smell ponged already, I would absolutely hate to know what it smells like after a day to a week!

@patrick : thanks so how exactly do you get them on the honey? How is it that you do it? Do I move the pupaes to another container or the maggots themselves? And do I mix the honey in with something for the medium or how is it done? (The website requires a sign up to view the topic ...)

 

[patrickfraser]

aww rats! Sign up and you can find lots of feeder info. The honey is only for the flies once hatched. I keep a bunch in a net cage and smear honey on the side and the suck it up.

 

[Solid Snake]

aww rats! Sign up and you can find lots of feeder info. The honey is only for the flies once hatched. I keep a bunch in a net cage and smear honey on the side and the suck it up.

Thank you!

That is exactly what I have been searching for!

I am giong to start mine today!!!

 

[JonRich]

i'd take B.Dubia roaches over flies and rotting meat anyday

 

[Solid Snake]

i'd take B.Dubia roaches over flies and rotting meat anyday

I already have dubia, and discoid and bees and hoppers, all readily available. All I need now are flies

 

[pssh]

You can use ground up dog food with water as a larval media. It's not the best for the chameleons because of all the animal protein, but it will work if you keep it from molding. Once you get them breeding on the dog food, you can work on creating a healthier food that is more suited to chameleons.

Certain types of flies will only lay eggs on rotting meat, others will lay it on stinky stuff like old milk.

 

[Solid Snake]

You can use ground up dog food with water as a larval media. It's not the best for the chameleons because of all the animal protein, but it will work if you keep it from molding. Once you get them breeding on the dog food, you can work on creating a healthier food that is more suited to chameleons.

Certain types of flies will only lay eggs on rotting meat, others will lay it on stinky stuff like old milk.

In the link to the matis forum, they use the dog food for getting them to lay, then when they crawl out, they feed on corn meal. Is this fine?
I know they will be eating the dog food, but is the corn meal ok?
Is there anything better to use?
I figured the dog food would be better than rotting meat?
I have both, so whatever is best

 

[pssh]

House flies will lay on a piece of paper towel soaked in milk that has been left out for a few hours. BB flies and relatives need some kind of meat (or a dog food since that has meat in it.)

Cornmeal sounds much better than dog food!

 

[Solid Snake]

Interesting.

The milk sounds like a pain. I may try it though. Would I have to keeping adding milk as it dried/molded?

Thanks Pssh...

 

[pssh]

It can be. But dot food molds when wet too. Flies are just a gross thing to breed. They get really stinky too.

 

[chameleonneeds]

I'm testing some maggots on a medium consisting of a cereal porridge (pronutro), water and milk. I will see if it works!

I don't plan on breeding them too much just for my 3 chams till they are about 6 months old to make sure they get a good diet while growing, then I'll start feeding some other stuff like crickets, mantids, mealworms and super worms and if I can get, silkworms, dubia roaches and other bugs, maybe I'll still breed a few flies just for treats.its really difficult getting a good varied diet for the chams over here. I wish I could get wax worms, hornworms and silkworms more readily available!

 

[patrickfraser]

The maggots do not eat the corn meal. It is just used to wick them dry and keep them from pupating and sticking together. I have also started to use masa corn flour for tortillas. It is easier to sift out when storing. Once they have exited the medium, they do not eat. They just squirm around looking for a place to bury themselves and pupate. They pupate regardless of burying themselves or not. The pupae take about 2 weeks to hatch. Then they will eat honey. When I hear them start mating (they really buzz when they're at it), I will put some pedigree dog food (the chunked, beef with liver I found works best) in the net cage and move them outside when I get some fresh BBs hatched. I hate to run out, so I produce more than less. The spikes (maggots) can be kept in the fridge for about a month, I think. The pupae are said to last 2-3 weeks, I believe, but mine never last that long.
I take a batch of spikes out to pupate and will leave them out until I see one or 2 hatch and then I put them in the fridge. That way when I NEED some, it doesn't take 2 weeks to hatch them. It's a dance, but I have had an easier time raising BB flies than I have had with silks. I think I tried to rear too many at once and they didn't get the proper care needed because there were sooo many. I'm trying again with only a few eggs out to hatch.