Blue fly larvae
- Thread starter PoshPenny
- Start date
kplatvoet
Member
If you ordered the bluebottle they have a better hatch rate for me than the house or staple even in the fridge. I give them the food that you can get at mantis place but I have given them flukers orange cubes and bug burger- the main problem with those options is getting the food in the container without letting the flies out (and that flukers is crap-but someone gave me a big jar) I try and time it so that I put it in the night before they hatch- but if you stick them in the freezer for 30 seconds and stick it in they move real slow. I have found that the longer they have been in the fridge the longer they take to hatch -
PoshPenny
New Member
I ordered from mantis place too. Super cheap. I hope Hoggle likes them. He ate a banana today. Was just happy to see him eat. He eats a lot of the pathos too. I'm trying to hunt down dandelion greens. Yesterday was a bad day but today was better. He was less mean if that makes sense. He only lunged at me twice.
pigglett79
Avid Member
I usually order pupae, and then I store in the frig and pull out how ever many I want to hatch. I put the pupae in a deli cup with a drop of honey and powder food from mantis pets. Then when they hatch I open the lid in the cages.
How to handle Blue Bottle and Housefly Feeders
I divide the order of Spikes (AKA fly maggots) into small cups like restaurants use for tarter sauce to go orders; they are 1" high, and 1-1/4" high, with a lid.
For each cham, put about 20 in each cup, by pinching out about the same amount of sawdust and spikes into each one. They come packed in sawdust, which helps absorb some of the odor. Place all the cups in the refrigerator, and pull one out every day or so. They will take several days to hatch, so keep pulling them out to get a continuous hatch.
At feeding time, put the cup of hatching flies in the refrigerator to slow them down, or a SHORTER time in the freezer, (too long in the freezer they die, but it is quicker!). Once the flies are moving slow, put them into a cup with finely ground bee pollen and honey powder (Buy "Yen's Blend" from Mantisplace.com unless you like grinding the pollen with a mortar and pedestal, blenders don't blend it fine enough to stick to the flies), and shake them until they are coated. Bee Pollen without bee powder is not sticky enough to stick to the flies, so Yen's Blend is worth it to me to save the time it takes to grind ingredients by hand.
You can release them in the cage through the lower door, and most will fly up toward the lights. Don't take the top off and leave the cup to hatch in the cage; if you get water in it the pupae and flies die, and it stinks…
If you want to make the small cup an "automatic" feeder, punch a hole in the SIDE of the cup with a paper hole punch-or drill a 1/4 inch hole (misting water will go into the cup if you punch the lid). Cover the hole with painters' tape while in refrigeration and when they are pupating at room temp. When you put the container in the cham cage remove the tape. The flies will continue to hatch and exit for several days. In this automatic feeder system you don't dust the feeders, but you can put a drop of honey in the cup for food, but dusting as prescribed above is much better. Bee pollen and bee powder dusted onto the fly will give you more nutrition than eating honey IMO.
Spikes will continue to hatch for several weeks using the refrigerator method, depending how fresh the spikes were when you received them. Mantisplace.com gets fresh spikes every week, and they have a lot of supplies and feeders too. Rebecca is the definition of customer service.
The movement of flies will motivate your cham to chow down!
Nick
Receiving Fly Spikes
I divide the order of Spikes (AKA fly maggots) into small cups like restaurants use for tarter sauce to go orders; they are 1" high, and 1-1/4" high, with a lid.
For each cham, put about 20 in each cup, by pinching out about the same amount of sawdust and spikes into each one. They come packed in sawdust, which helps absorb some of the odor. Place all the cups in the refrigerator, and pull one out every day or so. They will take several days to hatch, so keep pulling them out to get a continuous hatch.
Feeding Time
At feeding time, put the cup of hatching flies in the refrigerator to slow them down, or a SHORTER time in the freezer, (too long in the freezer they die, but it is quicker!). Once the flies are moving slow, put them into a cup with finely ground bee pollen and honey powder (Buy "Yen's Blend" from Mantisplace.com unless you like grinding the pollen with a mortar and pedestal, blenders don't blend it fine enough to stick to the flies), and shake them until they are coated. Bee Pollen without bee powder is not sticky enough to stick to the flies, so Yen's Blend is worth it to me to save the time it takes to grind ingredients by hand.
You can release them in the cage through the lower door, and most will fly up toward the lights. Don't take the top off and leave the cup to hatch in the cage; if you get water in it the pupae and flies die, and it stinks…
Automatic Feeding Cup
If you want to make the small cup an "automatic" feeder, punch a hole in the SIDE of the cup with a paper hole punch-or drill a 1/4 inch hole (misting water will go into the cup if you punch the lid). Cover the hole with painters' tape while in refrigeration and when they are pupating at room temp. When you put the container in the cham cage remove the tape. The flies will continue to hatch and exit for several days. In this automatic feeder system you don't dust the feeders, but you can put a drop of honey in the cup for food, but dusting as prescribed above is much better. Bee pollen and bee powder dusted onto the fly will give you more nutrition than eating honey IMO.
Spikes will continue to hatch for several weeks using the refrigerator method, depending how fresh the spikes were when you received them. Mantisplace.com gets fresh spikes every week, and they have a lot of supplies and feeders too. Rebecca is the definition of customer service.
The movement of flies will motivate your cham to chow down!
Nick
Psychobunny
Avid Member
What a great idea 
Put them in a container with a hole on top, so as they hatch, they find their
way out, and into a hungry cham's mouth
That way, there wouldnt be too many flies in the cage at one time.
Put them in a container with a hole on top, so as they hatch, they find their
way out, and into a hungry cham's mouth
That way, there wouldnt be too many flies in the cage at one time.
What a great idea
Put them in a container with a hole on top, so as they hatch, they find their
way out, and into a hungry cham's mouth
That way, there wouldnt be too many flies in the cage at one time.
Another advantage to using the mini-cups with the hole is that when you see the BB flies outnumber the hunger of cham#1, you can move the cup to cham#2, so the rest of the flies will meet a quick death…Mwwaa Ha Ha Ha Ha.
This system also disproves Darwins theory; the aggressive smart flies escape their cup prison and are the first to be eliminated…interesting, no??
Nick
I started the cup o flies with a hole and plug now, so no need for the tape! Just put in cage and pull plug! Thanks all!
Rebecca, at our age , we should not use the term "pull the plug."
I'm just sayin'.
Nick
that's cold nick, just cold!
But true, grasshopper, true!
Nick
Nick
