fruit flies??

[Thezillaman21]

does anyone know what the reallly really small flies are that gather around horse and cow manure by the hundreds and are like 1/16 of an inch long? are could they be fruit lies? could i use these for baby chameleons if i needed while waiting for fruit fly cultures? sory for no pic my camera wont show them clear.

thanks guys and girls

 

[jdog1027]

I've seen them, but I can assure you that they are not fruit flies. As far as feeding them to your chameleon, I don't think I would try it.

 

[seanUTD]

They may be a type of fly called a stable fly or another like kind species but are not safe... The reason we feed fruit flies is that the nutrients they gain by eating the rotting organic matter is similar to the nutrients they would get from a normal gut loaded insect... Manure would provide WAY too many types of dangerous bacteria and nowhere near the nutrients needed, JMHO...

 

[Thezillaman21]

idk what they are stable flies are the bigger ones so are horn flies. i was ganna try to gutload and bread them for myself. if i do that would it work?

 

[Seeco]

I say go for it and report back to us -- but don't blame me if the chameleon gets sick!!!

 

[JoeG]

Would you eat chicken if you knew it was chowing down on horse crap ?

 

[imcurt]

There are lots of safe sources of cham food out there .Its a bad idea to gamble with your chams health.Im sure you dont want to deal with parsites!

 

[Seeco]

Would you eat chicken if you knew it was chowing down on horse crap ?

Look it up -- the chicken we eat chows down on much worse than horse crap. The best veggies in the world have been grown on horse crap since the domestication of animals over 4,000 years ago. You in particular should skip the chicken and just eat the horse crap directly.

Now if it was cat crap (toxoplasmosis) or dog crap (tapeworms) it would be a different story.

There is a huge thread running right now about vitamin A. If our feeder insects were allowed to scavenge like the flies in question, none of our animals would have vit A deficiency.

Go buy an anole for a dollar at your pet store and use him for a test fly eater!