Maggots, keep or toss?

[suzi]

Ok so I left a bowl of rabbit pellets out in my yard that got rained on and forgot about it. One week later it is filled with maggots. Do you think it would be safe to feed them, or maybe try culturing them for next generation or should I just get rid of them? Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[laurie]

Any idea what kins of maggots? Can you post a picture? Sorry this is gross but it is the only way I have a hope of knowing what they are. We do have people good at this so if you are lucky someone who knows what they are talking about will chime in.

 

[suzi]

Any idea what kins of maggots? Can you post a picture? Sorry this is gross but it is the only way I have a hope of knowing what they are. We do have people good at this so if you are lucky someone who knows what they are talking about will chime in.

Ok, good idea I will take a "gross" pic I have no idea what they are

 

[laurie]

Well then we are on a roll, now for the fun??? part, we will ID them.

 

[suzi]

You rock Laurie! I have said it before and I will say it again... Laurie for president! Lol. Here goes


The flys around it are the ones that are a very shiny green

 

[laurie]

The flys around it sound like what I have always called "horse fly's". How big are your chams? You need something good size to eat those guys. Let's ask Danny, lizardlover, he knows lots about flys & bugs. I will pm him.

 

[suzi]

The flys around it sound like what I have always called "horse fly's". How big are your chams? You need something good size to eat those guys. Let's ask Danny, lizardlover, he knows lots about flys & bugs. I will pm him.

Good idea, I was thinking of Danny also my male is a very big guy, he swallows sphinx moths like they are fruit fly's lol

 

[Lizardlover]

Well if you really wanted to you could raise them up. Theres nothing wrong with feeding off the adult flies, but there's just a grossness factor and you're probably better off buying flies. Keep the maggots somewhere that they can be contained after they pupate and become flies then feed the adults bee pollen sugar and powdered milk. I honestly would just toss them if I were you, to be honest though.

 

[suzi]

Well if you really wanted to you could raise them up. Theres nothing wrong with feeding off the adult flies, but there's just a grossness factor and you're probably better off buying flies. Keep the maggots somewhere that they can be contained after they pupate and become flies then feed the adults bee pollen sugar and powdered milk. I honestly would just toss them if I were you, to be honest though.

Thanks, I think I will toss them and buy the blue bot flys, it is amazing to me that when I see a bug the first thing I think of is food for the chameleon lol. There is a very big gross factor that I can't even believe I contemplate raising these, including the bought ones... But here I am... Fly's and roaches who would have ever thunk it

 

[pssh]

Flies are very very hard to ID as maggots.

 

[chameleonoobie]

Those are Black Soldier Fly maggots. Also sold as high nutrition feeder worms under the trademarked names Phoenix Worms, Calci Worms, Nutri Worms, etc. My first experience with these was also a colony that started on it’s own under a rabbit hutch in the waste and food that fell through the mesh floor. They are harmless. Once they reach full size, their mouth parts fall off and becomes a shovel-like end to dig. They will crawl from the colony to find clean ground to burrow just a bit and pupate into adult flies. The adults look like a wasp but have no mouth or stinger. You can pupate them in a deli cup in Aspen, takes twelve days. I have a photo album on here with pictures of my set up for a colony. They are very easy to produce. By the way, they repel house flies from the compost they make. They are an amazing little fly that science is investigating to minimize waste for pig farms, third world villages, and the production of protein for live stock feed and even bio fuel oil from the grubs. They are packed with nutrition for lizards.

Not sure how to link to the album, but it’s called Black Soldier Flies, if you can figure out how to go check it out. So I vote: Keep them!
(There’s also a couple of threads about them on here if you do a search you can probably find them)

 

[jdog1027]

Those do look like Black soldier fly larva. Definitely keep them. I have a bucket of them right now and they require almost no work to maintain, other than adding table and vegetable scraps. It has been suggested in a study that they emit a antimicrobial secretion that not only keeps other flies away, but they bucket itself doesn't really smell. It doesn't smell 'great' but it is not really offensive- smells kinda like damp hay or decomposing lawn clippings. I take out my harvest everyday, and let them stay in a deli cup for at least a day before I offer them as feeders. Soldier fly larva are very high in calcium according to another study I saw. Look up bio buckets or soldier fly compost buckets on YouTube for details on how to build and maintain a bio bucket.

 

[suzi]

Thanks so much guys I will definitely do some research and give it a go!

 

[DavidBuchan]

Is it gross that I have a tagine full of fat blue bottle maggots in the shed? It surprisingly doesn't smell that bad..........
I also spot insects and first thought is 'that might be tasty.......for the lizards'

 

[notacoshells]

you can use the maggots to catch sunfish

 

[Synapse]

I fed my cham phoenix worms when he was younger. I hear they provide a great source of calcium.

 

[SonTigerPantherCham]

the one problem I have found with these is they dont grab on to anything!. and for my Nosy Be that doesnt like to eat in front of me, or from a cup trying to get him to eat them is difficult. but I keep trying cause of the calcium value and he so needs that at the moment!

 

[DavidBuchan]

the one problem I have found with these is they dont grab on to anything!. and for my Nosy Be that doesnt like to eat in front of me, or from a cup trying to get him to eat them is difficult. but I keep trying cause of the calcium value and he so needs that at the moment!

You could try a shallow bowl - if he wants them he'll dive in as soon as you leave them.

 

[chameleonoobie]

If the container has any condensation or moisture they can climb straight up any smooth surface like a leech. They can’t climb a rough surface that breaks the surface tension with the moisture. They will also wedge themselves into any crack or tight area or try to burrow under, for example a piece of tape. We use a ring of velcro (the hook part) tape as a barrier. You have to hot glue it or they will (they will) try to go under and unstick it. If your grubs are very large they could actually be dormant and ready to pupate, that would be about the only reason they aren't climbing.