Ryan Jarosek
New Member
I wanted to share a little something I have been working on and would love to hear some input from keepers. Please read below and let me know what you think. I do not hear many people using flies as feeders. I have recently started to appreciate the ability to gut load these little creatures.
I have been using house flies for some time now to feed my various little critters. Besides the fact that they have wings , fly , are small and bug the $#^& out of you if they escape. They are (IMO) some of the easiest to gut load and one of the best feeders to provide the nutrition you want to you Chameleons. In my experience they are one of the few feeders that despite their size even my larger Chameleons will eat them. I assume mostly because the action the flies buzzing around drives them crazy. They are a great hunger strike breaker.
Recently I have decided to try the Blue Bottle Fly. It is about three times the size of the house fly. Its size has really allowed me to provide more of the nutrients I would like to provide my chameleons while at the same time provide them with an "interesting Prey" item that provides more nutrition based on the gut load provided than most other feeders. I have not seen feeders disappear faster than when I dump some flies in their cage.
The amount of gut load you see in the Blue Bottle fly after they have fed for a few hours is amazing. I would be willing to bet there is more content in the fly’s stomach than a cricket can hold. You can see it. I also watch the gut load disappear very quickly.
I have seen some basic recipes for “Fly Gut Load” on the web that provide good nutritional value to the flies.
The only problem with it is.
1. Uses perishable food items that do not last very long even in the refrigerator.
2. Wet gut load is a mess to work with, in the cups holding the flies.
3. Goes bad in the cup (mold, etc)
4. Can affect the hatch rate of the pupae if it becomes contaminated
5. pupae can stick to it.
With all that said I have been working on a nutritional Low fat , High Protein , High calcium, vitamin filled, DRY gut load for the flies. I have been toying around with the mixture and have come up with something I think works really well. To even take it a step further I created the mixture so that about 1 part mix to 1 part water makes a wet instant (mush) serving for the files. This formula I started with is similar to the mix commercial fly breeders use. I made some modifications to it, directed toward the nutrition that a Chameleon would need and removed the sugar from it.
The benefits I have seen with the dry mixture.
1. Keeps much longer
2. Place a small amount at the bottom of the container that holds the flies. As the mixture becomes dirty all you do is sprinkle a new layer and the flies will feed from that.
3. Does not go bad in the cup.
4. Nothing to stick the pupae.
5. Multi vitamins can be added (see below)
With all that being said, I have also started to experiment with the mixture by using it wet and adding supplements to it. I do not believe the flies will eat herpative powder by itself or if it is dry. I have successfully incorporated the powder in some of the mix and added a little water to make it a mush. The flies devoured it consuming the herpative vitamins along with the mix. Then the flies were fed off.
I have not tried Calcium or D3. I still prefer to dust a few feeders and provide the Cal and Cal w/D3 to the Chameleons. The formula I have some up with contains a high amount of calcium.
I have been using house flies for some time now to feed my various little critters. Besides the fact that they have wings , fly , are small and bug the $#^& out of you if they escape. They are (IMO) some of the easiest to gut load and one of the best feeders to provide the nutrition you want to you Chameleons. In my experience they are one of the few feeders that despite their size even my larger Chameleons will eat them. I assume mostly because the action the flies buzzing around drives them crazy. They are a great hunger strike breaker.
Recently I have decided to try the Blue Bottle Fly. It is about three times the size of the house fly. Its size has really allowed me to provide more of the nutrients I would like to provide my chameleons while at the same time provide them with an "interesting Prey" item that provides more nutrition based on the gut load provided than most other feeders. I have not seen feeders disappear faster than when I dump some flies in their cage.
The amount of gut load you see in the Blue Bottle fly after they have fed for a few hours is amazing. I would be willing to bet there is more content in the fly’s stomach than a cricket can hold. You can see it. I also watch the gut load disappear very quickly.
I have seen some basic recipes for “Fly Gut Load” on the web that provide good nutritional value to the flies.
The only problem with it is.
1. Uses perishable food items that do not last very long even in the refrigerator.
2. Wet gut load is a mess to work with, in the cups holding the flies.
3. Goes bad in the cup (mold, etc)
4. Can affect the hatch rate of the pupae if it becomes contaminated
5. pupae can stick to it.
With all that said I have been working on a nutritional Low fat , High Protein , High calcium, vitamin filled, DRY gut load for the flies. I have been toying around with the mixture and have come up with something I think works really well. To even take it a step further I created the mixture so that about 1 part mix to 1 part water makes a wet instant (mush) serving for the files. This formula I started with is similar to the mix commercial fly breeders use. I made some modifications to it, directed toward the nutrition that a Chameleon would need and removed the sugar from it.
The benefits I have seen with the dry mixture.
1. Keeps much longer
2. Place a small amount at the bottom of the container that holds the flies. As the mixture becomes dirty all you do is sprinkle a new layer and the flies will feed from that.
3. Does not go bad in the cup.
4. Nothing to stick the pupae.
5. Multi vitamins can be added (see below)
With all that being said, I have also started to experiment with the mixture by using it wet and adding supplements to it. I do not believe the flies will eat herpative powder by itself or if it is dry. I have successfully incorporated the powder in some of the mix and added a little water to make it a mush. The flies devoured it consuming the herpative vitamins along with the mix. Then the flies were fed off.
I have not tried Calcium or D3. I still prefer to dust a few feeders and provide the Cal and Cal w/D3 to the Chameleons. The formula I have some up with contains a high amount of calcium.
at the next SBCK meeting. Think you could bring some to sell, and give a little demo.?
