can i feed my sling maggots from a rotting orange

Wolfspidurguy

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cant use fruit flies because there not nutritious enough to sustain it local pet store doesnt have small crickets. i found out you can feed slings maggots and i remember one time when i had a meal worm colony the orange slices i put in there enclosure rotted and got maggots so my question is can i let some orange slices rot and get maggots and create a maggot farm where when i feed my sling im getting in two days i just put some water in a cup with 3 or 4 in it and dump out the water. and btw the nearest fishing store is an hour away and my mom is already fed up with taking me to pets mart every 2 days so thats not an option nevermind i found an alternative
 
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Stormsky

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I personally wouldn't. You have no idea where they came from or what kind of parasites they could be carrying and you're risking transferring it to your spiders.
If you can't find small crickets, just get the next size up and crush the heads. If they're way too big, maybe cut them in half. Cut up mealworms are another option. If your pet store doesn't have either of these then it is a really bad pet store.
 

cold blood

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bulbophyllum

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I would not hesitate to feed collected fruit fly larva. The chance of the ff larva having been exposed to pesticides it almost non existent. A parasite would have to be able to be transferred from the mother ff to the egg and use both flies and spiders as hosts. There is a chance something bad might happen with anything that you do. Why couldn't a cricket raised by the 100,000's/100,000,000's have parasites?

gary
 

cold blood

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I would not hesitate to feed collected fruit fly larva. The chance of the ff larva having been exposed to pesticides it almost non existent. A parasite would have to be able to be transferred from the mother ff to the egg and use both flies and spiders as hosts. There is a chance something bad might happen with anything that you do. Why couldn't a cricket raised by the 100,000's/100,000,000's have parasites?

gary
1. Its not parasites that make WC prey dangerous, its the fact that pesticides outside are basically everywhere and unavoidable.

2. Fruit flies are nutrient deficient, and make poor feeders.
 

boina

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Fruit flies are nutrient deficient, and make poor feeders.
Especially if raised on oranges...

If you want to create a "maggot farm" put some canned dog or cat food outside. It will attract flies within minutes and within a day it will be writhing with maggots. Within a few days you'll have maggots in all sizes and stages, and very nutritious maggots, too, because they feed on a high quality food source...

It's an unholy and stinking mess, but my friend and I did that to get maggots to raise a baby bird that fell from the nest and it works like charm. Not that you need to do it as long as you can slice up mealworms... (let the mealworms feed for a day or so before you slice them up, directly out of the fridge they don't contain that much nutrients, either)

Btw, pesticides are not really a concern with maggots since all pesticides they could have possibly come in contact with came from mom and should be highly diluted in the growing maggot - unless you have a pesticide happy neighbor, which may always a possibility in America.
 

MikeofBorg

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Especially if raised on oranges...

If you want to create a "maggot farm" put some canned dog or cat food outside. It will attract flies within minutes and within a day it will be writhing with maggots. Within a few days you'll have maggots in all sizes and stages, and very nutritious maggots, too, because they feed on a high quality food source...

It's an unholy and stinking mess, but my friend and I did that to get maggots to raise a baby bird that fell from the nest and it works like charm. Not that you need to do it as long as you can slice up mealworms... (let the mealworms feed for a day or so before you slice them up, directly out of the fridge they don't contain that much nutrients, either)

Btw, pesticides are not really a concern with maggots since all pesticides they could have possibly come in contact with came from mom and should be highly diluted in the growing maggot - unless you have a pesticide happy neighbor, which may always a possibility in America.
You can also let the maggots turn to flies and reproduce in a screened in box. I do this in the garage. I find moist dry dog food smells the least. Then after they make maggots you can be sure they are pesticide free. And it doesn’t take long to have a ton of maggots in the moistened dry dog food to feed your baby Ts. All you have to do is mist the dog food and replace as necessary. You can have maggots all year long if your garage stays warm.
 

StampFan

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Especially if raised on oranges...

If you want to create a "maggot farm" put some canned dog or cat food outside. It will attract flies within minutes and within a day it will be writhing with maggots. Within a few days you'll have maggots in all sizes and stages, and very nutritious maggots, too, because they feed on a high quality food source...

It's an unholy and stinking mess, but my friend and I did that to get maggots to raise a baby bird that fell from the nest and it works like charm. Not that you need to do it as long as you can slice up mealworms... (let the mealworms feed for a day or so before you slice them up, directly out of the fridge they don't contain that much nutrients, either)

Btw, pesticides are not really a concern with maggots since all pesticides they could have possibly come in contact with came from mom and should be highly diluted in the growing maggot - unless you have a pesticide happy neighbor, which may always a possibility in America.
How about worries about botulism/salmonella? That's the most common one I see in the reptile forums as they eat "rotting flesh". Obviously that's not a issue for a T, but it is for a human handling or caring for them, or if you feed to a newly acquired gecko ;)
 

Tearsacid

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You can also let the maggots turn to flies and reproduce in a screened in box. I do this in the garage. I find moist dry dog food smells the least. Then after they make maggots you can be sure they are pesticide free. And it doesn’t take long to have a ton of maggots in the moistened dry dog food to feed your baby Ts. All you have to do is mist the dog food and replace as necessary. You can have maggots all year long if your garage stays warm.
No opinion if they're fine for slings because I'd never bother with it while there are easier options out there. I used cut crickets or baby red runners. I've never had a sling refuse a piece of juicy, delicious, gooey insect pieces.

BUT, for you fisherman out there, maggots are great crappie, carp, & bluegill baits. I'll sometimes get some leftovers of any kind & put them out in a cheap tupperware container in the back. Add some moisture & put it in the shade a day or 2 before you need them. By that time they'll be fat and juicy. Their skin is surprisingly tough & they stay on the hook well. Expect a handful of crappie & a few dozen perch in 30 minutes. I take those perch & use them for catfish, bass, & giant alligator gar bait.

edit: Why was I thinking OP meant housefly maggots... Lol the oranges should have given it away
 
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Gaherp

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Fruit fly maggots are fine if you trust the source flies. I raise flightless by the ton and I go through lots of maggots/flies on the dwarf slings. I have used wild fly maggots of both black soldier(phoenix worms), and fruit flies. If you can catch fruit flies in a jar and they are feeding on fruit you provide I doubt you have to worry much. For smaller slings they provide more then enough nutrients. Maybe it is just the fact I live in the sticks or folks are crop dusting pesticides like napalm where they live. I just never had an issue with wild flies transferring anything. Another option that I use is dwarf isopods they move slow and are very small.
 

boina

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How about worries about botulism/salmonella? That's the most common one I see in the reptile forums as they eat "rotting flesh".
Botulism isn't really a concern. Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic bacterium. You'll mostly get it in badly canned food or from larger cadavers where little air reaches the inner parts. Canned food nowadays doesn't contain Clostridium anymore. Salmonella aren't a concern, either. They live in the intestines of animals and you get it via fecal contaminations, like a chicken poops on the eggs or an infected pig gets slaughtered and when the intestines get taken out some microscopic fecal contamination gets on the meat and stuff like that. Salmonella die when cooked and all dog food, canned or kibble, gets cooked at some point. So, even Geck could eat that ;). (He's not eating his fruit, whatever I feed, btw., he only eats crickets and roaches - he insists on being a hunter, not a gatherer - typical man :troll: - but I disgress)

If you can catch fruit flies in a jar and they are feeding on fruit you provide I doubt you have to worry much. For smaller slings they provide more then enough nutrients.
Not really. Fruit flies fed on fruit don't contain enough protein for proper growth. You'd need to feed them on more protein rich food to get complete nutrition. Slings can survive on it for a few molts, but for me that wouldn't be good enough. (Sorry, I'm too tired to look up the source right now, but I know I posted it several times rather recently.)
 

Gaherp

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I'd be willing to bet a pinhead cricket and a fruit fly have the same nutritional value. If you are raising fruitflies trust me the media packs those maggots with a lot more than a pinhead cricket. Also this is hopefully not the end all be all food for the rest of its life. We are worried about those first few molts. Maybe the slings here are sneaking protein from some source I am not seeing they grow and molt pretty consistently on just flies. Once they get to a size to eat roaches or mealies that is what they are switched to.

This is a link I have had used for quite sometime. I know these values can vary but given the media used on the markets these days the values can easily be increased.
https://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
 
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boina

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This is a link I have had used for quite sometime. I know these values can vary but given the media used on the markets these days the values can easily be increased.
https://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
Interesting link. The nutritional value of fruit flies is actually rather variable, depending on what they are fed on. I explicitely said fruit flies fed on fruit are nutritionally incomplete, but if you are raising them on a high quality medium they can be perfectly fine.
 

Gaherp

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If that's the case the original poster can get a boost out of his wild flies. Take a slice of orange and add a layer of wet baby cereal to the jar. The maggots in the sequential hatch will be more nutritionally complete.
 

StampFan

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Botulism isn't really a concern. Clostridium botulinum is an anaerobic bacterium. You'll mostly get it in badly canned food or from larger cadavers where little air reaches the inner parts. Canned food nowadays doesn't contain Clostridium anymore. Salmonella aren't a concern, either. They live in the intestines of animals and you get it via fecal contaminations, like a chicken poops on the eggs or an infected pig gets slaughtered and when the intestines get taken out some microscopic fecal contamination gets on the meat and stuff like that. Salmonella die when cooked and all dog food, canned or kibble, gets cooked at some point. So, even Geck could eat that ;). (He's not eating his fruit, whatever I feed, btw., he only eats crickets and roaches - he insists on being a hunter, not a gatherer - typical man :troll: - but I disgress)



Not really. Fruit flies fed on fruit don't contain enough protein for proper growth. You'd need to feed them on more protein rich food to get complete nutrition. Slings can survive on it for a few molts, but for me that wouldn't be good enough. (Sorry, I'm too tired to look up the source right now, but I know I posted it several times rather recently.)
You 'da best!

So here's a question that comes up here from time to time: as mentioned above most people would buy maggots (or earthworms) as T feeders from bait shops, where you have *no* idea where they come from or what they've been fed....in your opinion do you think there would be a greater risk from using a bait shop feeder (maggots as stated before, earthworms the worry is always pesticide)?

Thanks as always!
 

boina

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You 'da best!

So here's a question that comes up here from time to time: as mentioned above most people would buy maggots (or earthworms) as T feeders from bait shops, where you have *no* idea where they come from or what they've been fed....in your opinion do you think there would be a greater risk from using a bait shop feeder (maggots as stated before, earthworms the worry is always pesticide)?

Thanks as always!
Yes, I can imagine at least Salmonella being a concern if you don't know exactly what your maggots were raised on, but I don't think it would be a big concern. Raw meat is not exactly the cheapest option to feed maggots and people usually go for the cheaper stuff, since they want to make money with it.

Did you know that maggots actually prevent Botulism? They were actually used to clean wounds and prevent gangrene (Clostridium perfringens, a close relative of C. botulinum), because they eat the infected areas and keep the wounds open so air can reach the tissue. So, I think maggots and botulism don't go together.
 

AmberDawnDays

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This is a link I have had used for quite sometime. I know these values can vary but given the media used on the markets these days the values can easily be increased.
https://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml
My question might be a little off topic, but it is related to this article. I noticed that the article doesn't list all the feeders that I have used. It's missing hornworms, super worms & dubia roaches. Does anyone know the nutritional value of these feeders?
 

boina

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My question might be a little off topic, but it is related to this article. I noticed that the article doesn't list all the feeders that I have used. It's missing hornworms, super worms & dubia roaches. Does anyone know the nutritional value of these feeders?
No, and I'm not sure it's a bad thing. The nutritional value of practically all feeders depends on what you actually feed the feeders. That list @Gaherp posted is misleading to say the least. I already posted about the nutritional value or fruit flies here. En detail and with scientific sources.

Feed your feeders well, a balanced diet enriched with protein (but not pure protein!), and you get a good feeder.
 

cold blood

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You 'da best!

So here's a question that comes up here from time to time: as mentioned above most people would buy maggots (or earthworms) as T feeders from bait shops, where you have *no* idea where they come from or what they've been fed....in your opinion do you think there would be a greater risk from using a bait shop feeder (maggots as stated before, earthworms the worry is always pesticide)?

Thanks as always!
No...they get them from the same sources as pet stores.
 
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