Are House/bottle flies nutritious enough for slings

[Zoopy]

After asking it in an unrelated thread, it was suggested that it might be missed by pros if it's not in a dedicated thread.

I buy fly pupae for my jumping spiders once every 2 weeks and most of them go to waste because those little guys don't need that many. Are the nutritious enough as a staple for T slings? I ripped the wings off one last night and gave it to my p. sazimai sling and she nabbed it almost immediately. It would be nice if she could have them as a staple, because I feel a lot more comfortable leaving a fly in with her than a cricket and that way I wouldn't have to pre-kill and she can get fresh feeder insects to hunt.

But I'd obviously only feed them if they're nutritious enough.

 

[Pyrelitha]

Wouldn't worry about freshness if you remove prekilled after 24hrs. I imagine for small slings theyre fine, larger ones could take multiples. I don't see why not its just a lot more work than killing a roach to scavenge.. or my favorite a small live cricket, if they dont take it i just kill it and remove it tomorrow if they dont scavenge it.

 

[slocoj91]

I've seen it said that fruit flies don't contain all the necessary amino acids for a staple food source. However, before that I grew several slings on fruit flies with occasional mealworms as treats. I'd also love to see which amino acids are necessary, and a report on those in fruit flies, because its the sort of research I like to read.

Blue/greenbottles could have the same problem but I'm afraid I don't know. Though I have several arboreal species that enjoy them when my jumpers have extras.

The casters can be put at lower temperatures and thus will develop more slowly, to allow you to get more use from them, though. Try to keep them dry though as I've had issues with some pupating.

 

[Frogdaddy]

I could be wrong, but as I recall fly spikes (maggots) are pretty nutritious.
You could survive on them if you ate enough.

 

[jbooth]

The maggots should pack more of a punch than the flies do after pupation, nutrition wise, but I've had wolf spiders growing on flies just from leaving the lids off in the summer. Until my hmac sling got out at least, now they're sealed tight No hurt to try and see how much a sling grows from either.

 

[Smotzer]

I don't know how nutritious they are but there's no reason why CB BBF GBF couldn't be used occasionally and some of the arboreal may even appreciate the flying movement and stimulate a good feeding response!

 

[DuneElliot]

They are the main staple of jumping spiders so would guess a bit more nutritious than fruit flies...although FFF are a staple for young jumping spiders too. So, who knows? lol