keeping and breeding house flies?

WyrmSwarm

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
111
I just bought some feeder house fly pupae for my P. Audax. I was wondering if anyone knew a way to breed these once they hatch, and how to keep them conveniently? I have three P. Audax's and a few different Mantids that would really benefit from eating larger flies rather than fruit flies, so I want to breed some house flies to keep having to buy more. Also, is there a way to keep them in their pupae stage longer?
 

sasker

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 9, 2016
Messages
1,091
Well, all you need is a rotting cadaver and an enclosed area to keep the flies and the smell out of the rest of your house. I don't know about the US, but here in Europe there are just a few breeders that supply the entire EU with maggots. I buy them for less than USD 0.20 for a little cup at the local fish tackle shop. This is more than enough if I have several slings. I really don't see the benefits of breeding them myself. You only have one spider to feed them to, right? How much does it actually eat? Even if you are a professional P. audax breeder with many, many spiders to feed, it would still be more cost-effective to just buy the maggots. And less smelly.

As for keeping the maggots in their larval stage, just put them in the refrigerator. Same for pupae, although I don't think your spider would be interested in hunting these as they don't move ;)

Interesting fact. At the fly breeding facility they hang up large carcasses on which the maggots feed. Once they are ready to pupate (after about 5 days of feeding), they will crawl out of the meat at which point they are harvested. This ensures that the maggots have the optimum size. It also means that as soon as they are kept warm and dark they start to pupate. It takes them four to six days to emerge as a fly after that. I don't know how much you pay for pupae, but if they are sold as feeders for your pets you probably paid too much. Buy maggots as fish baits, wait a few hours and you will have pupae as well.
 

WyrmSwarm

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
111
Well, all you need is a rotting cadaver and an enclosed area to keep the flies and the smell out of the rest of your house. I don't know about the US, but here in Europe there are just a few breeders that supply the entire EU with maggots. I buy them for less than USD 0.20 for a little cup at the local fish tackle shop. This is more than enough if I have several slings. I really don't see the benefits of breeding them myself. You only have one spider to feed them to, right? How much does it actually eat? Even if you are a professional P. audax breeder with many, many spiders to feed, it would still be more cost-effective to just buy the maggots. And less smelly.

As for keeping the maggots in their larval stage, just put them in the refrigerator. Same for pupae, although I don't think your spider would be interested in hunting these as they don't move ;)

Interesting fact. At the fly breeding facility they hang up large carcasses on which the maggots feed. Once they are ready to pupate (after about 5 days of feeding), they will crawl out of the meat at which point they are harvested. This ensures that the maggots have the optimum size. It also means that as soon as they are kept warm and dark they start to pupate. It takes them four to six days to emerge as a fly after that. I don't know how much you pay for pupae, but if they are sold as feeders for your pets you probably paid too much. Buy maggots as fish baits, wait a few hours and you will have pupae as well.
I buy them online and the pupae themselves aren’t that expensive. It’s the shipping that gets me, so if I could find a place near me that sells the maggots that would be great xD I’ll have to take a look around then. Thanks
 

Patherophis

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
407
Mantis keepers do keep house flies (and several other fly species), it is nothing cadaver related, it is quite similar to keeping fruit flies.
 

sasker

Arachnoprince
Joined
Oct 9, 2016
Messages
1,091
Mantis keepers do keep house flies (and several other fly species)
I see. I thought this was about the big black flies. There are indeed many fly species. Some of them can be used to remove necrotic tissue from wounds. Always good to have around :D
 

The Mantis Menagerie

Arachnobaron
Joined
Aug 17, 2018
Messages
355
Mantis keepers do keep house flies (and several other fly species), it is nothing cadaver related, it is quite similar to keeping fruit flies.
I tried cobbling together a media of a bunch of different things (potato flakes, condensed milk, cat food, methyl paraben, and some other random stuff), but it failed. Do you know the easy way to rear these like fruit flies?
 

Patherophis

Arachnobaron
Joined
May 24, 2017
Messages
407
I tried cobbling together a media of a bunch of different things (potato flakes, condensed milk, cat food, methyl paraben, and some other random stuff), but it failed. Do you know the easy way to rear these like fruit flies?
I know keeper who does, but unfortunately I don't know her medium composition.
 

mantisfan101

Arachnoprince
Joined
Dec 26, 2018
Messages
1,755
I believe Orin mentioned a method for rearing bluebottles which should be similar to hosueflies in his book on praying mantids. I don't have it on me now but I'll check once I go home.
 

Introvertebrate

Arachnoprince
Arachnosupporter
Joined
Dec 18, 2010
Messages
1,199
I believe there's a fellow on the Mantid Forum who uses a house fly medium that could potentially be used indoors. To my knowledge, there is no way to raise blue bottles without a nasty smelling medium like decaying flesh. They won't breed or lay eggs without it.
 

WyrmSwarm

Arachnosquire
Joined
Jun 11, 2018
Messages
111
I believe there's a fellow on the Mantid Forum who uses a house fly medium that could potentially be used indoors. To my knowledge, there is no way to raise blue bottles without a nasty smelling medium like decaying flesh. They won't breed or lay eggs without it.
That would definitely turn me off from breeding them, that’s for sure haha. I ordered some fly feeding medium that I got from Josh’s frogs and I hope it might encourage breeding, but I guess we’ll see. I’m not sure if it makes any difference but I have the regular house flies Musca domestica
 
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