Yet another selective breeding project - houseflies

[HexLazerr]

Even if nothing comes from this, it still seems like a cool project, and i personally enjoy Musca domestica anyways. Let's go!

My housefly colonies really kicked off after a few ups and downs, giving a huge variety of adults to choose from. The cool thing was that there was already a lot of variation in the adults, specifically in the amount and intensity of yellow in the abdomen, which is the focus of this project. The number of flies with dark/gray abdomens significantly outnumbered those with more varying amounts of yellow. After sorting through it all, i found a stunning male with an almost entirely yellow abdomen. I set him up with a few newly emerged unmated females that showed a large amount of yellow too, and hope for the best. The eggs laid by those females are hatching, so with all hope this trait can be bred for! The end result of all this selective breeding should look somewhat like Musca ventrosa or other similar species with entirely yellow/orange abdomens, with the housefly body size and shape. There is also some variation in the boldness of the thorax stripes, but that's a thought for a later time.

Teneral adults

The gold boy - look at that color!

Doing his job well.

 

[SpookySpooder]

How do you maintain these without them all flying away?

 

[HexLazerr]

How do you maintain these without them all flying away?

The whole container of flies is refrigerated for at least a few minutes to slow down movement whenever maintenance or separation is necessary, and then there is about a 30 second window to get everything done before they become active again. This method seems to cause no ill effect on the flies, and makes it super easy to sort through them all.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Even if nothing comes from this, it still seems like a cool project, and i personally enjoy Musca domestica anyways. Let's go!

My housefly colonies really kicked off after a few ups and downs, giving a huge variety of adults to choose from. The cool thing was that there was already a lot of variation in the adults, specifically in the amount and intensity of yellow in the abdomen, which is the focus of this project. The number of flies with dark/gray abdomens significantly outnumbered those with more varying amounts of yellow. After sorting through it all, i found a stunning male with an almost entirely yellow abdomen. I set him up with a few newly emerged unmated females that showed a large amount of yellow too, and hope for the best. The eggs laid by those females are hatching, so with all hope this trait can be bred for! The end result of all this selective breeding should look somewhat like Musca ventrosa or other similar species with entirely yellow/orange abdomens, with the housefly body size and shape. There is also some variation in the boldness of the thorax stripes, but that's a thought for a later time.

Teneral adults
View attachment 465228
The gold boy - look at that color!
View attachment 465229
Doing his job well.
View attachment 465230

What kind of medium are you raising your maggots on?

 

[HexLazerr]

What kind of medium are you raising your maggots on?

I use a mixture of cricket powder/flour and condensed milk - there are much simpler rearing diets, but i find this one is high protein enough for all the maggots to uniformly reach their full size potential at the time of pupation. The resulting flies are far larger than most emerging from pupae i've ordered, so it seems like the high protein is beneficial. The gravid females are very attracted to it and will oviposit directly on or under it! The base of the substrate on the bottom of the container is plain old coconut fiber, the maggots will burrow under it and feed on the cricket powder medium from below.

 

[Introvertebrate]

I use a mixture of cricket powder/flour and condensed milk - there are much simpler rearing diets, but i find this one is high protein enough for all the maggots to uniformly reach their full size potential at the time of pupation. The resulting flies are far larger than most emerging from pupae i've ordered, so it seems like the high protein is beneficial. The gravid females are very attracted to it and will oviposit directly on or under it! The base of the substrate on the bottom of the container is plain old coconut fiber, the maggots will burrow under it and feed on the cricket powder medium from below.

Thanks. Does it stay relatively smell-free for you?

 

[HexLazerr]

Thanks. Does it stay relatively smell-free for you?

This is definitely the most smell-free option i've used! As the maggots grow and produce waste there will be a distinctive ammonia odor upon opening the container, but this is normal for any diet, and certainly better than the decaying odor produced by the fish food, soaked cat food or thawed beefheart diets i've tested in the past. The ammonia smell doesn't travel far - i only smell it when i open the container after the maggots are nearing pupation. I'm able to keep housefly cultures in my room, so very smell-free!

 

[Introvertebrate]

This is definitely the most smell-free option i've used! As the maggots grow and produce waste there will be a distinctive ammonia odor upon opening the container, but this is normal for any diet, and certainly better than the decaying odor produced by the fish food, soaked cat food or thawed beefheart diets i've tested in the past. The ammonia smell doesn't travel far - i only smell it when i open the container after the maggots are nearing pupation. I'm able to keep housefly cultures in my room, so very smell-free!

Great. The ammonia might even serve an antiseptic purpose.

 

[HexLazerr]

Great. The ammonia might even serve an antiseptic purpose.

I have noticed that even if there is some of the cricket powder medium left over after all maggots have pupated, it never seems to mold or produce any noticeable odor. When i raised Calliphorids, they produced significantly less ammonia.

 

[Introvertebrate]

I have noticed that even if there is some of the cricket powder medium left over after all maggots have pupated, it never seems to mold or produce any noticeable odor. When i raised Calliphorids, they produced significantly less ammonia.

Interesting. You didn't raise Calliphorids indoors, did you? I would think that could get nasty.

 

[HexLazerr]

Interesting. You didn't raise Calliphorids indoors, did you? I would think that could get nasty.

The attempt at raising Calliphorids indoors was a disaster due almost entirely to the smell and mess alone - it was only 20 or so Calliphora vicina maggots and a reasonably small amount of meat, and they simply didn't eat enough to keep it from rotting. Calliphorids are attractive, but their husbandry requirements certainly aren't! There are some iridescent, colorful and large Muscids i'd be willing to give a try once the weather heats up though.