Breeding houseflies?

[froggsong]

Has anyone ever tried to breed houseflies? If so, how did you do it? My frogs have enjoyed a fly from time to time, but I am worried about parasites, so I don't usually let them have them. It is very fun to watch them go after a fly, and it could be dusted with supplements as well as a cricket can be. So... How would I go about raising some?

[froggsong]

No one?

[taipan]

Hello froggsong
I think people breed house flies for the maggots. Bird keepers will breed the fly's for the maggots. If you want try to hang some meat outside to attract the flies & put a tray with bran underneath to catch the maggots as they drop. I believe that the maggots eat the bran thus flushing the crap out of their bodies. there are probably other ways of doing it but this way was mentioned to me by a friend.If I find more info I will post later.

[froggsong]

Thanks. I could probably use the maggots as well, I have a bird and my dragon might like them. Then I can let the rest mature and feed the flies to the frogs, keeping some for another generation. Please do post if you find/hear anything else. I'm trying to feed a more diverse diet than is available to me from the pet store.

[alex1976]

I looked into breeding houseflies for a short while but decided fly traps was the way to go. I did read that breeding houseflies by meat was highly discouraged due to the health risks of having rotting meat.

Fly traps however work really well when the right bait is used. I made mine out of an old tub of plaster, a discarded two liter, window screen, and silicone. Vegetables, manufactured bait, as well as horse manure all work well to use as bait. Just google "fly trap" to see what I'm talking about. You do have to insure that they survive (most traps are designed to kill them).

Getting them in your vivarium without releasing them in your house can be something of a problem though. You could put them in a freezer for twenty minutes. I could never work up the nerve to have flies in my freezer with my food. Completely gross. I just opened the lid of the fly trap inside the vivarium and quickly closed the vivarium lid. Some would make it out now and then but not many. I eventually switched to a moth trap.

I do have an eleven-page pdf (915kb) with different moth trap designs if anyone is interested (all found on the web). I constructed mine from scrape plywood, a properly rated extension cord, plexiglass, spare wire, and a mercury vapor security light I bought at Wal-Mart. A very easy build and much cheaper than buying one.

[froggsong]

Aren't you worried about the WC flies carrying parasites? That's why I haven't just been feeding them the ones that get in the house (we have to leave the doors open alot for ventilation since we have none in the house, stupid navy...)

[alex1976]

All of my guys were wild caught. Hell, half of them were right in my yard so I really don't think it's that big of a concern. Plus they really do seem to enjoy hunting the moths and with the moth trap I get to pick and choose which ones I put in their tank.

Why are you guys living on post??? Blaah. Collect that BAQ check on get off post!!

My wife and I were posted out in Fort Campbell and we lived off post the whole time. It was really great being able to "leave work".

It did tend to attract all my single soldier friends (and those couples living on post!) to my house whenever they wanted to "get away". We tended to always have "the guy on the couch" back then at my house...

[froggsong]

My squirrel frog is wild caught too... I used to feed them moths, so I guess it probably isn't that big of a deal. I might stick to moths for now and skip the flies for the time being.

The area we live in, rent is actually the same or more as our BAQ, and that doesn't include virtually unlimited lights and water. We've looked around to see about getting off base, but it just isn't worth it, and we can't afford the extra utility bills. When we were stationed in Kings Bay, GA, we lived of base in a nice little townhouse and the rent was like 450 an month, whereas here it is around 900-1000 for even a crappy apartment or tiny house. Besides, even though our street is like the ghetto street, we are literally right behind the NEX and the Commissary. If I need to get to the store and I don't have the car at the house, it's an easy walk, which is especially good with gas as high as it is... If I don't get this job I'm after, I'm really hoping to be able to get back to GA, we actually made a profit out of our BAQ when we lived there, plus, we were paying at least 2/3 the amount we are paying now for food and other monthly stuff we have to buy. Not to mention that gas is nearly a dollar cheaper, and our car insurance was WAAAAAYY lower than it is in WA (and that was when my hubby has THREE tickets on his record). Stupid expensive WA...

[captaincarot]

go get a beaf heart or some out of date chicken from the butcher.
get a metal biscuit tin.
get enough bran to fill the tin.

place a thin layer of bran in the bottom of the tin and the meat on top.
puncture a small hole in the lid of the tin, stick the tin out in your garden shed over night.
check for eggs the next morning.
once you have a few blows on it cover with the rest of the bran and leave it to rot once they have fed they will just come off the meat and into the bran.

this is when you take them out of the tin, go down to your local fishing hole and catch lots of fish using them as bait.

in england we have farms to do this for us.

[froggsong]

Very cool, thanks alot! I'll do that the next time I leave some meat out too long.