28 replies to this topic

[Crystals]

Foogoo, on 22 Aug 2015 - 12:04 AM, said:

 

Crystals, on 21 Aug 2015 - 2:21 PM, said:

I have found for homemade media, add a small spoonful of microworms.  They will stir the media until the maggots are large enoguh to do it.

Oddly enough, I have found that the culture with microworms are having higher yields of flies.

What do you do with the microworms?

 

I add them to the media once it cools, just before adding the flies.

[Foogoo]

Crystals, on 22 Aug 2015 - 01:39 AM, said:

 

Foogoo, on 22 Aug 2015 - 12:04 AM, said:

 

Crystals, on 21 Aug 2015 - 2:21 PM, said:

I have found for homemade media, add a small spoonful of microworms.  They will stir the media until the maggots are large enoguh to do it.

Oddly enough, I have found that the culture with microworms are having higher yields of flies.

What do you do with the microworms?

 

I add them to the media once it cools, just before adding the flies.

 

I mean after the fact, do you feed them to ants? Just let them live and let be?

[William. T]

drtrmiller, on 21 Aug 2015 - 1:16 PM, said:

 

Foogoo, on 21 Aug 2015 - 05:55 AM, said:

Is there a solution for homemade media that is mold resistant? Sterilization, vinegar, cinnamon... None of them seem to work for me.

 

Methylparaben,

 

ctantkeeper, on 21 Aug 2015 - 02:44 AM, said:

will this project ever be revived, just curious

 

Not in active development at this time.

 

Meth is known to be bad for dart frogs. I have known that some pet store employees are pretty heavy handed with the chemical, so do be careful. Here is the article:

http://usafrog.com/a...d-for-frogs.pdf

[William. T]

Foogoo, on 22 Aug 2015 - 01:48 AM, said:

 

Crystals, on 22 Aug 2015 - 01:39 AM, said:

 

Foogoo, on 22 Aug 2015 - 12:04 AM, said:

 

Crystals, on 21 Aug 2015 - 2:21 PM, said:

I have found for homemade media, add a small spoonful of microworms.  They will stir the media until the maggots are large enoguh to do it.

Oddly enough, I have found that the culture with microworms are having higher yields of flies.

What do you do with the microworms?

 

I add them to the media once it cools, just before adding the flies.

 

I mean after the fact, do you feed them to ants? Just let them live and let be?

 

Yeah. Maybe flick them a bit to injure them to make them easier to kill, but any good colony should have no trouble handling them

[PTAntFan]

Ok, this is REALLY bizarre.  I just was reading this thread and a fly came into my office from outside.  I grabbed my swatter and took it down.  Fresh meat for my ants!  So, I grab this thing with my tweezers and bring it to my ant station to divide it for my two Formica colonies when EEEWWWW!  There are maggots coming out of this thing's guts.  I assume they are maggots and not some kind of parasitic worm, but anyway.  Should I try to keep and rear these things for future food?

[drtrmiller]

Bottle flies often have larvae that hatch soon after being laid. If the gravid fly is killed before the eggs are deposited, they can hatch inside the fly.

[PTAntFan]

With just a few moments?

[Barristan]

Some flies (e.g. Sarcophaga carnaria) give birth to already hatched maggots.

in 2010 I recorded a video feeding one dead fly of that species to my Pheidole pallidula colony. I thought parasitic maggots came out of the fly's dead body. Now I know better.

 

The maggots feed on living earthworms. The fly drops the maggots directly on the earth worms where they begin to feed.

Edited by Barristan, August 22 2015 - 11:44 AM.

[PTAntFan]

That just might be this fly. Amazing knowledge Barristan.