Breeding and raising of maggots and flies

Breeding and raising of maggots and flies


Setup:
To start a breeding stock you need to have sufficient food, temperature and substrate (basically the food is the substrate).

Food:
Maggots are not fussy with what they eat anything that is organic and decays are good enough for them. I use a mixture of this recipe.

Recipe

One egg

3 cups of sawdust / bran

Calf supplement milk powder (1/2 cup) or ¼ cup milk cow milk

Instructions

Step 1

Pour three cups of bran / sawdust into mixing bowl, add egg to it and mix it in until you can’t see any egg, the substrate should have a clumpy texture, add ½ cup supplement powder or ¼ cup milk and mix thoroughly.

Step 2

Getting the larva of the chosen fly species all comes down to good raising of the maggots, and also getting a starter kit, you can either catch flies and forcefully add them to the container you will keep them in, (remember your lid should have adequate ventilation although you should be careful not to allow pest flies into the container) another option is to purchase maggots (fly larva) from a reputable fishing supplies dealer, but if all else fails you can setup a simple fly trap which can be easily baited with a piece of rotting meat.

Temperature

30 to 38 degrees Celsius seems to be a comfortable breeding temperature for blow flies and house flies.

Flies

Once the maggots have pupated and ten days later baby flies hatch you should provide the flies with a small bowl of sugar so that they get the energy to mate, fly and lay eggs very important in order to attain a good breeding stock. And then it all starts again.