Blowfly Maggots

[BugBoy99]

A strange question, I know. But, has anyone ever fed blowfly maggots to their frogs? Would they be nutritive?

Thanks,

[JeffreH]

If you could ensure that both the adult flies and the larvae were reared in a captive environment on sanitary food source that is safe for the herps, they should be okay.

For example, you wouldn't want to collect the larvae from rotting flesh or something prior to feeding to your pet; and there are potential implications in parasitoids unless you can ensure even adult development were done in captivity. There are varieties of pathogens and some parasites that utilize flies as vectors and rely on them to complete their life cycle... even if an adult fly were harvested from nature and its eggs and subsequent larvae produced in captivity, I would lack the confidence to gurantee that a pathogen wansn't depostied with the eggs. The only way to really have an confidence would be to rear a couple of generations in captivity in a sterile environment after collecting before considering feeding them off to your herp. Blow flies in particular are notorious for using very foul organic material as their lay sites.

As for nutrition...probably not substantially more nutrtious than your typical maggot... But most fly larvae are excellent sources of protein and in some cases, fat. You would probably have better luck rearing a known staple species like the soldier fly and uses their larvae as a food source but if you can obtain captive blow fly larvae they should be fine to feed at least on occasion.

[badkelpie]

Are blowflies the same as bottle flies? Winter before last, the petstore couldn't keep crickets in stock, and no one would ship them, or roaches, or anything. I found someone on ebay selling "spikes". They are the larvae of the blue bottle fly and are used for fishing. My frogs loved them! I don't know how "clean" they were, but they're packed in sawdust and my frogs are still alive.

[BugBoy99]

Hi Badkelpie, Blowflies, and Blue Bottles, or Bottle Flies belong to the same family. However, there are several different species of Blow Fly. Thank You Jeff for the information, I managed to get Blowflies to lay eggs on Liver that was meant for human consumption, and I wasn't sure if the maggots would make a safe food. Your information was very thorough

[Silkmoth]

I know this was started last year, I think replying to this is better than starting a new thread.
I buy bluebottles online for my mantids and gave sme to my new firebelly toads. They snapped them up like candy!

Is it ok to continue feeding the toads the blue bottle flies? They certainly dont have the amount of chitin shell that mealworms have, I think crickets have alittle more than the flies do. They have hairs on them so any calcium and vitamin dusting sticks to them very well.

[JeffreH]

Flies are a pivotal food source for many herps in nature, so feeding them to your frogs should be just fine. I would assume that flies purchased online as feeders would be safe to feed... As long as the larvae were reared on something that isn't potentially harmful, the adults will be fine to feed in a captive environment.

Here is some nutritional information on blowfly larvae: Grubco :: Nutritional Information

I'm not sure how nutritional value changes with the transition into adulthood, but I would think adult flies have their benefits. I'm sure they are reasonably lean; adult females might have some additional fat stores associated with them for egg production, but the majority of the thorax is devoted to flight musculature that I would imagine is rich in protein. And as you mentioned, most flies are nowhere near as sclerotized as other common feeders, so they shouldn't pose any threat of impaction in my opinion.

The main concerns I would have would be collecting adults or larvae from outside, because calliphorid larvae often feed on excrement, carrion, and other rotting organic waste. The adults have a primary objective in life of dispersal and reproduction, so they will also be associated with these foul food sources as they land on them. As long as the source is reliable are you are rearing cultures in captivity on "safe" food sources I think both the adults and larvae would be great feeders.

[Silkmoth]

They are fed a "clean" diet: no meat or manure,instead a milk based diet plus other plant base foods including honey and bee pollen. I feed them honey and water plus Repashy Superload. The flies LOVE it! I give it to the crickets too. They choose that over everything else.

[JeffreH]

Sounds great! On that kind if diet I wouldn't hesitate to feed both larvae and adults to my animals. You're kind of inspiring me to give culturing these guys a try. I would imagine a culture would have low cost, space, and time/effort demands. Always looking for ways to increase the variety in the diets.

[Silkmoth]

I buy mine from mantispets.com. Cary always send good pupae. They come in great shape and fast. I wont buy maggots, they give my the creeps!
I buy 500 at a time because I feed them to my mantods so I will have to buy more often. I keep them in the fridge and take out what I need. There are other sellers of feeders online.
There are afew threads about raising your own bluebottles on Mantidforum.

[JeffreH]

Thanks for the info, Silkmoth =)

By the way (random, unimportant question) - do you mantis people call them mantods? I naturally want to call them mantids, but presumably this would be better fit Mantidae alone. I've otherwise never heard of anyone calling them Mantods.

Additionally, do you know if Mantispids are ever kept in captivity? I know their larval life stages are kind of weird in that they often attack spider eggs, so culturing in captivity might be challenging. But I've always thought they were very interesting insects (especially the wasp mimics!).

[Silkmoth]

mantispids? Ive never heard of them. I know Mantids have no larval form, just nymphs that are perfect replicas of the adults. Ill have to look the mantispids up on google. I have only heard or read mantids, not mantods. A mispelling?

A warning to anyone checking out Mantispets for flies or other feeders, mantids have a secret way of getting into your heart! Once there they will never leave!!!

[JeffreH]

Ahh, I see now. It must have been a typo in your previous posting (mantod-mantid). I figured it might be possible that people who work with mantids might call them "Mantods" based on the order name, Mantodea. I've been rearing a couple of Carolina and European mantids in the lab and they've inspired me to consider keeping more 'exotic' species. These are only temporary residents that will be pinned as they get closer to natural death.

Check out Mantispidae, its a very interesting family. They are Neuropteroids closely related to lacewings that have convergent evolution with Mantids; they look very similar and have raptorial front legs, but they are holometabolous and have larval and pupal life stages.




^^Not my photos, I stole them from a google image search. The wasp mimic is pretty striking in my opinion, but I have a biased interest in wasps.

*By the way, I apologize for shooting us off topic here. Anyone who wants to talk blowflies again feel free to get us back on track at any time =)

[UncleChester]

^^Not my photos, I stole them from a google image search. The wasp mimic is pretty striking in my opinion, but I have a biased interest in wasps.

That's like some kind of super-horror-goggle-eyed-kung-fu-wasp. I didn't even know these existed and I wish I knew about them earlier. Oh well, something to look for next year.

I found a detailed run-down of the Canadian species, including when they're out, habitats, etc. Basically, some nice winter reading:

http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/staffprof...d-Cannings.pdf

[Silkmoth]

Those are mantis-flies.

[JeffreH]

Yes, Mantispids = Mantis flies. I wasn't suggesting they are related (note post #12, sorry if I wasn't very clear), but I thought their similar morphology to mantids might still draw interest from mantis enthusiasts. Figured a mantis keeper would know better than anyone as to if they are ever kept in captivity. I think they are very interesting, but their life histories in larval stages would make them a challenge to culture I think...

I'll be looking out for them next Spring-Summer; never have seen one but they are a family I'd like to try to rear and/or add to my pinned collection.

On a side note Silkmoth: I'll likely pick your brain sometime about mantids. I think next Spring I'll try to pick up a few more interesting/exotic species to keep around for fun =)

[Silkmoth]

I dont know who keeps mantisflies, Ive not heard of any on Mantid forum. If you want a pet mantis there are breeders who have them avaliable now. Ghosts are a great beginner, and a dozen other kinds too. I would join mantidforum to learn as much as possible to help you keep them. Its just like frogforum but alittle simpler. Like here mf has some amazing people.
We also have a calender. We are voting for the cover right now!