Flies - the good, bad and ugly

[killerecho]

ironic, i was just reading this article in another forum flightless houseflies
i was freaked out enough about culturing fruit flies, LOL i actually had to culture some for myself to prove to myself (and the bed bully) that they were indeed safe to keep in the house. it definitely was fun trying to explain to the Mrs. that i WANTED to bring bugs into the house. as i am sure each one of us has had that conversation before.....LOL that being said, i wouldn't even DREAM of trying to culture houseflies. all i would need is one momentary lapse of concentration, and i would be moving in with some other frog lover.....LOL but i commend you for pushing that proverbial envelope Brian!!

Tell me about it. So far I've had to explain crickets, worms, fruit flies, bags of "dirt", leaf litter, rocks, bark and driftwood aka trash underneath my bed, and loud squawking at night. A fly outbreak might be the last straw.

Thanks for the post, brought back memories! Check out Raymond Ditmars' book My Exciting Life with Reptiles, Insects etc....great read, and he describes his first great fly escape; I later repeated the same...also, as a child, collected hundreds of mosquito larvae, thinking I'd discovered "fresh water brine shrimp", and had 30 or so mantid eggcases hatch indoors in December (in NYC). But I use flies to this day, in both zoos and at home. Here's a related article Houseflies and Maggots as Food for Reptiles, Amphibians and Invertebrates That Reptile Blog. Best, Frank

Frank, I must credit (blame?) you for this foray into fly territory. I have followed your blog since early 2011 and it was your advice that got me seeking to try houseflies as an alternate food item. I've been trying to locate an affordable source ever since and now I have. Speaking of mosquito larvae, I remember someone bringing a bottle of them to my school and trying to pass them off as tadpoles. I wouldn't mind a plague of mantids in my NY apartment right now; it would take care of my cockroach problem.