maggots...

[Gerry Marantelli]

hi Danny - am happy to send you some maggots free just to try and sort out packaging and delivery while we consider putting them online - let me know how many you would use and I will send some next week and you can give me feedback on how they travel and what the birds think. We can have a look at pricing once we sort out logistics of sorting packing etc and I can see what time it takes my staff compared with pupae – but I would guess we can do them for the same price or less than pupae.

Re species questions:
Obviously we sell house flies which you currently get- they are small and rasied mostly on grains and milk so they have a very specific and nice taste (a bit like wet bread dough)
The medium Blowfly we sell are a green blowfly in the genus Chrysomya. They will hatch very quickly and often have already commenced hatching during transport.
The Large blowfly are from the genus Calliphora they are brown hairy and very slow. They are actually active at very cold temperatures and will hatch over a long period of time if they are kept cool. They will even hatch in the fridge - and yes they are big so they will at least be discouraged by 6mm wire - i guess you would need to test it. You can see the size of them against a ruler on our site at link: http://frogs.org.au/arcade/index.php?cP ... k207hldk16" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Both blow flies are meat eating flies - and they do taste different to the house flies that you currently buy.

Tintola (Jeff?) - Re hatch rates:
Hatch rates depend on the storage conditions of the pupae but typically you should get 70-90% out as flies. If you have had problems with hatch rate I suggest you give it another go and I am happy to send you some samples to play with. Did you get your previous pupae from us? Hatch rate problems can include damage done by extreme temperatures during transit (i.e. post) they can also be due to maggot care –unhealthy maggots make weak pupae (hopefully not ours), or due to post arrival storage e.g. fridge too cold or too long. They can also get parasitised by wasps and then it will be tiny (smaller than ants) wasps that hatch – not flies. Our mediums (Chrysomya) are cold sensitive so will not hatch in an aviary in winter – they need to be hatched in a warm room and added to the aviary as flies. Our Large (Calliphora) will hatch in temperatures as low as 5C but will take a long time and there will be considerable variation (a single batch may hatch over several weeks at low temperatures.) This may be useful as for example we put pupae in a frog tank and they will auto-feed the frogs for a week or two as they hatch – perhaps the same may be possible with birds.

[Tintola]

Thanks Gerry.
The blowfly pupae that did come from your establishment, were the large Calliphora and as you said some hatched in transit, some hatched for a couple of days after, but many failed to metamorphose into flies at all. The ones that did hatch were excellent as they couldn't fly for ages, making them very easy for the birds to catch. I would love to give them another try, maybe I stored them too warm 25 deg, as I thought that this would hasten the hatching process. It might have been too warm too quickly, from a cooler climate.
Jeff

[Gerry Marantelli]

hi Jeff

Calliphora are ok with 25C but would prefer 15-20 and if you are at their upper limit a couple a degrees variation like a spot of direct sun for a few minutes and they may not be happy.

let Ann know who you are (your name on our customer database) and what insects you purchased online last time and she can send you some more - email her at : [email protected] let her know we spoke so she can put it down as a free shipment. or if it's easier for you just log in to your account at frogs.org.au/arcade and redo the order - just make a note in the comment section of the order that I said it will be a free replacement.

[Tintola]

Thanks Gerry, I'll let you know how they go this time.

[Danny]

hi Danny - am happy to send you some maggots free just to try and sort out packaging and delivery while we consider putting them online - let me know how many you would use and I will send some next week and you can give me feedback on how they travel and what the birds think. We can have a look at pricing once we sort out logistics of sorting packing etc and I can see what time it takes my staff compared with pupae – but I would guess we can do them for the same price or less than pupae.

.

If you can send up 500g grams that should be enough to spread across a number of aviaries. Thanks.

[SamDavis]

Obviously we sell house flies which you currently get- they are small and rasied mostly on grains and milk so they have a very specific and nice taste (a bit like wet bread dough)

I stumbled across the folowing recipe book http://www.kittycochrane.com/fly%20cookbook.htm - might be worth a try if anyone has excess maggots! Could be a new market for your maggots Gerry!

On a slightly more serious note - if you decide to sell housefly maggots I (on behalf of my birds) would be interested . Currently I mainly use termites. I've raised my own maggots in the past but it would be handy to be able to have some maggots as a backup/alternative without the effort of a fly box. How long do you think maggots remain viable in the fridge?

[Gerry Marantelli]

How long do you think maggots remain viable in the fridge?

It will depend on the fridge temperature and the maggot species but i am happy to send you a sample to play with if you like. PM me your name and address and i can send some for you to try - then you can update us here on your experiment.

[SamDavis]

Thanks gerry much appreciated. I'll include your maggots in my termite fridge/freezer experiments and update the forum with results.

[BENSONSAN]

Sam they also freeze well abnd my birds love them frozen so you could back them up that way also.

[jusdeb]

Looking forward to reading everyone's results after they trial them .
Im mostly looking forward to reading what specie took to them the most .

Will need a topic like MAGGOT CRITIQUE

Again very generous offer .