Aussie Finch Forum

g day,
i use the 60 watt in winter,and being in the tropics;;;i use 25watts in the summer.
see ya
spider

gomer wrote:Do you guys find the globes get hot and blow all the time from the build up of fly feces on them ? Or how do you prevent them from overheating all the time? I have my globe (for light only) on the out side of the box to prevent this.Thats also why I now use a reptile heating cord as a heat source.

g day ,
fly's tend to hang around the ceiling;;;so fit your lights on a side wall,..should fix the problem of blowing bulbs.(also the heat tends to rise ,,hence the ceiling is always hotter)
see ya
spider

Over the last 7 days I've made 3 take away containers of bran mix, followed all of the information on here and on the net and I still dont have maggots.

Ive tried leaving the mix in the box for 24/48 hours, then out it comes, sitting on top of the flybox and still nothing? My mix goes quite hard after the 24/48 hour period in the box, could that have something to do with it?

Try going onto the followin site and downloading the artcile at the centre and bottom of the main page and www.qfs.org.au it is called flies without tears. 24 hrs will still be a bit early to see maggots, 48 hrs at 27C will be visible as very small maggots. A crust on the top is normal. However with what you have provided there is not enough detail to review your methods, eg mix ration ( bran/milk powder?water) how big is the container, what temp are you running your box at, do you feed the flies ( water/sugar) how young are the flies etc etc etc. Thing like temp, flie age, moistness of the mix ect will affect the result.

Give us some more info and we will try to help.

Birds of a feather wrote:Over the last 7 days I've made 3 take away containers of bran mix, followed all of the information on here and on the net and I still dont have maggots.

Ive tried leaving the mix in the box for 24/48 hours, then out it comes, sitting on top of the flybox and still nothing? My mix goes quite hard after the 24/48 hour period in the box, could that have something to do with it?

I presume you have enough flies? Do they swarm onto the fresh mix when you first put it in?
When you say the mix goes hard, do you mean there is a hard crust on top but underneath is still moist? In mine there is always a good inch of moist bran/milk mix under the crust and I can see eggs on the crusty top.
I don't know why but it's not uncommon for it take a week or two for a new colony to really get going - so don't give up!

Sam is right about starting up takes a week or two.With your medium,it should be moist/dry about the consistancy you would make up egg and biscuit for canaries.
You should be able to poke holes in it without it caving in,poking holes in it allows access for the flies to lay their eggs,i use a piece of 10mm dowel and poke to the bottom of the container,the mix is around 70 mm deep (large take away container)and i poke as many holes in it as possible.
A couple of mist sprays a day will stop it from drying out in the bottom but it does get a crust on top of which can be thrown off by the maggots as they hatch and grow,if you don't get the container out before this happens the maggots can over flow the container on to the cage floor. Craig

I presume you have enough flies? Do they swarm onto the fresh mix when you first put it in?

Sam is right about starting up takes a week or two.With your medium,it should be moist/dry about the consistancy you would make up egg and biscuit for canaries.
You should be able to poke holes in it without it caving in,poking holes in it allows access for the flies to lay their eggs,i use a piece of 10mm dowel and poke to the bottom of the container,the mix is around 70 mm deep (large take away container)and i poke as many holes in it as possible.

Ill give the hole poking a go and see what a couple of weeks gives me. I probably dont have ample flies yet, so I was only half filling the takeaway containers to cater for the fly numbers.

Ive been using 4 parts bran/1 part water/1 part milk powder and have had 2x 40 watt old style globes running at full power.

Birds of a feather wrote:Ive been using 4 parts bran/1 part water/1 part milk powder and have had 2x 40 watt old style globes running at full power.

Sounds like your mix would be very dry. I use the same volume of bran as I use water.

SamDavis wrote:

Birds of a feather wrote:Ive been using 4 parts bran/1 part water/1 part milk powder and have had 2x 40 watt old style globes running at full power.

Sounds like your mix would be very dry. I use the same volume of bran as I use water.

And with two 40watt globes burning,it would be too hot,one would do the job or two 25 watt globes or less. Craig

If you have two globes in your fly box you should be able to see if its too hot or too cold for the flies.
If its too cold the flies will be all around the back wall near the globes if it is too hot they will be up the front near the wire or behind
the water container.
Medium,I do not measure mine at all ,near enough seems god enough BUT I make sure that the mix is not too dry or too wet.
My mix is reasonably dry,I can pick up a hand full and it stays in the palm and doesn't dribble off but if I squeeze some in my hand the fluid
will run out between my fingures.
Water,unlike some I do not use a water container with a wick,I do not think the flies get enough access to drink when you have alot.
My system is not the cleanest but it works,I use a margerine container with water in it but I put a piece of Coconut Fibre in it for the flies
to crawl up and down.The reason I use Coconut fible is that it does not rot and disappear easily.
It's so easy,once you get the hang of it you wonder why you ever had problems in breeding enough.
As for globe size always 2 globes incase one blows, 2 x 40 watt winter and 2 x 25 watt summer. (my boxes are around 900mm wide).