[Joe Baginski]

So I noticed some larger maggots in with some of my fly cultures...what the heck are they? How did it happen? What do I need to do...kill the cultures, or are they ok?

 

[Blort]

Joe,

Can you give an idea of how long and wide in inches or mm? Also, a picture would be helpful.

Best,

Marcos

 

[geckguy]

I suspect they are flying fruit fly larvae, I can always tell when a culture has some flying fruit fly larvae, as they are much larger than melangoster larvae. I usually throw my cultures with flier larvae away, but wait and see what hatches. You don't have to throw them away, I do to avoid making more fliers.

 

[TonyT]

Anothe thing you can do is feed the maggots to the frogs. They will eat them up and get nice and fat off them.

TonyT

 

[kleinhanz]

Although it is pretty early in the year, if they are really large it could be house flies . It happened to me once when I left a fresh culture on the counter with the lid propped to cool down the media (from adding hot water), the sucker must have deposited its eggs and flew off and I never knew it was there.

 

[DaFrogMan]

Could some of your hydei have gotten into your melanogaster cultures somehow? Like when you were making them? All it would have taken would be like 1 or 2 of them.

 

[JOHNNY]

Joe, I have this problem from time to time my self. They are more than likely carion flies. The flies lay their eggs on the tops of the containers and the tiny maggots bore right through the cloth screens. I would trash the cultures, the carion fly maggots grow much faster than Drosophila maggots exhausting the cultures. Neither the adult flies or their larva are excepted by the frogs as food. They are the scourge of many herpetoculturists and bugfarmers.
Johnny
This Island Earth Herpetoculture

 

[Joe Baginski]

What do carrion flys look like?

What do the adult flys look like? Anyone have pics?

 

[JOHNNY]

I don't have any pics but, the adults are easy to recognize. They're about the size of a hydei, lighter in color and move in frantic jerking movements. The pupa are also very recognizable, eliptcal in shape they apear segmented and do not have the telltale "barbs" that drosophila pupa exibit. They're a real pain.
Johnny

 

[Ryan]

Joe, I have this problem from time to time my self. They are more than likely carion flies. The flies lay their eggs on the tops of the containers and the tiny maggots bore right through the cloth screens. I would trash the cultures, the carion fly maggots grow much faster than Drosophila maggots exhausting the cultures. Neither the adult flies or their larva are excepted by the frogs as food. They are the scourge of many herpetoculturists and bugfarmers.
Johnny
This Island Earth Herpetoculture

I hate those damn things! They always end up in the cultures i purchase from petco. I guess the little drilled holes at the top give them easier access.