Blue Bottle Fly near disaster

[Franquixote]

I have the smallest gauge screen top sold at home improvement stores and thought the holes would be too small for flies to escape from - WRONG. Luckily, only 5 or so turned into flies while in the enclosure and the rest are outside now.
Just an FYI to those that moght be in the same situation- I imagine lots of people use the same mesh for custom enclosures. I am thinking I could cut a second piece and place it so that the holes are basically half the size, but I still think a lot will escape.
This sucks because this was my plan for feeding on vacations, I doubt anyone is going to deal with feeding crickets or dubias while we are on vacation.
Also I'm kind of down to just dubias now as a food source- I do have crickets but I hate using them, I have already seen an escapee and luckily got it but a cricket infestation is no joke. I suppose a wax worm now and again is OK, but everything else I was considering (snails, Indian sticks, etc.) have major drawbacks, and I didn't realize superworms could be dangerously hard to digest.

I put months of research into all this and probably $1000 if you include my baby ambilobe so I am disappointed in myself that it's working out so poorly. Last of my woes is that the chameleon simply refuses to stay off the top of the screen and is under the 12% Arcadia bulb all day, I must take him off it like 15 times a day. The enclosure is plenty warm, it's just their instinct to climb as high as possible I guess.

If that's going to eventually blind or kill him I think I need to give up because I don't see a solution in the enclosure I'm using and I don't have the time or money to set up a new one!

 

[Extensionofgreen]

Home Depot and Lowes have carbon window screen that most people are using, which certainly keeps flies inside the enclosure. Check out their window section for the the most options and avoid the aluminum type of screen.

 

[Franquixote]

I looked all over and can't find it- do you have a brand name of specific product name I can ask for?

 

[Extensionofgreen]

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Phifer-36-in-x-50-ft-UltraVue-Black-Insect-Screen-3028782/203398631

 

[Scottsquatch]

I'd put another piece of screen inside that is the same size as the top. About 6 inches or so lower than the actual cage top. He can climb that one all he wants. Or you could raise the lights up off the top more
.

 

[Franquixote]

That screen looks like fiberglass to me- seems to say so in the specs, am I missing something?

Yeah Scott, I need to do that, time is the problem right now. I was thinking of criss-crossing so the flies couldn't get out but they will just come out the front hen I open it.
So this week he hasn't been on the top once... go figure...

 

[nick barta]

A bit confused here...the typical aluminum screen will not allow blue bottle flies out. It will allow flying gnats out...

Is to possible you have a hole in the screen, or gap in the frame?

CHEERS!

Nick

 

[Extensionofgreen]

Fiberglass screen works ok, as long as it's not direct heat. It's best to go in person, to the window section and pick the screen that is marketed for having a clear veiw. This is what I use am doing it is carbon and does not melt.

 

[Franquixote]

The aluminum screen I am using is the finest mesh they had, the holes are about 1/8th or 1/16th inch squares. I guess I thought that if they had any smaller sizes, it'd be on the shelf.

Note to anyone else stumbling on this thread- don't get wire screen that's this size!

I thought for sure that anything finer would compromise the ability to put fixtures directly on top (indeed it might).

Also- Nick and others- wouldn't a finer screen cut down on the amount of UV getting in and increase the heat absorbed by the screen (i.e. hotter air around the fixtures and not directed down into the cage)?

It IS getting direct heat- but it looks like there may be a solution- at least for when I need to feed BB flies as a vacation feeder.

BTW he didn't eat any of them though they were buzzing around inside the enclosure for 3 days before we eventually swatted 'em.
He ain't looking too good- I hope his long transit time getting to me isn't catching up with him. I see normal poop but never see him eat and he hasn't shed though I have had him at least 3-4 weeks.