Reptiworm/Hydei fly Help needed ASAP!

[Kali]

Well, I had quite the scare when I got home from work.

The reptiworms I ordered arrived in the mail last Thurs. and my little girl loves them! I went to put more in her feeder cup just now and there was a huge MONSTER fly in the kritter keeper I have them in.

To be honest, its scaring the bejesus out of me. I did not sign up for this

I live in NY and have never seen a black soldier fly before, so I'm guessing it would be an eco-hazard to relase it outside. I'm not ready to breed any kind of insect and my girls too little to eat it.

So: Do they bite? What do I do with this monster?!?!

Now the Hydei fruit fly vial I bought said "flightless" on it. Pigs are flightless, hydei's are NOT. would have been nice to know before they exploded in my face and all over my room!

Would it be safe to leave them in the cage overnight? Would they bite my cham like crickets can?


Thanks for reading and responding

 

[VeiledChams]

Depends where you get ur flys from.. hydeis and melanogasters are flightless.. either wingless or incapable of flying through genetic mutation.

 

[xanthoman]

bsf/hydei

pretty sure that bsf are in ny. the only reason that they wouldnt be is if the winters are too severe for them. so, imo, releasing it wouldnt be an issue. bsf are attracted mostly to manure and rotting vegitation, so you probably wont see them hanging around your house unless you live on a farm.
as for feeding the larvae, they would offer a better nutritional benefit if you nicked them each with a pair of nail clippers first.

as far as hydei concerned, are you shure they didnt say "wingless", there is a difference between "wingless" and "flightless". also, the terms "wingless" and "flightless" are relative. most are capable of at least some flight, (little hops, jumps, downward gliding etc.)
there are some tricks which make the handling of hydei easier, such as short term refridgeration, the use of paper funnels, bamboo skewers and controlled escapment containers.

if you refridgerate them for about 5-10min (depending on the size of your culture/temp of your fridge) they become completely immobile and for about 20 seconds afterwards you can just use a paper funnel to sprinkle them like pepper into a controlled escapement container. with a little experience, you will be able to handle them with near zero escapees
https://www.chameleonforums.com/how-do-you-keep-fruit-flies-your-containers-42353/ jmo

 

[Kali]

Great Help!

as for feeding the larvae, they would offer a better nutritional benefit if you nicked them each with a pair of nail clippers [/url] jmo

Thanks for the info, I was really scared BSF were like hornworms and not allowed to be released in the wild, at least in NY. However can you further explain the above quote, I'm confused:confused

 

[Creature13]

I grow BSF's. They are pretty harmless and only interested in their compost and laying eggs. They do not even have a mouth. Aside from that, the Cham's dig eating the flys as well as the grubs. Just as a treat though.

 

[lisa h]

xanthoman: thanks for the info on refrigerating the ffs. I've always had problems dusting them, and now I know. Invaluable!

 

[Creature13]

xanthoman: thanks for the info on refrigerating the ffs. I've always had problems dusting them, and now I know. Invaluable!

You can also refrigerate the BSF grubs to slow their metabolism. If you have a number of them it will prolong the time before they go into the pupae state.

 

[xanthoman]

bsfl as feeders

Thanks for the info, I was really scared BSF were like hornworms and not allowed to be released in the wild, at least in NY. However can you further explain the above quote, I'm confused:confused

bsfl are great feeders, relatively high in calcium, they also contain lauric acid, which is said to have anti-coccidial properties.

the problem with bsfl, is that they have a tougher more leatherier like skin than most larval feeders, and can sometimes be hard for even healthy adult chams to digest.

even when feeding to healthy chams, it is not uncommon for them to come out completely intact and undigested, often appearing just as they went in only dead.
obviously, if they are coming out intact, then the nutritional benefit is not gained.
their nutritional content is irrellevent if they are not being at least partly digested. so, its generally accepted as a common practice to aid digestion by using a pair of nail clippers to put a little nick in their side to help the chams digestive juices to get a foothold.

imo nail clippers work better than razor blades etc because you only want to nick through the skin. if you nick them too deeply they will die prematurely rendering them useless as feeders jmo