Feeder Blue Bottle Fly LARVAE

Feeder blue bottle flies are sold on those page as LARVAE. If you don’t want to see them in thos form click over to our other blue bottle fly product for pupae. You can place larvae, pupae and adult flies in the refrigerator to extend their lives. These larvae should be removed every day or so for an hour to help them continue to develop. When you want them to pupate for sure, leave them out of the fridge. Depending on their development progress, and temperature of the room, they will pupate within a few days generally although it can take a couple weeks sometimes if they are in a particularly cold room. We do not recommend heat lamps or heat pads because they can easily cook inside a closed up container where heat builds up within in ways that users did not anticipate.

They may or may not arrive as larvae. They may pupate on the way to you, depending on level of development and weather.

$6 for 100 larvae. Okay to choose no-live-guarantee shipping for these. If temps are over 83 degrees, we require that you provide a hold for pick up location if you want a live guarantee on these (as noted on the terms of service page).

Blue bottle larvae are themselves a great feeders for many things, including Jerusalem crickets, warrior beetles and other predatory ground beetles. Adult jumping spiders and mantises will often eat them in the larval form as well.

Most people will allow them to pupate on arrival and then wait for a week or so for them to hatch as adult flies. As the pupae develop they will go from a pale color to an orange and then to a dark red and finally to a dark maroon, almost black color.

The adult flies are very useful for a wide variety of predatory or scavenging pets. Ordering them as larvae helps to extend their viability/usable life. They then pupate and then hatch out as adult flies usually within about 5 to 7 days unless you place them in the refrigerator which will pause their development. In this way you can extend their usefulness for about 6 weeks. They do have a shelf life and leaving them in the fridge too long may cause them to fail to pupate.

Simple to use. If your pet eats worms/larvae, just add them to the enclosure. Or, follow the instructions on this page to induce pupation. After you have pupae (like cocoons) hatch them into adult flies in a separate container first (recommended). Warmer temps will cause them to hatch/emerge more quickly. Once hatched, adults can also be stored in the fridge to prolong their lives. A bit of sponge dipped in sugar water will give them a little hydration and energy and help to extend their lives.

I repeated some of the care tips above because, frankly, people struggle with these for some reason. The video below may be helpful to explain or re-explain the points above, including factors of nuance like the temp of your fridge, etc.