Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi! I'm gonna order the house flies from Skipios, but have a few more questions. Why are larva's shipping so much more than pupa? Will I need to feed the pupa? If so is the corn meal that they say to use good enough? Do I need to feed the adult flies, and again if so do I use the corn meal? How many ounces (of pupa) do you guys usualy order at a time? (I have 2 baby panther chameleons that will be the main recipiants of the food, but I can also feed some to my juvinile basilisk and my leopard geckos if I have extra) Thanks a ton to everyone!

I think the larvas cost more than the pupae because they're more fragile. Pupa are shipped in a carboard envelope with a piece of pvc piping inside to act as a spacer. Larva would have to use a better shipping method. I've never ordered the larva, but from what the guy has told me, there's no need to feed them. Apparently, the larva will start to pupate if there's no food available, even if they're still a bit small. You'll just end up with a slightly smaller house fly. As for the adults, I don't bother feeding them. As soon as they hatch, they give snatched up by my chams (they all love them!). Sorry I'm not much help in the 'what to feed them' department.
How much to order: I usually order about 3 ounces. This should give you about 6000 flies according to Skippio, but I've found that I REALLY get about 4000 flies from 3 ounces. With the $5.00 for shipping, this runs about $11.50. If you can't use that many flies, I would suggest finding someone in your area to split an order.
BTW, I've tried feeding houseflies to my leos without success. Maybe if you feed them RIGHT after they emerge, before they're able to fly. Otherwise, they flies are a bit quick for my leos. Hope this was helpful.
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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com

Thanks! Thats what I was thinking too. Why would anyone buy larva when they cost more and have to pupate before you can feed them? Maybe its a bird thing?! As far as the leos, I have fed them a few flies in the past with sucess(just as a treat), I guess it just goes to show that they all have different personalities and tastes! I'll let everyone know how it goes once I get them!

Victor,
I remember you saying something about how some of them come smashed when you get them but the sheer numbers make up for it.... How many come smashed? Can you tell that they're bad or do they just not hatch? What kinda "hatch rate" do they have? I'll also probably order a bunch from them soon I want all the info I can get. Oh yeah where are they coming from (Cali, etc.)?
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

I just ordered the flies. The guy lives in Oregon. He is very freindly and gives you a lot of information about them, although he is a little hard to understand. I'll let you guys know how they do when I recieve them (latter this week)

Yeah let me (or us) know how they are. I still can't believe that anyone can breed 2000 flies and sell them for $2. How could you make money on that? Even at a large scale. Plus, flies are one of the more difficult insects to breed. I need to see it to believe it I guess.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

Tyler,

why do you say they are difficult to breed?
(besides the yuckiness!)

lele
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & no name
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & no name

I think they're difficult to breed compared to other insects based on what I have seen being described as breeding flies.... Most chameleon insects aren't very hard at all to breed (the ones I have bred at least) and the fly thing on Adcham looks pretty complicated, don't you think? Have you bred flies? Isn't it hard? I know I don't wanna mess with the maggots. But for someone to sell them so cheaply suprises me. I wish crickets or any other feeders were $2 for 2000.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

I did look at the info on AdCahm and yes, it does seem very complicated for the avergae herp keeper. Theirs is on a big scale, but of course if you have a lot of chams...

No, I have not bred them, but you can raise them on a a non-meat recipe (I'll have to see where I read it and post it). I think for the $$ it is worth just buying the pupa from time to time and slow down emerging by puitting in fridge. I agree about the wonderfully low price, but let's not discuss that or the price is sure to go up! LOL

lele

>>I think they're difficult to breed compared to other insects based on what I have seen being described as breeding flies.... Most chameleon insects aren't very hard at all to breed (the ones I have bred at least) and the fly thing on Adcham looks pretty complicated, don't you think? Have you bred flies? Isn't it hard? I know I don't wanna mess with the maggots. But for someone to sell them so cheaply suprises me. I wish crickets or any other feeders were $2 for 2000.
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>>Tyler Stewart
>>Las Vegas NV
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & no name
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & no name

My experiences dealing with Skipio.
Smashing: Kinda hard to give a number on just how many are smashed during shipping, but I would say about 25-50, more or less.
Numbers: Two thousand housefly pupa (according to Skipio) make up one ounce. It doesn't look like there's that many, but I've personally counted the pupae when I've ordered 3 ounces. Yes, there was about 6500 pupae (they're about the size of a grain of rice). I don't always get 100% hatch rate. It depends on the weather, and how long you keep them in the fridge. Best hatch rates are during the summer months with pupae that have not been refrigerated.
Profit: From what I've gathered, Skipio's bread and butter is in the bird feed business. They offer smaller orders to herpers, but they don't make much $ off these small orders. I think the guy prefers a 3 ounce minimum order, plus about $5.50 shipping- about $11.50 for 6000 fly pupae.
All I can say is give it a shot. The guy running the place can be a bit hard to understand, but he's friendly and helpful.
Skipio's house flies

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Victor Gomez
gomezvi.tripod.com/sdchamkeepers/
gomezvi@yahoo.com