I have all these flies now, which is great. I've been ticking off the life cycles. The flies are only of this earth for 7-9 days. The flies exist for one purpose: mate, lay eggs. Hours after a female lays eggs, she dies. (It's a stark existence.) So they'll just mate and lay eggs, right?
*laughs* *shakes head* Oh Aubrey...
It requires the right temperature range, high humidity and sunlight. Temperature (80°-88°F) is easily achievable with the terrarium located in the same room as the wood stove. Humidity is easy to keep high with the plant and a dish of water in the terrarium which is covered nearly all of the time. Sunlight should be easily mimicked with the right light bulbs, I just needed to find them.
I went to the Organic Garden Center located at the Pajama Factory. They have a wide variety of grow lights for hydroponics. I purchased a Sun Blaze 21 fluorescent lamp and placed it on top of the terrarium, leaving it on 24/7. I also had a couple CFL lights that I kept on to offer another color range since the fluorescent light was very blue.
November 28 I had my first flies. By December 19, I still did not have any signs of eggs or new larvae. I went back to the Organic Garden Center, and I was there for a while. I explained to Carl my goal of keeping the small batch of larvae and flies sustainable through the winter. That ruled out the $600 light setup. He called a couple vendors trying to find the right light that would offer a light range that closest mimicked the sun. For some reason, this isn't an easy find. One vendor was intrigued by my project and wanted to hear back about how it was working. (I ultimately didn't get the light that her company was selling.)
After two hours of research and brainstorming, Carl handed me a light bulb and said, "Try it. All I ask is that you let me know if it worked or not." I'm going to have to give him a few larvae for that kind act.
The fluorescent light was unplugged and reboxed. One of the other lamps was dismantled and the new light was fired up. The difference was immediate. It looks like daylight. It really does. See for yourself:
The terrarium has three components: plant for socializing and humidity, a dish of water for humidity, and a bin of corrugated cardboard and coffee grounds. The cardboard is supposed to be a desirable location for the females to lay eggs. Coffee grounds provide encouragement for the females to lay eggs nearby so that new larvae will have food to grow. I added some old larvae residue to the bin as well, which also signals to the females that this is a good place for the eggs to hatch.
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| Lovely little fly |
It requires the right temperature range, high humidity and sunlight. Temperature (80°-88°F) is easily achievable with the terrarium located in the same room as the wood stove. Humidity is easy to keep high with the plant and a dish of water in the terrarium which is covered nearly all of the time. Sunlight should be easily mimicked with the right light bulbs, I just needed to find them.
I went to the Organic Garden Center located at the Pajama Factory. They have a wide variety of grow lights for hydroponics. I purchased a Sun Blaze 21 fluorescent lamp and placed it on top of the terrarium, leaving it on 24/7. I also had a couple CFL lights that I kept on to offer another color range since the fluorescent light was very blue.
November 28 I had my first flies. By December 19, I still did not have any signs of eggs or new larvae. I went back to the Organic Garden Center, and I was there for a while. I explained to Carl my goal of keeping the small batch of larvae and flies sustainable through the winter. That ruled out the $600 light setup. He called a couple vendors trying to find the right light that would offer a light range that closest mimicked the sun. For some reason, this isn't an easy find. One vendor was intrigued by my project and wanted to hear back about how it was working. (I ultimately didn't get the light that her company was selling.)
After two hours of research and brainstorming, Carl handed me a light bulb and said, "Try it. All I ask is that you let me know if it worked or not." I'm going to have to give him a few larvae for that kind act.
The fluorescent light was unplugged and reboxed. One of the other lamps was dismantled and the new light was fired up. The difference was immediate. It looks like daylight. It really does. See for yourself:
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| The plant is a popular hangout for the flies |
I waited. And checked. And waited. Checked again. No eggs. No tiny larvae in the bin. Great, I had to give Carl a negative report.
On January 1, I decided to clean the floor of the terrarium. The plant creates a rain effect in the back left corner and water collects along the back edge. The dead flies plus water aren't pleasant, so I had placed some cardboard along that edge to absorb excess water. As I cleaned these cardboard pieces, I noticed they seemed to be shredded and chewed, and then I saw the tiny larvae! The teeniest, tiniest larvae and some bigger larvae! It was such a relief. The second larvae generation has arrived, and I've completed a circle.
I don't know where the flies are laying eggs in the terrarium. A few weeks ago, I witnessed a fly laying dozens of eggs on the size of the water dish. I monitored that cluster every day for a few days but I never noticed anything hatch. But there were dozens of tiny larvae all over the floor of the terrarium.
Every few days I'll clean up the floor to dispose of the dead flies, and I'll usually find a few larvae. I call them the teenies. That's my term. Feel free to use it.
If one fly has a successful hatch of the dozens of eggs that she lays, this operation can grow exponentially. I'll have to figure out what percentage of crawl off become chicken food vs dirt-bound to complete the circle.
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