The Easy Guide To Breeding your Own
Maggots
You will need:1. An old biscuit tin, or a similar container with quarter-sized holes cut into the lid
2. Meat for the flies to lay their eggs on - beef hearts are ideal.
3. Newspaper
4. Sawdust
Method:Locate a privately owned butcher shop. Large chain-style grocery stores do not usually butcher meat on site, but small family owned shops do.
Once you have obtained the beef hearts, Put them into the container and secure the lid. Place the container somewhere cool and dark (flies lay their eggs in the dark) Check the container after 2 to 3 days
and hopefully you should have a couple of silver dollar size patches of eggs that are clearly visible on the surface of the meat.
Wrap the meat in newspaper to suppress the smell, and to prevent the flies from laying more eggs. The waste produced by the maggots will give off ammonia, although with this method, you can only smell the 'maggot farm' when you get within a couple of feet of it.
Unwrap the meat every couple of days to check the progress of your maggots. Within a week you should have at least a pint of maggots ready for their close-ups!
The meat will have almost completely rotted away at this
stage. Transfer the maggots to a new container containing sawdust.
If you keep the maggots refrigerated
after breeding, they will last at least two weeks without any deterioration - remember to shake the container every other day to warm the maggots and to keep them active.
I Ain't gonna work on Maggot's Farm no more!
I used an old fence stain container with seven holes cut into the lid. Make sure that it's a tight
fitting lid to keep hungry cats away!
One Third of a Beef Heart
(Beef Hearts are normally about 2lbs in weight, & I've found that by cutting one into three parts & freezing the other two thirds, you get enough to breed three pints of maggots.)
Transfer maggots to sawdust bedding.
