Flies and their life cycles

Here is a concern that is raised often enough that it should be addressed. The lifecycle of flies. I get a lot of people that message me and tell me that their spikes arrived dead. When I ask for pictures, I see that they're actually pupated and not dead. If you are new to using blow flies (or any flies) as feeders, it's understandable why you think they perished. I also get messages about the flies not hatching.

I am providing Some visuals below to show the lifecycles of various flies so you have an idea of what to expect.

Black Soldier Fly (BSF)

When you get your spikes, they are typically in the pre-pupal stage and possibly in the pupal stage.  As you can see, the only time they feed is as larvae, otherwise, they don't need to eat and don't need any substrate (you can use paper towels or sphagnum moss to maintain humidity. I ship mine in coffee grounds in case there are larvae present that need to eat

House Flies 

House flies ship as pupae. Sometimes you will also get some larvae, depending on the length of travel. Heat and Humidity play a big part in properly hatching these insects.

Blue Bottle Flies (BBF)

The BBF has the longest pupa cycle of all the flies. It can take up to 3 weeks before they hatch. BBF ship as spikes and can arrive as spikes or Pupae, depending on travel length. These also require Heat and Humidity to hatch.