Blow Fly Eggs and larvae (maggots)

Eggs are off-white, and laid in clusters of 25-500.

One-day-old larvae are only about 2 mm in length, and almost transparent.

By the time the maggots are 3 or 4 days old, they have grown to about 1 cm (1/2 inch) long.

Note & disclaimer: These are generalizations only. Maggot sizes and ages are very dependent upon species of fly, local temperature, food source, and other environmental factors. The actual size and age of your maggots may be different. Consult an entomologist when making specific age and size determinations.

The eggs and maggots seen here on a sterile petri dish (TSA-blood agar) are Phaenicia sericata.

We grow the flies and maggots in a special environmentally-controlled chamber, called an insectary.

Actually, this insectary is a broken freezer (Kelvinator), fitted with lights, heater, timers, and air inlets/exhaust. Very fine incubators ("environmental chambers") are available commercially, but their cost prohibited us from purchasing anything more than this salvaged freezer ($40) plus the parts (~$200) necessary for its metamorphosis

From the

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Ronald A. Sherman, MD, MSc, DTM&H
Depts. of Medicine and Pathology
Room D-440, Medical Sciences Building; ZOT Code 4800
University of California
Irvine, CA 92797-4800
Phone: (714) 824-5829
FAX: (714) 824-1098
e-mail: RSherman@uci.edu

Originally created: January, 1996 Last edited: November, 2002