Spood Oddities Guide to Hatching Real Flies

Jun 4
4 min read

Charts and step-by-step visuals included.

This guide is for hatching real flies, not flightless fruit flies.

Guide credit: This guide is credited to Spood Oddities on Facebook.

If your jumping spider suddenly decides that flies are the only acceptable meal, you are not alone. This happens often with Florida white phase regius around the subadult stage. With Bahamas and Soroa locale spiders, it can happen much earlier. Species like Fartilis and Hyllus absolutely love flies too.

It can happen with both males and females. It can happen when they are younger. It has also been seen in other regius phases.

A similar guide was created back in 2023, and Spood Oddities has helped hundreds of people learn how to hatch flies successfully. You’ve got this too.

Quick Breakdown

There are a few different ways to hatch flies. This is one method that has worked well after many batches.

Blue Bottles

Blue bottles usually arrive in larvae form, also known as spikes.

It can take about 10–20 days from pupae to fly. This means you should not start counting the hatch cycle while they are still larvae. Day 1 starts once they are in pupae form.

Always give yourself a window of time and keep making new containers so you have flies available when your spiders need them.

House Flies

House flies usually arrive in casters, which means they are already in pupae form.

Average hatch time is about 5 days.

Green Bottles

Green bottles usually arrive in casters, which means they are also already in pupae form. Average hatch time is about 6–8 days, though some batches may take closer to 6–12 days depending on conditions.

Important Timing Note

Blue bottles have a longer process because they often arrive as spikes first.

The 4–5 week fridge longevity only applies to blue bottles while they are still in spike form. Once they are in pupae form, they usually do not last long in the fridge if they are not pulled to hatch.

Newer spike orders may hatch better than ones that have been sitting in the fridge for a while.

All spikes and casters have an expiration date.

How to Hatch Flies

Here is the basic setup:

Use a well-ventilated container.
Add a lightly damp paper towel.
Switch out the lightly damp paper towel daily until they begin to hatch.
Keep the container in a warm spot in the house.
Once the pupae turn very dark brown, mist one side of the container daily.
Remove hatched flies and repeat the steps with the next batch.

The paper towel should be lightly damp, not soaking wet. The goal is to provide humidity without drowning or molding the pupae.

Where to Keep Them

Warmth matters. Some good warm spots include:

Under LED lights
A warm shelf
A laundry room
On top of the fridge

What Spood Oddities Has Learned After Many Batches

Here are the biggest lessons from hatching flies regularly:

Make sure the pupae are dark enough before placing them on a lightly damp paper towel in a well-ventilated container.
Not all pupae will complete their cycle before passing, so always add extras.
Keep them in a warm spot in your house.
They need humidity to hatch and complete the cycle. The lightly damp paper towel provides this.
If they dry out, they can expire and fail to hatch.
Often, blue bottles may hatch past the 10-day mark once they are in pupae form.
Do not count days until they are in pupae form. Day 1 is the first day of pupae.
Once blue bottles are in pupae form, they usually will not last long in the fridge if they are not pulled to hatch.
Newer spike orders tend to hatch better than older ones that have been stored in the fridge for a while.
Humidity and temperature matter more than people think.

After the Flies Hatch

Once the flies hatch, move them into something you can use for feeding and watering.

You can feed them:

Honey
Bee pollen
Reptile jelly pods (search for Komodo Reptile jelly on Amazon)

Also mist a wall of the container so the flies have moisture to drink.

In Spood Oddities’ experience, blue bottle flies can last up to 8–10 days if they are given food and water. House flies and green bottles usually have a shorter lifespan, even when fed.

Final Setup

For anyone hatching larger numbers of flies, moving hatched flies into individual deli cups can make feeding easier and reduce the amount of time flies need to spend in the fridge before feedings.

In each deli cup, add:

A dot of organic honey, or
Bee pollen on the bottom lid

Make sure to add lots of ventilation to both the body and the top of each deli cup.

You can see setup videos by searching:

#bluebottleflies on Facebook

Additional Video Tutorial

Sara Czukal McBride, a friend and customer of Spood Oddities, has also created a tutorial showing another way to hatch flies. She graciously shared it in the group, and it is included here as another helpful resource:

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/i4rLpP2DA8KxD3ru/?mibextid=J7ZoRX

Pro Tip: Fridge Before Feeding

You can place hatched flies in the fridge for about 8 minutes before feeding.

This puts the flies into a short twilight sleep and makes transfers much easier.

Move fast, because they wake back up.

Why Learning This Matters

Remember, jumpers are still spiders, and many spiders will prefer a fly over anything else.

Some jumping spiders, both males and females, may hold out and refuse other feeders while waiting for flies. This is not meant to scare anyone, but to educate. Learning how to hatch flies is a huge skill and, in Spood Oddities’ opinion, especially with their spiders, critical.

Take your time learning and practicing. It can be a little tricky at first, but it is incredibly rewarding to watch.