A New Larval Diet for Musca Domestica (Diptera: Muscidae)1

Larvae of the house fly, Musca domestica, reared on Purina Rodent Laboratory Chow® #5001 produced more and heavier pupae than did larvae reared on the conventional CSMA diet. Adult flies produced from the larvae fed Rodent Chow produced significantly more eggs and adult progeny than did adults from larvae fed CSMA. Larvae migrated from wire-bottomed diet pans, which were raised 0.5 cm above the sandcovered collecting pan after 4 days, and mechanical separation of pupae from spent larval medium was thus unnecessary.