How I make fruit fly medium!

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ArkBlue said:
[SIZE=14pt]Hey Phil did you every find anything out about the vinegar, also are you still useing this same way of makeing culture?[/SIZE]
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Sorry. I missed this. Yes, I still use vinegar, but I found that there was no particular advantage in using cider vinegar with "mother of vinegar" in it. Recently, though, I have been afflicted by a really nasty mould that can start turning a culture medium black within 24 hrs, so currently, I am using the mix sold by Carolina, because it is more mold resistant. I did not find that any changes that I made significantly improved ff yield (mine has always been pretty good) and certainly it didn't "speed up" the hydei life cycle. If you make a hydei culture in which the pupae eclose earlier than usual, you have almost certainly got a culture contaminataed with mels! :D

 
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Did anyone try oatmeal? I am going out of town in two days and am running low on time on what I can and can't do! My culture has consumed about half of what it came with already. I don't know if it will last till next week?

 
Did anyone try oatmeal? I am going out of town in two days and am running low on time on what I can and can't do! My culture has consumed about half of what it came with already. I don't know if it will last till next week?

 
Oops don't know why that posted again! Sorry!

Baby oatmeal eh? I just got the potato flakes...hopefully it works! I gave them a slice of browning banana too :)

 
Yeah, the baby oatmeal mainly seems to act so that they don't drown and have something dry to walk on. My basic setup includes: microwaved apple slices and strawberry preserves, red wine vinegar, baby oatmeal, coffee filters, and if I can, a bit of the "original" medium that I bought the flies in. My oldest culture is nearly a month old, and it's doing great.

 
Has anyone tried beer? I know the fungus gnats I get from my plants love the stuff! If my fiancé doesn't rinse out his beer cans and we have a few in the house that's where they will all be the next day!

 
I use something similiar for my fruit flys.... I pretty much guestimate applesauce vinegar and oatmeal with a pinch of bakers yeast. works great.

 
I use vinegar/water with some sugar and yeast and mix this with a few cups of potato flakes and this works pretty good!

 
That MASA thing from maseca is the "flour" used to make tortillas, it is grinded corn with a little salt and lime or quicklime, however you call it. It won't harm your mantis or you, of course. Well, now I've found in this post how to feed both flies (and so my mantises) and me with the same stuff :nuke: :chef: :nuke:

At least for making tortillas!

 
SGcvn69 said:
Has anyone tried beer? I know the fungus gnats I get from my plants love the stuff! If my fiancé doesn't rinse out his beer cans and we have a few in the house that's where they will all be the next day!
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It seems like a terrible waste of good beer! A better substitute is brewers' yeast used in making beer.

Edit: Oops! I should have said "a by-product of making beer."

 
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are my flies the only one not eating any of this?

i'm using the medium bought from mantisplace.com and followed the instructions to the tee...all my flies just get caught and die in there =/

 
I don't understand the coffee filter and how you move the maggots or if you move them?

 
Hi, I'm new to Mantid Forum. I have one question. Should I leave the yeast on top of the medium or is it ok to mix it in? Also, how much baker's active dry yeast should I use?

 
sombrilla said:
Hi, I'm new to Mantid Forum. I have one question. Should I leave the yeast on top of the medium or is it ok to mix it in? Also, how much baker's active dry yeast should I use?
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Most people just sprinkle a pinch on the surface, and since this is yr first time at making the stuff,I suggest that this is the way to go, though an equal amount of sugar will help the yeast to grow, and it is the yeast that the maggots eat. I put 1/2 cup yeast with 1/2 cup of sugar in with 51/2 cups of potato flakes and one cup of brewer's yeast, but that much yeast will make yr mixture 'rise' and that can cause problems.

 
Can someone differentiate the two types of yeast for me? When they say "yeast" that is mixed into the medium is it brewer's yeast? And the yeast grains that are sprinkled on top of the mixture and NOT mixed in is the active dry yeast for the flies to eat?

 

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