# fruit flies, mites, greenbottles?



## mrblue (Apr 25, 2008)

i boughtsome fruit fly cultures a few weeks back in preparation for some otheca hatches and young nymphs arriving. two of them were pretty much exhausted, but i bought them for the sheer number of flies which was more useful to me than a young culture as i planned to start some of my own anyway. i noticed in one of these exhausted cultures some oversized maggots that i assumed were greenbottle maggots as i had read about this hapening before (i just tried searching for the thread but can't find it, maybe some of you will remember it).

anyway yesterday and today these greenbottles started hatching out. today i was transfering them to a larger clean container to feed them up with honey before feeding them on when i noticed their eyes were light and mottled. closer inspection revealed their eyes were infested with mites, presumably left over from the exhausted fruit fly culture. i tried to get a picture, this is the best i could do as its obviously very small and i dont have a dedicated macro lens:







i just found this quite interesting because as far as i was aware, mites in fruit fly cultures simply competed with fruit flies for food right? are they somehow eating the greenbottles eyes, or is it just a cool place to hang out?

ps - the flies don't seem too bothered (not as bothered as i would be if i had things eating my eyes) and feed like normal, buzz around occasionaly, which is what makes me question whether the mites are actually eating or just hitching a ride.


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## Giosan (Apr 25, 2008)

mrblue said:


> i boughtsome fruit fly cultures a few weeks back in preparation for some otheca hatches and young nymphs arriving. two of them were pretty much exhausted, but i bought them for the sheer number of flies which was more useful to me than a young culture as i planned to start some of my own anyway. i noticed in one of these exhausted cultures some oversized maggots that i assumed were greenbottle maggots as i had read about this hapening before (i just tried searching for the thread but can't find it, maybe some of you will remember it).anyway yesterday and today these greenbottles started hatching out. today i was transfering them to a larger clean container to feed them up with honey before feeding them on when i noticed their eyes were light and mottled. closer inspection revealed their eyes were infested with mites, presumably left over from the exhausted fruit fly culture. i tried to get a picture, this is the best i could do as its obviously very small and i dont have a dedicated macro lens:
> 
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Pretty gross..

If I were you I wouldn't use those flies, even if they don't seem bothered. When you transfer the flies to your mantids or any other place, the mites might come off and run away and you could have a mite infestation in at your place..


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## Malnra (Apr 25, 2008)

I would not use them either .... i would probably toss the culture in the microwave and wipe out everything in there then wash it out for reuse


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## Giosan (Apr 25, 2008)

microwave? I would never want to eat _anything_ from the microwave again i think! :blink:


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## OGIGA (Apr 25, 2008)

What if the mites eat your mantises' eyes??


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## Ben.M (Apr 25, 2008)

Most mites that get in to FF cultures are the ones that just compete for the food but there is a type which is just in there to get a meal off the flys themselfs &lt;_&lt;


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## mrblue (Apr 25, 2008)

OGIGA said:


> What if the mites eat your mantises' eyes??





Ben.M said:


> Most mites that get in to FF cultures are the ones that just compete for the food but there is a type which is just in there to get a meal off the flys themselfs &lt;_&lt;


this is what i was wondering about, thanks for the reply. i'm not going to feed them on to my mantids (shame, i could really do with some greenbottles right now. luickily i got some maggots from gurd so at least theyre on their way). i wonder why they go for the fly's eyes and nowhere else. flies clean themselves often, i always see them rub their legs together and over their heads/eyes, which makes me wonder why they dont just do that now to knock the mites off.


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## joossa (Apr 25, 2008)

Yuck!! :wacko:


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## Rick (Apr 25, 2008)

That's strange. Can't say I have ever seen that before. I would throw all of that out and start over. You don't want those getting on your mantids.


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