# Feeding nymphs?



## tweek888

Hello,

I'm getting my first ootheca soon and want to culture my own food for them,

I find re-ordering FFF to be a bit rube goldburg like :\

I was thinking Fly larvae, but I'm not sure if a mantis would take them ( S. limbata)

Also, can they be cultured and for what amount of time?/ caresheets?

Thanks for your time!

-Tweek


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## Rick

Order you a vial of flightless fruit flies. Then order some medium and get some yeast. Mix the medium with water and add a pinch of yeast in a container of your choice. Throw in a few of the flies you got and soon you will have thousands of flies. Culturing fruit flies is so easy. I get my supplies from www.carolina.com You could even go on there and order their fruit fly culture kit which will come with everything you need.


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## louie

are u in the uk or u.s


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## tweek888

Thanks Great Info, (standard cooking yeast?)

I head that they will die out eventually(6-8 weeks) from a lack of fresh genes?

and

I'm in the USA

:wink:


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## lullaby10

I don't know if you have a petco around you or not, but they started carrying small viles of fruit flies there.

Another good website for FF is www.buyfruitflies.com.


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## Rick

They will not die out. The ones I have now I originally got like six months ago. If you need anymore help let me know.


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## Jesse

> I head that they will die out eventually(6-8 weeks) from a lack of fresh genes?


FF cultures do not die out because of lack of fresh genes, they die out because of declining food quality/quantity, that is why you start new colonies every few weeks with fresh food/substrate. That way you also have a continual supply of fruitflies.


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## Mantis Keeper

They may not die out, but after a month or so your "flighless" FF will mutate and start flying around. Happened to me every time so far, once with culture from petco and once from carolina biological supply.


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## Rick

That has happened to me too. But the ones I have had now for several months still don't fly.


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## Mantis Keeper

Lucky you. I just don't seem to have much luck with the flies.


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## Geckospot

I have had some ff cultures for a few months and none are flying yet.

www.Geckospot.com


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## Mantis Keeper

I guess it's just me then.


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## Rick

> I guess it's just me then.


No. Like I said it has happened to me before too.


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## Mantis Keeper

I meant in that it happens so quick and every single time.


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## Geckospot

Maybe wild fflies are getting into your culture.


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## lullaby10

You may have some flightless and ones that are able to fly in the same container. The "flight-abled" flies carry the dominant gene. So if you mix flightless and flight flies together, you will mostly get flight flies with a handful of flightless ones.


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## Mantis Keeper

Na, it's sealed, not a chance anything is getting in. I had a good setup, especially with the carolina flies.


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## lullaby10

You may have had some flightless that carried the flight gene then mated and you got one that can fly.


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## tweek888

Great info!

thanks a lot!


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## Mantis Keeper

Glad we could help tweek. I was under the impression that the flightless gene was recessive, how could the gene have been carried over if all the flies were origionally flightless?


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## lullaby10

One of the flightless may have carried it from down the line and it is starting to show up now. When that fly with the flight gene mates, there is a 25% chance that it's offspring with be able to fly. And when those flight flies mate with flightless, the chances go up.


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## tweek888

I forgot to ask, What is a good DIY substrate or who sells a cheap substrate or FFF? I have no petco near me.

:wink:

Thanks again


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## lullaby10

I get mine from buyfruitflies.com.


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## hortus

> I forgot to ask, What is a good DIY substrate or who sells a cheap substrate or FFF? I have no petco near me.:wink:
> 
> Thanks again


lots of people use banannas but when i tried they turned to liquid .

ive had the best luck with

85% instant potatoes

18%sugar

2% yeast

thats an average and probably nowhere near accurate i just pour in mostly potatoes then a little sugar and a pinch of yeast.

its not chemistry you dont need to be exact or for the most part even close

some people will swear you have to buy the media but ive had no problems with my mix . ive seen like 10 diffrent media mix recipies on the net and im sure theres 100 more you just gotta look.

one thing ive had issues ith is cheap walmart tupperware . im not talking bouth the cheap disposable tupper ware thats clear. this stuff im talkign bout is like an opage blue translucent at best.

what i started useing in the first place is like this 44-60 OZ container where i dumped most my flies in and started my main culter. thats made me about 400 hydei. now im starting several minicultures in diffrent types of container with difrent media mixes to test what works best but most are doign weel with hardly any difffences cept the bannas.

my fav containers are these disposable tupper ware things that are super small and i had an idea to use baby bottles


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## Mantis Keeper

Good thing you don't have to be close to that percent,  I have no idea how to mix 105% of materials.


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## Rick

I recommend buying a commercial medium instead of making your own. I get mine from www.carolina.com


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## Tapos

go to edsflymeat.com (i found out via Deshawns site) talk to or e mail them and your questions will be answered. i started with 3 cultures, i now have 20 or so at a time. i was told the FF will mutate to flight if the tempuratures are above a certain level. mine are mutated to be able to fly also.


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## Mantis Keeper

Will mutate if over a certian temp? Thats interesting. I don't see how temperature could have any effect on genes. Has anyone else heard this, or maybe have some sort of proof?


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## Jodokohajjio

The temperature doesn't effect genes--it may effect how they molt into adulthood though. That would be kinda the same way mantids are effected by humidity and such when they molt.

That means that some of the adults in your cultures, though they can't fly, will have offspring that can. The adults may just be a mis-molt with crippled wings but carry the dominant flying gene. If it is, indeed, dominant, then 100% of its offspring would be able to fly (as long as they don't also mis-molt).

If there was only 1 fruit fly in a culture of a few hundred that could pass on this gene, it may take a few life cycles for it to become apparent that something has gone wrong. The single fruit fly may only produce a couple dozen or so offspring, so not all the flies in the next generation would be "tainted" with the ability to fly, but a good portion would, and for each subsequent generation, the portion that can fly grows exponentially. I doubt it would take more than 2 or 3 life cycles before over 90% of the fruit flies can fly.


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## Hilly

> Will mutate if over a certian temp? Thats interesting. I don't see how temperature could have any effect on genes. Has anyone else heard this, or maybe have some sort of proof?


This is probably compairing apples to oranges, but take for example a crocodile nest: If the temps _inside_ the nest are above a certain temp, you get only one gender of babies. If the temp goes _below _a certain point inside the nest, you get babies of only the opposite gender.

I don't see why temps can't affect something other than gender?


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