# Alternate to fruit flies?



## maybon (Apr 9, 2012)

I was just wondering, since Australia has very strict rules on fruit flies and they tend to control outbreaks really well what an alternative to fruit flies would be that is either easy to catch &amp; breed or easy to buy &amp; import.

We do have fruit flies and I have put a fruit fly trap outside hopefully with some luck I won't need an alternative... but last time I saw a fruit fly was 2 years ago when I was doing first year genetics at university, so I am not very hopeful.


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## Myrmecologist2 (Apr 9, 2012)

Are you not able to get fruit flies? (D. melanogaster, hydei, etc.) Technically the ones we use aren't really fruit flies, they don't touch living fruit and only feed off the yeast that is produced from rotting fruit while the larvae eat the micro organisms and sugar growing within.


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## maybon (Apr 9, 2012)

Myrmecologist2 said:


> Are you not able to get fruit flies? (D. melanogaster, hydei, etc.) Technically the ones we use aren't really fruit flies, they don't touch living fruit and only feed off the yeast that is produced from rotting fruit while the larvae eat the micro organisms and sugar growing within.


I am pretty sure you are allowed to get M. hydei but there is no where you can buy them in Australia... Not unless you are a research institute or something I guess. I should probably ask some of the people at my university if I could get a culture maybe... The flightless ones would be excellent of course


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## CoolMantid (Apr 9, 2012)

White flies. Aphids (If you get them to move). Ants. Mosquitoes... etc. Hope this helped


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## hutch2828 (Apr 9, 2012)

You could try micro crickets. I've seen some places that sell super tiny ones that are larger than fruit flies but would probably be small enough for nymphs. I've never tried them as I've always been able to get fruit flies


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## Krissim Klaw (Apr 9, 2012)

Micro crickets? You mean pinheads/freshly hatched nymphs? For a number of species pinheads would work but they grow faster than the mantises so you would need a steady stream intially and thus would either be ordering often or need a breeder tank of crickets. I used to go out and catch leaf hoppers for mine. Not nearly as easy as fruitflies but they work as long as you have decent sized nymphs.


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## maybon (Apr 10, 2012)

hmm thanks for the advice guys, I might have to end up breeding crickets then if I can't get my hands on any... And ants would kill the mantis if there are too many right?


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## CoolMantid (Apr 10, 2012)

Depends on the size of the ant. I feed ants to my Chinese and they eat them without any problems


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## gripen (Apr 10, 2012)

maybon said:


> hmm thanks for the advice guys, I might have to end up breeding crickets then if I can't get my hands on any... And ants would kill the mantis if there are too many right?





Hertarem45 said:


> Depends on the size of the ant. I feed ants to my Chinese and they eat them without any problems


You should never ever feed ants to mantids. Along with there formidable weaponry many sp. have formic acid in there gut that will kill mantids if ingested.


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## maybon (Apr 10, 2012)

gripen said:


> You should never ever feed ants to mantids. Along with there formidable weaponry many sp. have formic acid in there gut that will kill mantids if ingested.


I thought the same thing, well looks like I should catch some mosquitoes any tips on that?

PS i dont want to stand outside with a net and waiting haha


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## Krissim Klaw (Apr 10, 2012)

I find if I leave on a few of my lights outside all sorts of flying critters come in. If you have a finely threaded net and a nice field you can catch all sorts of little flittering insects by simply swinging the net back and forth through the grass.


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## Myrmecologist2 (Apr 10, 2012)

If you can afford to spend around 30-50 dollars for a good black light, you can set one up a night, hung over and infront of a white sheet suspended in the air. I don't own one, but I've using these techniques before with amazing success attracting anything from dragon flies, moths, cockroaches, and many other types of flying insects.


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## rs4guy (Apr 11, 2012)

You could always use springtails for the smallest nymphs...


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## maybon (Apr 11, 2012)

It's alright problem solved. Apparently fruit flies aren't as controlled as I thought, woke up today and there was maybe 10 in my fruit fly trap  Now time to culture them! Thanks for the tips/help though guys


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## Myrmecologist2 (Apr 12, 2012)

maybon said:


> It's alright problem solved. Apparently fruit flies aren't as controlled as I thought, woke up today and there was maybe 10 in my fruit fly trap  Now time to culture them! Thanks for the tips/help though guys


You sure you have the right species? The fruit flies we culture aren't regarded as serious pests since they don't harm live fruit. Mediterrarien fruit flies on the other hand are big pests which are the ones most people will try to get rid of or control.


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## maybon (Apr 12, 2012)

Myrmecologist2 said:


> You sure you have the right species? The fruit flies we culture aren't regarded as serious pests since they don't harm live fruit. Mediterrarien fruit flies on the other hand are big pests which are the ones most people will try to get rid of or control.


They are D. melanogaster, brown guys red eyes. I was almost 100% sure these are controlled in Australia and I am sure I have the right ones.


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## PhilinYuma (Apr 12, 2012)

There is an irony here, maybon. Two friends of mine in NSW used to obtain their fruit flies from the uni genetics lab when they were undergraduates.

The notoriously nasty one in oz was the papaya fruit fly, _Bactrocera papayae, __that caused millions to eradicate a few years back__. Here in Yuma, AZ, in the _ southwestern _ U.S, on the US Mexican border,__ the most feared pest fly is _ the Mexican fruit fly, _Anastrepha ludens_, and we have stickies almost every block on citrus trees to check for them They are easy to recognize, though, because they wear those tiny sombreros.


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## maybon (Apr 12, 2012)

PhilinYuma said:


> There is an irony here, maybon. Two friends of mine in NSW used to obtain their fruit flies from the uni genetics lab when they were undergraduates.
> 
> The notoriously nasty one in oz was the papaya fruit fly, _Bactrocera papayae, __that caused millions to eradicate a few years back__. Here in Yuma, AZ, in the _ southwestern _ U.S, on the US Mexican border,__ the most feared pest fly is _ the Mexican fruit fly, _Anastrepha ludens_, and we have stickies almost every block on citrus trees to check for them They are easy to recognize, though, because they wear those tiny sombreros.


Ah cool, well at least I know breeding these guys isn't illegal now  thanks for the info


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## dlemmings (Apr 12, 2012)

PhilinYuma said:


> There is an irony here, maybon. Two friends of mine in NSW used to obtain their fruit flies from the uni genetics lab when they were undergraduates.
> 
> The notoriously nasty one in oz was the papaya fruit fly, _Bactrocera papayae, __that caused millions to eradicate a few years back__. Here in Yuma, AZ, in the _ southwestern _ U.S, on the US Mexican border,__ the most feared pest fly is _ the Mexican fruit fly, _Anastrepha ludens_, and we have stickies almost every block on citrus trees to check for them They are easy to recognize, though, because they wear those tiny sombreros.


tiny sombreros...lol


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