Coconut Oil instead of Vaseline to prevent FF crawling.

[Mantidaddicted]

Hmm, I ran out of Vaseline to put on the sides of my cups so the fruit flies cant climb up, do you know if coconut oil is safe to use instead??

 

[Mantidaddicted]

Nevermind, lol, found a better and safer way to do it. 

Coconut oil can be used as a bug repellent so I don't think I want to try that. More for my hair!! LOL.

 

[ashleenicole]

I've never used anything for my fruit flies, but I probably should! I lose so many while feeding, it's incredibly annoying lol. 

 

[Mantidaddicted]

" I lose so many while feeding, it's incredibly annoying lol. "

story of my life. haha, so frustrating!

 

[Sarah K]

Hmm, I ran out of Vaseline to put on the sides of my cups so the fruit flies cant climb up, do you know if coconut oil is safe to use instead??

I've never used anything for my fruit flies, but I probably should! I lose so many while feeding, it's incredibly annoying lol. 

 I do not usually use this Vaseline method. Here is my method:

I put the whole FF culture in the freezer for a few minutes (usually 2 to 4), and use a funnel and a pill bottle to count out however many FFs I want to put in my individual mantis enclosures. Then I take the pill bottle with the still stunned fruit flies, and pour them into the mantis enclosure from the pill bottle. Rarely do I lose any, unless I did not freeze the fruit flies long enough in the first place. 

 

[Mantidaddicted]

 I do not usually use this Vaseline method. Here is my method:

I put the whole FF culture in the freezer for a few minutes (usually 2 to 4), and use a funnel and a pill bottle to count out however many FFs I want to put in my individual mantis enclosures. Then I take the pill bottle with the still stunned fruit flies, and pour them into the mantis enclosure from the pill bottle. Rarely do I lose any, unless I did not freeze the fruit flies long enough in the first place. 

Aaaaaah, so smart. My goodness!! Lol I love this forum so much!! Thanks Sarah!

 

[Sarah K]

Aaaaaah, so smart. My goodness!! Lol I love this forum so much!! Thanks Sarah!

Glad to help! Hopefully your feeding routine will get much much easier now.

 

[CosbyArt]

I don't do the freezer/fridge as it can easily kill off a FF culture as the temperature shock also affects the larvae/maggots. I simply tap the cup and use my fruit fly baster, my DIY here. Or for the wild flying varieties I simply use a sponge filled hole and the baster, my cultures photo below (you can see the sponge filled holes).

If you do have a large communal setup for freshly hatched nymphs, using a funnel and pouring in the flightless FF in also works great.

 

[ashleenicole]

Thanks for all the tips! I'm going to have to try a few new methods, because just tapping the flies to the bottom and quickly dumping a few out just isn't cutting it. 

 

[dmina]

or this works well also..LOL  This is my way...