curious about raffia used in fruitflies culture

[C.way]

hi all, I'm curious about the use of raffia, besides providing a standing place and also egg laying place for the fruit flies, what other purposes does it serve? What specific characteristic does it has over other material? Does it has any substitute? thanks

 

[hibiscusmile]

I do not know of anyone that uses that. It is paper and dyed, so I would imagaine it would just absorbe moisture and sink to the top of the culture and smother whatever is under it. And uncertain of the dye used, could be poisoniest and would probably be dirty as well. But who knows, try it and leave a post on your happenings.

 

[Rick]

Never heard of anyone using that. I also dont' think it would work. I usually use nothing or a piece of fiberglass screen.

 

[Emile.Wilson]

I put excelsior in my cultures, they do fine with it.

 

[mantisfart2]

I use raffia and most of the fruit fly breeders in the UK do too, answering your question c-way it just increases surface area in the tub for the flys to walk on and it provides some where dry for the maggots to pupate. I use plain natural raffia not the dyed stuff rebecca, as far as i know its not toxic, i have never had any problems with it.

 

[sufistic]

I use raffia and most of the fruit fly breeders in the UK do too, answering your question c-way it just increases surface area in the tub for the flys to walk on and it provides some where dry for the maggots to pupate. I use plain natural raffia not the dyed stuff rebecca, as far as i know its not toxic, i have never had any problems with it.

Thanks for the reply. Excelsior is not readily available here in South East Asia. Raffia's the next best thing.

 

[PhilinYuma]

Yep. Real raffia is O.K., though not the stuff that Rebecca mentions that is just shredded, colored paper. Do you have some of the real stuff to hand? If not, you might want to strip one of yr old Hula skirts or check out yr local Michaels. I saw that they are now stocking "natural" uncolored stuff. But unless there is a compelling reason for using raffia, I would suggest excelsior instead. It is much thinner and you can use a really small amount per pot. It is also easier to wash for recycling, or if you just toss it out, it will prove to be cheaper in the long run than raffia. Rebecca sells excelsior at a good price and Michaels may have it too.

 

[sufistic]

Yep. Real raffia is O.K., though not the stuff that Rebecca mentions that is just shredded, colored paper. Do you have some of the real stuff to hand? If not, you might want to strip one of yr old Hula skirts or check out yr local Michaels. I saw that they are now stocking "natural" uncolored stuff. But unless there is a compelling reason for using raffia, I would suggest excelsior instead. It is much thinner and you can use a really small amount per pot. It is also easier to wash for recycling, or if you just toss it out, it will prove to be cheaper in the long run than raffia. Rebecca sells excelsior at a good price and Michaels may have it too.

The raffia we find here in S.E.Asia (Malaysia & Singapore) is usually the plastic, colorful kind which looks awful. I'm not sure whether we can get real raffia in these parts. Before I found an art shop selling Excelsior here in Singapore, I used the hay they feed to hamsters and gerbils, which works fine until they get moldy from a lot of heavy misting.

We might have really exotic mantids here in S.E.Asia but we don't have the luxury of having a variety for feeder insects and the awesome materials you guys have ready access to.

 

[Matticus]

The giant D. melanogaster cultures you can get at PetCo in the US are filled with natural, unbleached, untreated raffia. It seems to work well, so I'm about to try it for my new batch of cultures.

 

[Rick]

The giant D. melanogaster cultures you can get at PetCo in the US are filled with natural, unbleached, untreated raffia. It seems to work well, so I'm about to try it for my new batch of cultures.

One's i've seen there have a plastic mesh in them.

 

[PhilinYuma]

One's i've seen there have a plastic mesh in them.

Plastic mesh in AZ, too!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Ditto for OHIO, only problem, flies always doa, plastic seems fine though.

 

[d17oug18]

i used coffee filters! lol works great for me and there dirt cheap!!!

 

[C.way]

i used coffee filters! lol works great for me and there dirt cheap!!!

lol, how does it work?

 

[C.way]

I use raffia and most of the fruit fly breeders in the UK do too, answering your question c-way it just increases surface area in the tub for the flys to walk on and it provides some where dry for the maggots to pupate. I use plain natural raffia not the dyed stuff rebecca, as far as i know its not toxic, i have never had any problems with it.

thanks again, those raffia works well in the culture you sent, but the problem now is that I don't see any sold in my country far away here, starting a new culture become a problem with me, I've tried using straws as a substitute of raffia, but works awfully, resulting a total death to those fruit flies I pour into the new culture, luckily I've poured only a little in

 

[d17oug18]

buy my culture and find out

no no, i put about 5 together and slide them in the cup over the medium. It works great for me and gives the flies a hiding place and dry areas for maggots to pupate.