Emile.Wilson
Well-known member
Ok so i put the fruit fly cultures near my heater and forgot about them for almost a week i just checked and they are all dead and the median is rock hard!!!! 
anything i can do?
anything i can do?
DEAD FRUIT FLIES!!!!
- Thread starter Emile.Wilson
- Start date
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Egads, Emile... :mellow: Well, I guess the most important thing to do right now is to remember not to do that again. Otherwise... if you have no living flies at all in any of the cultures, you probably will have to buy new asap. If the adults are all dead and the media is all hard and dried, any maggots or pupae will likely not have survived either. You can try moistening the media and leaving them sit (not by the heater though, lol) to see if anything survived... but don't get your hopes up. You might as well accept the situation, buy some new, and go on...
Otherwise... if you have no living flies at all in any of the cultures, you probably will have to buy new asap. If the adults are all dead and the media is all hard and dried, any maggots or pupae will likely not have survived either. You can try moistening the media and leaving them sit (not by the heater though, lol) to see if anything survived... but don't get your hopes up. You might as well accept the situation, buy some new, and go on... 
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
Well, Robby,
When I was a young feller like you, I used to make the same sort of dumb mistake. Now that I'm Old and Experienced, I find that I still make the same dumb mistakes, but since we can't afford to do that often with living things, here's what I do to stave off disaster:
Try and keep everything that you have to check at least once a day, ffs crix, flies, roaches etc, as close together as poss. If you can (I can't), keep them close to yr mantids, so that you remember to check them.
I assume that you started your ff culture before you needed it. Smart move. Order today from one of the companies recommended in Feedback Other (unless your source can deliver quickly) and set up at least one extra pot from the starter. Have you read the ff culture "sticky" at the top of this section? You need to have at least two pots producing when one of those Chinese ooths hatches
Best of luck!
When I was a young feller like you, I used to make the same sort of dumb mistake. Now that I'm Old and Experienced, I find that I still make the same dumb mistakes, but since we can't afford to do that often with living things, here's what I do to stave off disaster:
Try and keep everything that you have to check at least once a day, ffs crix, flies, roaches etc, as close together as poss. If you can (I can't), keep them close to yr mantids, so that you remember to check them.
I assume that you started your ff culture before you needed it. Smart move. Order today from one of the companies recommended in Feedback Other (unless your source can deliver quickly) and set up at least one extra pot from the starter. Have you read the ff culture "sticky" at the top of this section? You need to have at least two pots producing when one of those Chinese ooths hatches
Best of luck!
PhilinYuma
Well-known member
nasty bugger
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One of the main reasons I started culturing them is cause I froze a couple cultures, so I make extra cultures, and keep them in different places.
I was taught a long time back, well, twenty or twenty five years back anyway, to never keep all my eggs in one basket, or you stand to lose them all. I try to always plan ahead and have a contingency plan when I do anything
If one room gets too cool or hot, the cultures in the other room may stand a chance of survival, so I do double cultures, and keep them apart. Don't want to have to starve, or chase down food in a pinch.
Now that my mantis' are too big, except for my budwing, I don't have any reason to keep so many cultures, so they've also dried up, alot of them.
I focus on the hydei, which didn't fare so well as home grown cultures for me as the mels did, and a couple mel cultures for the tarantula.
When I start any of the 4 chinese ooths I have I'll need more mels, but I can cross that bridge when I need to. I want to give the babies a head start at good survival chances, and kick them loose in the yard, and other places.
At 50's in the nights, and 70's during the day it shouldn't be long before the natural hatchlings come out to play.
I was taught a long time back, well, twenty or twenty five years back anyway, to never keep all my eggs in one basket, or you stand to lose them all. I try to always plan ahead and have a contingency plan when I do anything
If one room gets too cool or hot, the cultures in the other room may stand a chance of survival, so I do double cultures, and keep them apart. Don't want to have to starve, or chase down food in a pinch.
Now that my mantis' are too big, except for my budwing, I don't have any reason to keep so many cultures, so they've also dried up, alot of them.
I focus on the hydei, which didn't fare so well as home grown cultures for me as the mels did, and a couple mel cultures for the tarantula.
When I start any of the 4 chinese ooths I have I'll need more mels, but I can cross that bridge when I need to. I want to give the babies a head start at good survival chances, and kick them loose in the yard, and other places.
At 50's in the nights, and 70's during the day it shouldn't be long before the natural hatchlings come out to play.
Emile.Wilson
Well-known member
Thanks for all the input everyone, but..... I just checked my cuture and there is a few fruit flies! Hope may not be lost!
TrogPhoto
Member
Try keeping your fruit flies in warm place, but not a hot place (22-25 ºC or so), and if they seem a bit dry, keep them in a loose fitting plastic bag. If the larvae crawl up the side to pupate that is perfect - if they crawl to the very top, to the lid, it is too humid - if they pupate on the media, it is too dry.
Us Dart Frog people have got this part down pat.
See more including recipe at ERAS fruit fly recipe
Us Dart Frog people have got this part down pat.
See more including recipe at ERAS fruit fly recipe
Emile.Wilson
Well-known member
Good news and bad news...... The bad news is ffs that hatched died, the good news is i found a fruit fly breeder in canada
