Ff's dropping like flies

[AltarMantis]

Please help! I'm not sure exactly what I'm doing wrong l, though i have some guesses. My nymphs are cannibalizing each other because they have no food, my fruit flies are not surviving the days and I'm running very low on food. I have been misting the nymph containers daily but have not been leaving way cotton balls in the tank and have not left any fruit for the flies... suggestions asap would be very welcome!

 

[crabbypatty]

@AltarMantis are there any pet stores near you? Some have flightless fruit fly cultures already to go.

 

[CosbyArt]

@AltarMantis Some photos of your containers, setups, cultures, and any details would help find the problems. However, in the meantime it would do little to help feed the nymphs.

Indeed try a local pet store for fruit flies, a nearby PetSmart always has Hydei FF on hand (what you need) - PetCo only has Melanogaster FF if any at all. Other than the chain pet stores, the local mom and pop ones in my area never carry fruit flies, but perhaps with luck you may find some at yours.

Sadly for now you have to let them cannibalize if you want any to survive until you get feeders, as separating all the nymphs would only lead to them starving to death.

 

[AltarMantis]

I've bought two vials from the nearby petco  (or petsmart can't remember). The wild ones always seem to last but the cultured ones dont seem to. ive created three more containers with just flies and different variables within to see if I can start to figure it out. Ill post some pictures.

 

[AltarMantis]

I've just been using paper towels as substrate in there, and sticks or toilet paper tools for cloning structures ( the paper towel rolls are a recent decision) I spray their containers once a day with water. and right now only have Ziploc bags with hiles perforated in the top to let air in which seem to be working fine.

 

[CosbyArt]

@AltarMantis Okay sounds fine, and while not a typical nymph container setup it sounds like it should work fine.

What fruit fly medium (food), excelsior material, and containers are you using for the fruit flies? That would be the more important setup at the moment to ensure they have enough food.

 

[AltarMantis]

I've got two culture vials from petco. im trying to start my own culture as soon as I can. Im not familiar with what excelsior material is, and I would love a link to the ideal nymph container or I can stop being lazy and find it myself.

 

[CosbyArt]

I've got two culture vials from petco. im trying to start my own culture as soon as I can. Im not familiar with what excelsior material is, and I would love a link to the ideal nymph container or I can stop being lazy and find it myself.

For fruit fly medium/food recipes, here is a comprehensive list.

Excelsior is often wood wool, personally I use either 5 smashed together cotton balls or 3 triangular folded coffee filters. It allows the adult flies a place to gather and/or lay eggs, giving the culture much more surface room for the larvae/maggots in the medium (and pupating on the container sides). See this post for how it works, photos, and more.

The most common containers by far used for fruit flies are 32oz deli cups with poly-mesh lids. Of course if a local dollar store sells the deli cups you can create your own lids, but the the containers are much thinner than the ones bought for the purpose.

If you are asking about mantid nymph containers, then that is making nymph cups, as explained - just use fine mesh like organza fabric or coffee filters so the fruit flies can not escape (as all FF can escape through standard mesh).