Fruit flies problem

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Chasebrestle@yahoo.com

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Well i need to know how many fruit flies need to be put in a new culture?

I have the fruit flie mix and just need to get some sutable contaners.

Any information on this topic would be greatly apperated.

Thanks in advance chase

 
Chase said:
Well i need to know how many fruit flies need to be put in a new culture? I have the fruit flie mix and just need to get some sutable contaners.

Any information on this topic would be greatly apperated.

Thanks in advance chase
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About 10-15 is good but more will produce faster

 
Chase said:
Well i need to know how many fruit flies need to be put in a new culture? I have the fruit flie mix and just need to get some sutable contaners.

Any information on this topic would be greatly apperated.

Thanks in advance chase
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Be sure to read the stickie post "Fruit Fly culturing" in the Food and Feeding section, if you haven't already. 30-50 flies are recommended to start a new culture. I personally like to use 50-75 or so, but my practices may not be the ideal.

According to the title of your post, I gather your current culture/s are stopping production? Please know that when making up new cultures it will take about 2 weeks for the melanogasters to start producing more flies. And it will take 3-4 weeks for the D. hydei to reproduce to ready-to-feed adults. You can't wait until you need more flies to make up new cultures. You need to make the cultures up in advance from when you need them. Don't forget or put it off... you can't breed new ones overnight. And there's no way to significantly speed up their reproductive cycle, although keeping them at around 80 degrees may optimize the cycle time.

So if you're cultures are going caput, you may need to buy some more producing ones now, in addition to making up new, to get you through until yours start producing. One thing to try is to mix up a little bit of media, like you would to start a new culture... but not as much, just a little. And add that to your dying culture. I've done this and it seems to keep them going a little longer. Trying it wouldn't hurt at this point though, if you're in a pinch. Good luck!

 
Well i bought the culture a weak or so ago so how often do you need to start new ones? I have a smaller type(I cant get the names straight) of fruit fly culture which seems to be doing good and will try to restart the old cultures and start new ones.

Thanks for all the help

Chase

 
Chase said:
Well i bought the culture a weak or so ago so how often do you need to start new ones? I have a smaller type(I cant get the names straight) of fruit fly culture which seems to be doing good and will try to restart the old cultures and start new ones. Thanks for all the help

Chase
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I make new ones about every 2 weeks. The D. melanogaster are the smaller variety, and the D. hydei are the larger ones. ;)

 
More flies you add to a new culture the faster you will have a big batch going. 32 oz deli cups are what I use and they work great. Gotta cut the hole in the side in order to tap them out though.

 
Rick said:
More flies you add to a new culture the faster you will have a big batch going. 32 oz deli cups are what I use and they work great.
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I agree!

Rick said:
Gotta cut the hole in the side in order to tap them out though.
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Not necessarily... gotta disagree with you there, Rick. ;) I've tried the hole thing, and it just seemed to be more of a hassle to me.

I now just take an empty 32 oz deli cup and invert it over the top of the culture cup (quickly, and after tapping the ones in the culture cup down). Then I wait about 30 to 60 seconds for them to naturally start climbing up into the empty ones, then holding them together, I invert and knock what I can into the transfer cup. I knock both down again and replace lid on culture and put lid on transfer cup. Then I either stick it on the ledge outside my window (where it's now freezing, and very convenient), or run downstairs and put them in the fridge or freezer to "stun." Then all I have to do is open the lid and shake how many I want into the enclosures. Have to work fast though... they wake up and you don't get them under control and the lid back on... and then you've got a problem with the whole top off. But they seem to escape just as easily from the hole for me. I think it's just a matter of preference... which method you find easier to deal with.

Chase said:
Thanks for the clarification now i am going to start my new cultures hope i don’t mess up. :D
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Edit: Don't worry too much... you'll do fine! ;)

 
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It doesn't take many to start your new culture, just shake what u have in there, in 7 days u will see maggots if it is the small ones and the hydei in 9 or 10 days!

I agree with Rick, a hole is nice, Though I don't use cold or holes anymore, just pop the lid and tap what I need inside container. Cold seems a waste of time, course u do realize my fruit flies are trained not to run away! :rolleyes: :lol: I have no time for chasing them.

 
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I don't freeze them, for about 2 minutes, anymore cause I forgot twice and thought I'd killed them off, but was lucky, and learned not to do that again.

I just tap the container down, then pull the lid and put an envelop over the top of the container and leave a crack open and tap them into the mantis jar and then turn the cup up again and tap them down to the bottom of the deli cup and cap the mantis container, and then put the lid back on the fruit fly container. No worries about forgetting and freezing and losing the fruitflies.

For baby crickets I just tap the bag they're in and tip as many down as I want and let em slide into the lair :) I won't chill them out, or they''ll die.

Some of my cultures were made on the 28th of december, and some on the 30th and 31st, and they're all smoking. Doesn't seem to matter which culture recipe I used, they're all going strong and producing well. Got lots of ff's now. I'll just feed more to the mantis', which is perfect as the mantis' are getting larger day by day.

Started 8 more melanogaster cultures tonight. I've not used Heidi yet, but think I'll pick some up next time I'm across town, and start some cultures of them.

Any dead crickets or ff's I have i've started feeding to my tropical fish, no waste .

 
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nasty bugger said:
Got lots of ff's now. I'll just feed more to the mantis', which is perfect as the mantis' are getting larger day by day.Started 8 more melanogaster cultures tonight. I've not used Heidi yet, but think I'll pick some up next time I'm across town, and start some cultures of them.
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EIGHT more D. melanogaster cultures? :huh: Why would you make so many of them when they only serve their purpose for the first week or so of a nymph's life usually? The only reason I could see to make up that many would be if you had 100 ooths getting ready to hatch next week (or 50 of a smaller species that could require them for a couple/three weeks maybe).

I have quite a few nymphs right now to feed, but I don't use nearly the amount of D. melanogaster as opposed to D. hydei. You won't need the D. melanogasters much except for newly hatched nymphs (or maybe a little longer for some smaller species) . And it's usually not very long before they grow enough to handle the D. hydei, which they will eat until graduating to house flies, blue bottles, crickets, roaches, etc.

So I would only keep one or two cultures of D. melanogasters going... and only if you intend to possibly need them in the relatively near future for hatchlings (so you don't have to buy more). I would concentrate your cultureing efforts on D. hydei, which are a more suitable size for a longer period of time.

 
Last night i made two new cultures i put like 50-90 in each. Very few escapes think i did good (no complaints on the fruit fly side at least).

Wow i will never look at apple sauce the same way again.

Should i move all the nymph’s together i have like three good 64oz container so there be like nine in each.

I think i will keep them separated i would if the smallest ones got eaten just for my convenience but i could be swayed the other way if any body has a good argument.

 
:lol: I am not selling my trained flies, do u know how long it takes to train one? Almost to the day they die, so forget it!

:lol: Remember, remember what? :huh:

 

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