Fruit fly culture flightless or wingless

[KevinsWither]

Which types of flies do you typically use when culturing mantids or any other creature that eats fruit flies? And that I mean flightless or wingless? One of my cultures got infested with wild ones.

 

[CosbyArt]

@KevinsWither Well if you have wild flies they are the wild flying variety, not flightless and not wingless. I have used both varieties, flightless and flying FF, in both Hydei and Melanogaster species and found I like a variance from my experience.

My personal preference is to use wild/flying Melanogasters as they are a bit larger/plumper in body size (not counting the wings) than the wingless or flightless ones, and their flying attracts my mantid nymphs attention much better. Then with Hydei I like the flightless variety, as they crawl to my nymph pets - which my small arachnids enjoy much better.

I just get the flightless variety of Hydei at a nearby PetSmart. The wild flying Melanogaster I buy from Chuck at SpiderPharm in pupae form - I'm not sure how he collects the pupae but it must be a pain.

A warning though when using wild flying fruit flies, you will have to add them to your nymphs habitats carefully to prevent escapes which is much more common.

Some keepers put their cultures in the fridge to stun them and then quickly add them to their nymph habitats (but that can hurt the larvae/maggots, and I never had much luck with it myself). My trick is to add a 1/4" hole at the top of fruit fly culture cup side, and fill the hole with a piece of sponge. Then to feed them to my nymphs I remove the sponge and quickly insert my fruit fly baster (build instructions) in, and suck up the flies. Then I block the FF hole, and then blow the flies into nymph habitats.

Give the wild ones a try, but if you decide you don't like them as they are more work, then you will have to start new cultures with the flightless or wingless FF.

 

[KevinsWither]

I wonder, will any mantids take the wild ones? I was kind of like hmmm don't devil flower mantids need like only flying prey and do orchids need flying flies? My mom is kind of telling me to put them outside. A wild fly got in via an old lid part being open.

 

[Teamonger]

I have had no issues with feeding my mantis the wild ones. As Cosbyart said the only problem was the frustration of trying to get the little flying buggers into the mantis habitat without losing half of them or accidentally murdering them by leaving them in the freezer too long. 

That blaster is a brilliant idea! I will be making one of those this week for sure!

 

[CosbyArt]

I wonder, will any mantids take the wild ones? I was kind of like hmmm don't devil flower mantids need like only flying prey and do orchids need flying flies? My mom is kind of telling me to put them outside. A wild fly got in via an old lid part being open.

Well of course mantids do eat flying fruit flies, that is all mantids in the wild can find.

I have had no issues with feeding my mantis the wild ones. As Cosbyart said the only problem was the frustration of trying to get the little flying buggers into the mantis habitat without losing half of them or accidentally murdering them by leaving them in the freezer too long. 

That blaster is a brilliant idea! I will be making one of those this week for sure!

Thanks, it does work great and has for the last few years and thousands of nymphs. Best of luck with your project, and let me know how it turns out.

Many that have built or bought one from me say they are fun, and shooting the flies out into the mantid tank is the best part - as a quick squeeze of the baster bulb sends them flying out in a blur with a interesting ping sound as they bounce off the habitat wall (doesn't damage the flies).