Fruit fly pupae sellers?

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CosbyArt

CosbyArt

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I got my order today from Chuck at SpiderPharm, and I was more than happy. Anyway he sells his wild (flying) Melanogaster flies as pupae and what a idea!

I've bought several fruit fly cultures online with usually disastrous results. The cultures typically are flipped in shipping killing everything off, exposed to extreme temps, or simply bad packaging. I myself have sold FF cultures as well and had mixed results, even when shipped with very little food to kill/smoother the cultures.

As I'm incubating ooths again and as I let my original fly cultures die off (as I didn't need them for so long), I was looking to avoid throwing money away on dead fly cups online again. Well with fruit flies extremely limited locally (I only could find Hydei), I found Chuck's site and I ordered 10,000 Melanogaster pupae for my cultures. I use cotton balls in my fly cultures anyway so it was no problem to pour some pupae on the cotton for the pupae to hatch and start my cultures. I made up eight 32oz cultures, and it would be no problem to actually make 2 dozen of them (I didn't need that many). If all the pupae hatch, and some already are, the cultures will have nearly a 1000 flies from the start - what jump start.

I have to ask why doesn't everyone sell fruit flies this way?! No problems with dead cultures from flipped boxes, or anything like that, and unless the pupae are overheated (and the hatched flies die) anyone that orders can almost be 100% assured to receive living fruit flies.

Does any other sellers or stores offer fruit flies this way? It would be great to find a source for Hydei or flightless Melanogasters - for the next time my cultures die off (then again I know nymphs love the wild Melanogasters and I've found a way to feed them with little to no escapee flies).

Here are my pupae un-boxed in net bags - housefly pupae on the left, and Melanogaster on the right. I bought 10 grams of each which is approximately 500 houseflies, and 10,000 Melanogasters.

ffpupae1.jpg


Here are the Melanogaster fruit flies in the new cultures. I've already had some hatching, can't wait to see how many are in there in just a few days

ffpupae2.jpg


Here is one of my old cultures to show the cotton balls isn't a crazy idea, look at all those flies. :D The idea is from Darkrai283, the original thread is here.

ffpupae3.jpg


 
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I seem to recall buying some years ago. Might have been the same place. I use a place that will sell adult flies which seem to travel better than an actual culture. I like this idea though even better. 

 
I keep my own cultures going and have only purchased some twice in the last four years. I, too, order just the adult flies. Buying just the pupae sounds interesting, but I don't know if I want flying ones in my house. I wonder how they raise them so that they can collect the pupae. 

 
Rick said:
I seem to recall buying some years ago. Might have been the same place. I use a place that will sell adult flies which seem to travel better than an actual culture. I like this idea though even better. 
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Selling just the adult flies is a good alternative to an entire culture too. Do you mind to share the source? I'd prefer getting just pupae, but just flies is a workable alternative. ;)

twolfe said:
I keep my own cultures going and have only purchased some twice in the last four years. I, too, order just the adult flies. Buying just the pupae sounds interesting, but I don't know if I want flying ones in my house. I wonder how they raise them so that they can collect the pupae. 
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I wish I could, with my first batch of cultures I kept them going for about 8 months, then decided it would be easier to just buy them as needed. Since then even with my best intentions my interest eventually fades on keeping them going for just future use. I have to admit though, if I did I would have five varieties of fruit flies now. :)

To win the battle of flying cultures, I cut a 1/4" hole in my cultures near the top and add a sponge in the hole. I then use my turkey baster to suck them up and feed to my nymphs. I tend to get maybe 1 or 2 FF's that escape during feeding time - one of the reasons I have the ribbon fly strips around my mantid area too. ;)

I also wonder how Chuck collects the pupae, I may have to see if he'll share the secret. I know if I tried it with any cultures I've had I would just have a mess.

 
heyyyy i thought this was interesting too when i found out they had FF pupae! i also bought housefly and Melanogaster pupae too AHHAHA. the prices are incredible. wholesale price!! 

 
I cant see where ol Chuckie sells hydei?oh. maybe i misreId it. That would be nice to send, but hard to remove the pupae I'm afraid. Sometimes I can move some from one container to another, but havent tried in bulk.

 
Starving Always said:
heyyyy i thought this was interesting too when i found out they had FF pupae! i also bought housefly and Melanogaster pupae too AHHAHA. the prices are incredible. wholesale price!! 
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Great to see I wasn't the only one to give it a go. So far the FF's have been hatching slowly, but likely Saturday I will see a large population explosion as it will be the third day. :D

If you have problems solving how to feed the flies to your nymphs without lots of escaping flies shoot me a PM, I can walk you though it. I did post a quick guide on how I do it above.

hibiscusmile said:
I cant see where ol Chuckie sells hydei?oh. maybe i misreId it. That would be nice to send, but hard to remove the pupae I'm afraid. Sometimes I can move some from one container to another, but havent tried in bulk.
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Indeed, he only sells Melanogaster, houseflies, and some various spiders.

That is a trick for sure on collecting the FF pupae in bulk, and likely why no one else does it. My only guess would be to open the culture inside some large enclosed container, let the flies escape, collect the pupae, and then leave the cup inside for the flies to return and trap them back inside quickly with the lid.

 
CosbyArt said:
Selling just the adult flies is a good alternative to an entire culture too. Do you mind to share the source? I'd prefer getting just pupae, but just flies is a workable alternative. ;)

I wish I could, with my first batch of cultures I kept them going for about 8 months, then decided it would be easier to just buy them as needed. Since then even with my best intentions my interest eventually fades on keeping them going for just future use. I have to admit though, if I did I would have five varieties of fruit flies now. :)

To win the battle of flying cultures, I cut a 1/4" hole in my cultures near the top and add a sponge in the hole. I then use my turkey baster to suck them up and feed to my nymphs. I tend to get maybe 1 or 2 FF's that escape during feeding time - one of the reasons I have the ribbon fly strips around my mantid area too. ;)

I also wonder how Chuck collects the pupae, I may have to see if he'll share the secret. I know if I tried it with any cultures I've had I would just have a mess.
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http://www.buyfruitflies.com/  I've had good luck with them over the years. They do sell complete cultures too. 

 
Rick said:
http://www.buyfruitflies.com/  I've had good luck with them over the years. They do sell complete cultures too. 
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Nice source, thanks for the link Rick. I see they offer just flies or just larvae too - even with the culture they ship the flies separate. Great to know a alternative source for Melanogaster, and especially Hydei, when needed - without worrying about another dead culture possibly showing up.
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Starving Always said:
the larvae looks a but like Hydei. i believe Melan is smaller. but i am not quite sure
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Indeed they are Melanogasters, the Hydei are about twice the size of them as usual (I have Hydei right beside my Melanogasters and the difference is huge). ;)

 
Late Saturday turned out to be the big fly day, 3 days after the FF pupae arrived and were put into cultures. A few more flies emerged Sunday, and here is what the 8 cultures look like with 1000 pupae in each on Sunday. A great start for the cultures for sure, and there are a few larvae already showing up too.

ffpupae4.jpg


 
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Starving Always said:
oh okay i can confirm that they are Melan.
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After a bit of effort collecting and freezing the flies for the photo, here is a comparison shot of a Hydei and Melanogaster fruit flies side-by-side. The Hydei is from a culture of the flightless variety I bought from a nearby PetSmart, and the Melanogaster is one that emerged from the SpiderPharm pupae.

Not the best photo, but you can see the sizes. :)

ffsizes.jpg


 
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CosbyArt said:
After a bit of effort collecting and freezing the flies for the photo, here is a comparison shot of a Hydei and Melanogaster fruit flies side-by-side. The Hydei is from a culture of the flightless variety I bought from a nearby PetSmart, and the Melanogaster is one that emerged from the SpiderPharm pupae.

Not the best photo, but you can see the sizes. :)

ffsizes.jpg
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Wow never knew that hydei got that big probably because I haven't used them right now I just have melanogaster 

 
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spider_creations said:
Wow never knew that hydei got that big probably because I haven't used them right now I just have melanogaster 
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That happens to us all, especially when something is out of context. So I placed them side by side for a shot. To be honest I figured the Hydei would have been bigger. ;)

Starving Always said:
woah, the hydei looks so much bigger than the ones i bought from Neherp. 0_0
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Likely a illusion as the many Hydei I've purchased and cultured tend to be about the same size. Although once I did get some before that were rather small, perhaps you did as well.

If your curious about it though, place one of yours on a coin and take a photo. I'll do the same and then you can see if there is any difference. :)

 

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