General question on fruit flies

[Mantidae]

I've decided to breed wingless FF’s to supplement the PH’s I've fed my mantids. Just received my FF culture and noticed that a bunch of the flies had fallen into the culture and drowned. At this time (and in the future) is this an issue that needs to be addressed, decaying flies in the culture? The culture does include anti-oxidant and mold inhibitor, but I haven’t tried breeding FF’s before and I’m not sure how clean things need to be kept for the best breeding environment.

How soon after becoming adults might I remove the FF's to start another culture, immediately or wait a week between starting new cultures? Although I'm only going to be hatching one mantid egg case, I'd rather have excess flies rather than run out. So I ordered several live cultures to start with and 1.2 kilograms of additional culture mix. I see from reading previous posts that many of you order bulk culture, several pounds at a time. As long as I keep the culture dry what kind of shelf life can I expect on the bulk culture mix?

Concerning the vials that were supplied (about 1.25”diameter x 4”high). Is there an advantage to using larger vials? I’ve noticed some people use deli cups for breeding, any pluses or minuses for them? The smaller ones can contain problems easier since you're only throwing away a small amount of culture and flies if it becomes contaminated. But you’ll need to keep numerous cultures if you want a sufficient supply of FF’s on hand. Larger containers provide an increased breeding area and more flies. Rick, I see you order from Carolina too, how many cultures would you set up to have enough flies on hand in 2 weeks, 4 weeks?

Just looking for some feedback. I assume everyone eventually develops their own techniques for breeding but there generally are do's and don'ts to keep in mind in setting up FF breeders, any insights will be helpful.

TIA, Gus

 

[Rick]

I will tell you what I do. I buy the large bag of medium and go to the grocery store to get the active yeast packets. I have about eight of the small vials with the foam plugs. In addition I have usually will have a 32 oz clear deli cup with about an inch of medium in the bottom.

I have to make new cultures about every six weeks or it may even be longer. I put about a half inch of medium in the bottom of the vials and then a pinch of yeast. I trickle water in until the medium soaks up all the water. If you put too much water in you will know it because some will be left. If that happens just pour out the excess. Take at least ten flies if you got enough and put them into each vial. Put the foam plug and cap on and let em have at it.

It will take at least a few days before you see maggots in the medium. Within a few weeks the vial will contain hundreds of flies. Now when the cultures start drying out and contains thousands of flies you will know it's time to start making new ones. Then what I do is take one vial at a time and clean it out with hot soapy water making sure to get the soap out. Might also have to clean the foam plugs too. Then take another one of the cultures and pour it's flies into the new culture you just made. Do that with all the rest and then it all starts over again.

The purpose of my one large culture is just to make sure I have thousands of flies in reserve. I have had no issues with dead flies being poured into a new culture when I make new from old. I assume it's just more food for the maggots.

Making flies is easy and takes little time or effort. I use a small funnel in which to transfer the flies from the vials into the mantid cages. I just tap the bottom of the culture to get them to fall into the funnel. But first you have to tap the vial on something hard to get the flies to the bottom before you remove the plug. Then tap lightly into the funnel or too many will come out at once.

It will take a week or a little longer before you start having a good amount of flies in your cultures so plan on this each time you clean out your vials and make new cultures. The mix from Carolina will come with a little cup. I use one of this cup in each vial with a pinch of yeast.

 

[Mantidae]

I will tell you what I do. I buy the large bag of medium and go to the grocery store to get the active yeast packets. I have about eight of the small vials with the foam plugs. In addition I have usually will have a 32 oz clear deli cup with about an inch of medium in the bottom. The purpose of my one large culture is just to make sure I have thousands of flies in reserve.

Thanks Rick, that was what I needed to know concerning the larger container, it will serve as my reserve. I have 9 of the small containers, 4 in use with about 20 flies in each at the moment and lots of larvae and pupa.

 

[Rick]

Sounds like you are on the right track. You will just have to learn when its a good time to start your new cultures. Make sure you do that before you run out and keep in mind if you wait to do it when you are almost out then you're gonna have to wait longer for the few flies you have left to reproduce into more flies.

 

[infinity]

just curious rick, do u use WT (wild type), wingless (i.e. no wings at all), vestigial (stumpy wings), flightless (wings but can't use them) or CyO (curly wingled flies)?

 

[Rick]

Flightless with wings.