Possible Fruit Fly Culture Setup

[Jodokohajjio]

Howdy everyone, this will be my first post here! I'm glad I found this place because it will undoubtedly help me start my own ventures into this hobby.

I'm not sure if this belongs in "enclosures and housing" or here, but to get to the point of this post, I was hoping to address the issue of feeding mantids pesky fruit flies. In my own breif experience with using fruit flies as food, I had to use the refridgerator to make the fruit flies dormant so that they would not escape while I fed Mantids in several dozen containers. This process, however, became kind of tedious when the flies became active again before I was finished with my work. Before I propose my idea, I'd like to say that any other tips/solutions to feeding are quite welcome.

Here is the gist of my design (created in MS Paint, of course):

(http://www.users.muohio.edu/berlieja/images/fruit_fly_culture.JPG)

I'll explain the components-

·Clear plastic culture tube- like those found in Carolina Biological's catalogue (product description- https://www2.carolina.com/webapp/wcs/stores...82%7C990%7C472)

·Medium/Mesh- These were also included in the culture mentioned above. They're basically just a medium for eggs/pupae and a plastic mesh for the adults to climb on.

·Cap- A tight fitting, but removable cap, preferably something rigid so that the apparatus on top of the cap does not move.

·"Breathing" fabric- Some sort of fabric like Muslin that doesn't allow fruit flies to escape while still providing ventalation.

·Airline tubing/connector/airline tubing cap- these are all fairly common and can probably be found in aquarium stores and even cut to a customizable length. (Note the break in the airline tubing under the connector)

·Plug- When the top airline tube is disconnected, you'll probably want something to stop up the tube before the flies escape. The other end of the removable tube could be plugged, or possibly just covered with a finger.

Here is how I imagine this working: The culture should develop and be maintained like any other culture. Ideally, the adult flies should climb up into the airline tubing above the cap. Having the bottom of this tube flush with the inside of the bottom of the cap might aid in this as well.

If the flies do, indeed, climb up into the tube, then feeding just becomes a matter of removing the top section of the tube, plugging the bottom, and thumping the flies out into the mantids' habitats.

At the moment, I currently have no fruit flies or praying mantids as I am living in a college dorm and don't have enough room for any of the stuff. Needless to say, I won't be testing my idea out anytime soon, so I thought I'd throw it out to the general public in hope of some feedback, or possibly even let someone else do the dirty work for me! :wink:

Anyway, thats all I have for now, I look forward to hearing from the community!

~Jake

 

[Rick]

Welcome to the site! I really don't see your method working all that well. I would be hard to tap flies out through that tube. Below is a pic of what I use. I just tap the desired amount of flies into the funnel and then they fall into the container. Of course the flies are flightless so no need to put them into the freezer.

 

[infinity]

yeah, but they like to make up for it with how fast they can run... I find a simple narrow-necked conical flask is just as good...

 

[Rick]

When I tap them in they just fall right through. If any hang on the sides of the funnel I just tap the sides of it to make them fall.

 

[Johnald Chaffinch]

yeh i dont understand how they're supposed to want to be in the small tube at the top. there's many methods talked about on here that are so easy, have a search about...

 

[Jodokohajjio]

Yeah, I do like the funnel approach, it is a lot simpler than making that lid.

To answer your question, though, there would be a hole in the top of the lid where the airline tubing is, and the idea is that the flies would *hopefully* crawl up into the tube while exploring around the culture.

This, however, is the biggest hole in my plan--I'm not sure if they would actually climb up into the tube or not. Maybe making some sort of paste with yeast and spreading it into the inside of the airline tubing on top would entice them up there...

~Jake

 

[nedweenie]

Haha, my husband made the exact same design. He expected the flies would wander over & out on their own. Didn't work. The flies were not interested in going into the tube. At all! We ended up tapping them into another container, cooled them in the fridge (even the flightless were too rowdy), and then just dumped them in the tank.

Keep thinking though, you might come up with a solution eventually. :wink:

 

[Jackson]

Well there is one way to get the FF's out, On the top end of the tube have a non-return valve, then do exactly what u said except blow on the end, that'll get those pesky flies out.

One problem i did notice is that really only on tube will feed one container. You wouldnt be able to feed one mantid, put the airline tubing back on and expect the flys to go straight up the tube.

Good try though, we really do need an easy way to feed our nymphs.

 

[DeShawn]

I use a method similar to nedweenie's, minus the cooling.

I tap a good amount of flies into an empty 32oz container, and then use that container for feeding all of my mantids. No cooling down required. A tap or 2 on the container knocks all of the flies to the bottom, and then I open it up and sprinkle the desired amount into each mantid container.

Before using this method, I tried a tube method similar to the one you are trying, except I just kept the tube open and left it in the tank. I used a 32oz culture though. The flies come out slowly (even with hundreds in there) and I ended up using a wider tube to encourage more flies to crawl through. For some reason, they didn't like going through narrow spaces.

Once I started getting other species and started seperating nymphs, I went with the funnel method. That worked decent too, but after awhile I got comfortable dealing with the fruitflies to the point where I didn't feel I needed the funnel. However, tipping the FF's culture on its side and tapping dozens, and often hundreds of times caused the media to dislodge every once in awhile. That is when I moved to my current method.

I still do use the tube method though, for communal species. So regardless of how you choose to feed all of your nymphs, keep up with the design your working with now. It will come in handy. If not, you can always send your cultures to me 8)

 

[randyardvark]

i do beleive peloquin has used a similar method to that for years, accept i think he attaches it straight to the mantis enclosure kinda like a drip feed , saves you waiting for the flies to go up the tube... if u ask him he will probably tell you about it