Room swarming with fruit flies

[MantidLord]

Hi. For a couple of days now I've seen small fruit flies buzzing around in my room. I have three (no two, one dried out) fruit fly cultures and one has been running for two months now. Both are now mixed with wingless and flying fruit flies, so I guess the intrusion of one or more wild fruit flies is relatively recent. Anyway, I checked both cultures and there doesn't appear to be any way of escaping. I put them into sealed containers to see if any are escaping though. My point is, I now have a room with a bunch of fruit flies and just want anyone's take on the situation. I released two young mantids to the area where the flies hang out (near a lamp) so they can do some damage. Also, knwo that I have flying fruit flies, how long do I put the cultures in the freezer before feeding?

 

[LauraMG]

I wouldn't recommend using the freezer for a culture because you might kill the pupae, but you can stick 'em in the fridge for 15 minutes or so and they'll chill out :lol: Bad pun, I know...

And maybe you've managed to have one escape from someone's enclosure and lay somewhere and they're now "wild" fruit flies. I have a thriving wild culture in both of my roach colonies....

 

[more_rayne]

I hate the wild fruit flies so much! They hang out in my roach bin and also contaminate my flightless fly culture by laying their eggs.

 

[hibiscusmile]

I use them, I purposely raise them for when out of the others, and believe me, I am out a lot:lol:

 

[PeterF]

They don't live very long.

Find out if they have a breeding location. Do you maintain any fruit based bugs (roaches for example)?

You will have to eliminate that. If they are laying in a food source, then we stick to cabbage during the time and replace the food daily. We also set up FF traps. Funnels of paper into vinegar w/ a dash of detergent).

Are you certain they are fruitflys?

 

[kitkat39]

They used to drive me nuts, but now I use them like hibiscusmile does. If you are using net cages instead of deli cups, you could put the jar with your infested fruit flies in there and open the lid. They fly all over the place and my smaller mantises love them! =)

 

[PhilinYuma]

This must be happy quote Superfreak week. As she pointed out long ago,unattended, (i.e. without checking every individual in a culture) a strain of, say wingless or flightless fruit flies will revert, through genetic drift (c.f.). Your culture may well be contaminated, but even if it is not, your recessive flies will revert to type over time.

 

[ismart]

Being the weather this time of year for me is cooling down. I leave my windows open alot. I do have screen, but i find that the fruit flies can fit through quite easily. I myself have quite a few buzzing around my house. Fruit flies from outside are also attracted to my media. Come to think of it, i have to get that pain in the butt D. hydei flying around my kitchen! Being you have fruitflies that can fly. They are probably escaping every time you open the container. You could put them in the freezer for 1 minute. Anything more than that, and they will die.

 

[hibiscusmile]

Mine lay in the blue bottle pupae and in the water gel for the crickets too, gets to be a pain with all the little maggots thougth. but I am getting used to them, never in all my born days did I think I could touch a maggot, and I am getting used to the fruit fly ones, house fly maggots, LOOK OUT! :tt2:

 

[MantidLord]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Actually, I wasn't concerned about their presence, just so much of how to feed them off. I don't see a lot now and for someone who asked if I'm sure they're fruit flies, I'm positive. One of my cultures I haven't opened in weeks for feeding, and it's so concealed nothing can get in or out (the one that's been running for like two months) so I do believe they've reverted back to winged fruit flies. Kind of cool how that happens, how does a gene just reappear without an outside source? :huh: Anyway, I'm going to keep the cultures because a fruit fly is a fruit fly. I don't have any source for them to breed (besides the cultures) so I'm not worried about some infestation. Hopefully they keep breeding like they are and I don't forget to leave them in the fridge for too long . Thanks again for all the information. I don't leave my window open but that doesn't mean a fruitfly got in somehow if that's the case. I put a piece of fruit fly culture into one of my enclosures with a mesh screen. That way any wild ff's will be attracted and it will be a thriving food source.