Rotten fruit fly culture

[Arcticfaux]

So recently the fruit fly culture I purchased a month ago has become very foul smelling, and the culture inside looks brown and rotten. It is still producing fruit flies, but I'm wondering if the flies are safe to feed my baby mantids 

 

[CosbyArt]

@Arcticfaux Yes.

Fruit flies are good as long as the culture is still going, however as you noticed about 30 days the culture turns and dies off/crashes shortly after. Often mites start becoming a problem and the flies get smaller due to less food too.

Cultures are best restarted every few weeks as needed, or weekly depending on your needs, and you only have to buy flies once (or if you don't want to culture them you can buy them each time, but that gets expensive). See the post about culturing FF's for details...

 

[Arcticfaux]

Oh good! Thank you  

 

[CosbyArt]

Oh good! Thank you  

Your welcome. If you are into creating your own fruit fly food medium here is a recipe list too.

Personally I've varied my medium over the last few years trying different recipes, and after a few hours work I have my dry food medium in bulk ready to mix with water (I made up about 5 pounds (about $10 in materials) that has lasted me a long time). Of course there are commercial alternatives too, and some keepers prefer to buy the Repashy medium that is ready to mix with water.