The Fruit-Fly Auto-Feeder!

[lectricblueyes]

Well, I was watching my Ootheca (Still no hatch) and wondering how in the world I would ever feed 100-300 hungry mouths? Of course, some will die of natural causes but others will die because their little brothers and sisters will be hungry. Considering I work 8-9 hours a day +1 hour lunch and 1 1/2 hours of driving time (Gone 10-11 hours a day) and I workout at the gym for 1 1/2 hours 3 days a week... I don't think I'll be around enough to feed hundreds of hungry nymphs. I can't bring them into work, my boss (along with any one of the many woman) in my company would flip out. I could have my mom watch them but she would feel bad about the fruit flies. I'd come home to find that she released the "poor" babies outside. Thanks mom!

Well, what I needed was a way to automatically feed the fruit flies into my nymph nursery. Many strange ideas and funky contraptions came to mind. But none of them seemed any good until.... I came up with this plan.

(WARNING: COMPLETELY UNTESTED!!)

DO NOT do this while you have live insects in the mantis nursery or the fruit fly culture. You will kill some or all of them and you'll have a ton of escapees!

If you don't mind making permanent holes in your nymph nursery and fruit fly culture container, than proceed. Otherwise you might not want to do this.

The Box

(1.) Using a sturdy, thick, and flat cardboard box. (USPS Priority Mail - Mailing Box)

(2.) Cut off the top flaps that are used to close up the box. Be sure that the box sits level when upside down and sitting on the side that the flaps used to be on.

(3.) Cut out 1 side of the box so that when placed upside down you have the roof and 3 walls.

(4.) Cut a hole in the top of the box big around enough for a standard drinking straw to fit through and about 3-4 inches away from the edge of the box.

The Straw

(1.) You will need a standard 8 inch, clear, flexi-straw. You can find these at most grocery stores or even at a fast food place if you want a free one.

(2.) Leave the bottom side (non-flexi) side completely open. This is the side that will go into the top of the fruit fly culture.

(3.) completely seal off the flexi end of the straw so that the F. Flies cannot escape. Try not to use tape here, it can come undone and cause harm to your nymphs! No wild chemicals either! (Hot Glue Gun, hardening putty, etc)

(4.) Using a sewing needle poke 10 F. fly sized holes along the diameter of the straw, on the flexi side of the straw, as CLOSE as you possibly can get to the end of the straw where you sealed it off. (Be sure the holes are smaller than nymphs!!)

The Fruit Fly Culture Container

(1.) Be sure that you have a spare lid in case you mess up your culture lid.

(2.) Cut a hole slightly larger than the circumference of your straw in the lid of the F.Fly culture. Be sure the hole is as close to the edge of the lid as possible since most fruit flies will like to climb the edges of the cup.

(3.) The straw should BARELY be sticking out of the bottom of the lid. If it's sticking out too much, not many of the fruit flies will find the entrance. Remember, they climb as high as they can. If the highest point is the entrance to your straw, they will use this.

(4.) Before you seal the straw be sure to feed the straw through the box and into the top of the Fruit Fly culture. Stand your Nyph nursery next to the flexi end of the straw and be sure that it's not too long. If it's too long, snip off some of the non-flexi end with scissors. If it's not long enough, no worries. Simply snip off a piece of another straw, pinch it and feed it into your main straw. Be sure to glue the place where the straw piece and straw come together.

(5.) Seal the straw to the top of the container. To do this, use tiny rubber bands and wrap them very tightly around the end of the straw making sure that they push right up against the entrance allowing virtually NO openings for escapees. You can find these tiny rubber bands at a hardware store, some grocery stores, or a store that carries hair-care products. They are used for braiding hair sometimes. DO NOT make a permanent seal because you might need to take the cup away for any number of things. (Cleaning, culture maintenance, culture replacement, etc)

The Nymph Nursery

(1.) Cut a whole in the side of the nyph nursery as close to the circumference of the straw as you possibly can. Mantids also like to travel upward and we don't want them to find the straw so cutting the hole in the side of the cup where the traffic is lower than the ceiling is a good idea. It's a good idea to have the straw pushed up through the cardboard box so that you can visually see where to make this hole.

(2.) Unlike the F.Fly culture, the straw should be sticking out inside of the Nyph Nursery.

(3.) Seal the straw nice and snug using the tiny rubber bands.

Now your setup is ready for both the nymphs and the fruit flies. A good way to hot-swap the fruit fly culture's lid is to place the culture in the freezer for 5 minutes. This will cause the fruit flies to become temporarily inactive making for less escapees. The nymphs can be transferred in a number of ways but none are easy. I'll leave that up to you .

Too Slow

If the fruit flies move too slowly into the nymph nursery you can do a couple of things to speed it up. You could poke more holes in the straw so that more F.Flies can get through. You could also double your straws, or re-cut bigger holes and use a bigger straw!

Too Fast

If the fruit flies move too fast into the nymph nursery you could plug up one or more of the holes you created. Also, squeezing the straw slightly with a paper clip as close to the F.Fly culture as possible will slow them down.

Be sure to watch the flow of fruit flies coming through before you walk away. Too many fruit flies will cause a mess and too few will make this whole thing pointless. Also, be sure that your rubber bands are doing the job of sealing in your insects.

When you need to remove the nursery or the fruit fly culture, simply pull the rubber band(s) back and place your thumb over the container. Using a stopper of some kind is a more permanent solution. Foam/rubber stoppers can be cut to fit and easily taken out or put back in.

I'll test it and let you know! I have some containers on order now and my Ootheca has yet to hatch!

 

[PhilinYuma]

Well, I was watching my Ootheca (Still no hatch) and wondering how in the world I would ever feed 100-300 hungry mouths? Of course, some will die of natural causes but others will die because their little brothers and sisters will be hungry. Considering I work 8-9 hours a day +1 hour lunch and 1 1/2 hours of driving time (Gone 10-11 hours a day) and I workout at the gym for 1 1/2 hours 3 days a week... I don't think I'll be around enough to feed hundreds of hungry nymphs. I can't bring them into work, my boss (along with any one of the many woman) in my company would flip out. I could have my mom watch them but she would feel bad about the fruit flies. I'd come home to find that she released the "poor" babies outside. Thanks mom!Well, what I needed was a way to automatically feed the fruit flies into my nymph nursery. Many strange ideas and funky contraptions came to mind. But none of them seemed any good until.... I came up with this plan.

(WARNING: COMPLETELY UNTESTED!!)

DO NOT do this while you have live insects in the mantis nursery or the fruit fly culture. You will kill some or all of them and you'll have a ton of escapees!

If you don't mind making permanent holes in your nymph nursery and fruit fly culture container, than proceed. Otherwise you might not want to do this.

The Box

(1.) Using a sturdy, thick, and flat cardboard box. (USPS Priority Mail - Mailing Box)

(2.) Cut off the top flaps that are used to close up the box. Be sure that the box sits level when upside down and sitting on the side that the flaps used to be on.

(3.) Cut out 1 side of the box so that when placed upside down you have the roof and 3 walls.

(4.) Cut a hole in the top of the box big around enough for a standard drinking straw to fit through and about 3-4 inches away from the edge of the box.

The Straw

(1.) You will need a standard 8 inch, clear, flexi-straw. You can find these at most grocery stores or even at a fast food place if you want a free one.

(2.) Leave the bottom side (non-flexi) side completely open. This is the side that will go into the top of the fruit fly culture.

(3.) completely seal off the flexi end of the straw so that the F. Flies cannot escape. Try not to use tape here, it can come undone and cause harm to your nymphs! No wild chemicals either! (Hot Glue Gun, hardening putty, etc)

(4.) Using a sewing needle poke 10 F. fly sized holes along the diameter of the straw, on the flexi side of the straw, as CLOSE as you possibly can get to the end of the straw where you sealed it off. (Be sure the holes are smaller than nymphs!!)

The Fruit Fly Culture Container

(1.) Be sure that you have a spare lid in case you mess up your culture lid.

(2.) Cut a hole slightly larger than the circumference of your straw in the lid of the F.Fly culture. Be sure the hole is as close to the edge of the lid as possible since most fruit flies will like to climb the edges of the cup.

(3.) The straw should BARELY be sticking out of the bottom of the lid. If it's sticking out too much, not many of the fruit flies will find the entrance. Remember, they climb as high as they can. If the highest point is the entrance to your straw, they will use this.

(4.) Before you seal the straw be sure to feed the straw through the box and into the top of the Fruit Fly culture. Stand your Nyph nursery next to the flexi end of the straw and be sure that it's not too long. If it's too long, snip off some of the non-flexi end with scissors. If it's not long enough, no worries. Simply snip off a piece of another straw, pinch it and feed it into your main straw. Be sure to glue the place where the straw piece and straw come together.

(5.) Seal the straw to the top of the container. To do this, use tiny rubber bands and wrap them very tightly around the end of the straw making sure that they push right up against the entrance allowing virtually NO openings for escapees. You can find these tiny rubber bands at a hardware store, some grocery stores, or a store that carries hair-care products. They are used for braiding hair sometimes. DO NOT make a permanent seal because you might need to take the cup away for any number of things. (Cleaning, culture maintenance, culture replacement, etc)

The Nymph Nursery

(1.) Cut a whole in the side of the nyph nursery as close to the circumference of the straw as you possibly can. Mantids also like to travel upward and we don't want them to find the straw so cutting the hole in the side of the cup where the traffic is lower than the ceiling is a good idea. It's a good idea to have the straw pushed up through the cardboard box so that you can visually see where to make this hole.

(2.) Unlike the F.Fly culture, the straw should be sticking out inside of the Nyph Nursery.

(3.) Seal the straw nice and snug using the tiny rubber bands.

Now your setup is ready for both the nymphs and the fruit flies. A good way to hot-swap the fruit fly culture's lid is to place the culture in the freezer for 5 minutes. This will cause the fruit flies to become temporarily inactive making for less escapees. The nymphs can be transferred in a number of ways but none are easy. I'll leave that up to you .

Too Slow

If the fruit flies move too slowly into the nymph nursery you can do a couple of things to speed it up. You could poke more holes in the straw so that more F.Flies can get through. You could also double your straws, or re-cut bigger holes and use a bigger straw!

Too Fast

If the fruit flies move too fast into the nymph nursery you could plug up one or more of the holes you created. Also, squeezing the straw slightly with a paper clip as close to the F.Fly culture as possible will slow them down.

Be sure to watch the flow of fruit flies coming through before you walk away. Too many fruit flies will cause a mess and too few will make this whole thing pointless. Also, be sure that your rubber bands are doing the job of sealing in your insects.

When you need to remove the nursery or the fruit fly culture, simply pull the rubber band(s) back and place your thumb over the container. Using a stopper of some kind is a more permanent solution. Foam/rubber stoppers can be cut to fit and easily taken out or put back in.

I'll test it and let you know! I have some containers on order now and my Ootheca has yet to hatch!

 

[Katnapper]

OK, Phil... I've already seen his post.... where's yours?

Lectric... I just don't know what to say. :lol: Looks good on paper, but might be a total wash in practice. Seems like more work to build, set up, and maintain than just throwing some ff's in the containers like most people do. And somehow, I just don't see the fruit flies marching through the straw and into the mantid enclosure to their deaths as easily as planned. But who am I to quash your innovative ideas? Try it and let us know!

 

[PhilinYuma]

O.K. Katt! Don't know how that happened. Here's mine. You goaded me into it!

During my checquered career, I spent two years as a nursing supervisor in the O.B./Gyne department of a Chicago hospital. The only sad room in the department was the Fathers'Room. Poor, unkempt, unshaven guys would hang out there, reading decades-old copies of Field and Stream, solving crossword puzzles by using fake words, betting each other who could light a Zippo the most times before failing to get a flame, and moaning softly in a confused sort of way, trying to decipher the jargon that had been tossed at them. "They say she's on the floor, Doc; did she fall off the gurney?" "That just means that she has been transferred back to the maternity floor until..." "They say she's 'totally erased.' Does that mean they knocked her out?" "No I think you heard 'totally effaced,' which means..." I tried to avoid it as much as possible.

This will pass, David! Your ooth will hatch, you will "carefully toss" a pot of mels into the enclosure daily, and the number of babies will decline every day, just to upset you, until you are down to enough to put into the number of pots you have alotted for raising individual nymphs.

I think that you should enter one of these well thought-out and illustrated ideas (a nymph cleaning and toileting station perhaps?) in the contest!

And in six months, if you're not careful, you will find yourself giving dumb answers like this!

 

[Katnapper]

O.K. Katt! Don't know how that happened. Here's mine. You goaded me into it!During my checquered career, I spent two years as a nursing supervisor in the O.B./Gyne department of a Chicago hospital. The only sad room in the department was the Fathers'Room. Poor, unkempt, unshaven guys would hang out there, reading decades-old copies of Field and Stream, solving crossword puzzles by using fake words, betting each other who could light a Zippo the most times before failing to get a flame, and moaning softly in a confused sort of way, trying to decipher the jargon that had been tossed at them. "They say she's on the floor, Doc; did she fall off the gurney?" "That just means that she has been transferred back to the maternity floor until..." "They say she's 'totally erased.' Does that mean they knocked her out?" "No I think you heard 'totally effaced,' which means..." I tried to avoid it as much as possible.

This will pass, David! Your ooth will hatch, you will "carefully toss" a pot of mels into the enclosure daily, and the number of babies will decline every day, just to upset you, until you are down to enough to put into the number of pots you have alotted for raising individual nymphs.

I think that you should enter one of these well thought-out and illustrated ideas (a nymph cleaning and toileting station perhaps?) in the contest!

And in six months, if you're not careful, you will find yourself giving dumb answers like this!

Good answer, Phil. :lol: And great idea about entering one of his contraption invention schematics in the current contest!

Edit: Forgot to mention... Yes, Phil, I did catch the reference to "carefully toss" versus "throw." I got it... or you got me... one of the two!

Also... David, you do know if this contraption were to actually work, and work well.... you will be required to patent it, find a manufacturer, hire one of those guys commonly seen on infomercials to market it, and then make it available to all of us at a ridiculously low price we could all afford!

 

[tonyi]

I've been thinking of various ways to "auto-feed" FFs before but nothing came out of it, I just thought it would be impossible to build something feasible. This idea, however, looks quite interesting! I too would be interested in hearing how it works in practice. But be careful, if that straw comes loose, you could end up with the Harrisburg of fruit fly incidents.

 

[hibiscusmile]

:blink: Dear God, help these people find something to do, they have to much idle time on their hands, thank you God.

I think Rick just polkes a few holes in his one fruit fly container and sets it in the inclosure and enough come out to take care of business, as long as hole is not in top, they won't come out in masses... just a mere mortal here. :blink:

 

[lectricblueyes]

O.K. Katt! Don't know how that happened. Here's mine. You goaded me into it!During my checquered career, I spent two years as a nursing supervisor in the O.B./Gyne department of a Chicago hospital. The only sad room in the department was the Fathers'Room. Poor, unkempt, unshaven guys would hang out there, reading decades-old copies of Field and Stream, solving crossword puzzles by using fake words, betting each other who could light a Zippo the most times before failing to get a flame, and moaning softly in a confused sort of way, trying to decipher the jargon that had been tossed at them. "They say she's on the floor, Doc; did she fall off the gurney?" "That just means that she has been transferred back to the maternity floor until..." "They say she's 'totally erased.' Does that mean they knocked her out?" "No I think you heard 'totally effaced,' which means..." I tried to avoid it as much as possible.

This will pass, David! Your ooth will hatch, you will "carefully toss" a pot of mels into the enclosure daily, and the number of babies will decline every day, just to upset you, until you are down to enough to put into the number of pots you have alotted for raising individual nymphs.

I think that you should enter one of these well thought-out and illustrated ideas (a nymph cleaning and toileting station perhaps?) in the contest!

And in six months, if you're not careful, you will find yourself giving dumb answers like this!

Toilet is in the works, along with the "Auto-Mantis Sexinator" for helping you breed them! Interesting metaphor Mr. Phil. lol thanks for the morning laugh. I hope I had given one in return with my silly scribbles.

 

[Rick]

:blink: Dear God, help these people find something to do, they have to much idle time on their hands, thank you God.I think Rick just polkes a few holes in his one fruit fly container and sets it in the inclosure and enough come out to take care of business, as long as hole is not in top, they won't come out in masses... just a mere mortal here. :blink:

Yep, too much time on their hands trying to reinvent the wheel. There is a reason most of us don't use such contraptions. There are easier ways. You're gonna have to put in some work. You will only have 100+ mouths to feed for a couple weeks at most as most are going to die. You need to keep all of them in one container until you get a small number like we discussed before. While they are all together you can just pour in some flies. When your nymphs are all in one container for that first month or whatever feeding should take you no longer than ONE minute. Open container, pour in flies. That's it. Feeding only takes time when you have several seperate enclosures and even then I can feed 20+ individuals in just a few minutes so I am not sure why you think feeding is going to be time consuming.

Once you seperate them into individual containers you will have to spend about five minutes feeding them every day. I culture fruit flies in 32 oz deli cups. These cups have a whole in the side blocked with a foam plug. I then take one of the small fruit fly vials and put a funnel in it. I then remove the foam plug from the 32 oz cup and and tap flies from it into the funnel and into the small vial which I then put a foam plug in to keep the flies from escaping. I then remove the foam plug from the mantid enclosure which you guessed it is a 32 oz deli cup. I insert the end of the funnel into that and tap some flies from the vial through the funnel and into the mantid enclosure. If your flies are the flying type you will need to put the vial into the freezer for a minute.

This is my technique and it works well for me. You are going to need to find what works for you. Your idea should work but I don't think enough flies are going to get into the mantid enclosure. One nymph can eat several flies and with that many nymphs..........well you see where I am going.

Pic of 32 oz deli cups with feeding holes:

 

[lectricblueyes]

Good answer, Phil. :lol: And great idea about entering one of his contraption invention schematics in the current contest! Edit: Forgot to mention... Yes, Phil, I did catch the reference to "carefully toss" versus "throw." I got it... or you got me... one of the two!

Also... David, you do know if this contraption were to actually work, and work well.... you will be required to patent it, find a manufacturer, hire one of those guys commonly seen on infomercials to market it, and then make it available to all of us at a ridiculously low price we could all afford!

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[lectricblueyes]

I've been thinking of various ways to "auto-feed" FFs before but nothing came out of it, I just thought it would be impossible to build something feasible. This idea, however, looks quite interesting! I too would be interested in hearing how it works in practice. But be careful, if that straw comes loose, you could end up with the Harrisburg of fruit fly incidents.

I'll let you know!

 

[lectricblueyes]

:blink: Dear God, help these people find something to do, they have to much idle time on their hands, thank you God.

Haha. See what a snowfall in March coupled with way too much free time does to a man? Turns him into a mad scientist! Hallelujah!

 

[Katnapper]

At least you've still got a sense of humor about it, and are willing to charge ahead with your hairbrained (oops), I mean highly innovative ideas in the face of predicted doom by the naysayers!

 

[hibiscusmile]

Naysayers, where, let me at em! :lol:

 

[kamakiri]

LectricBlueyes, my legal team at FlyHose will be giving your people a call. :lol:

The main issue with such a setup is that when left alone, the flies often will gather in a corner of their container and just sit.

The other thing you could do is use a culture that is almost empty of flies, but already has pupae, maggots and what it needs to produce for two or three weeks.

I've also considered daisy-chaining or looping a bunch of the containers together to feed multiple containers...

And instead of straws, I was thinking flexible air line for aquariums would work too.

 

[lectricblueyes]

At least you've still got a sense of humor about it, and are willing to charge ahead with your hairbrained (oops), I mean highly innovative ideas in the face of predicted doom by the naysayers!

Haha! You think THIS thread was bombarded with naysayers? Psssh... go read my "mantid cabinet" thread now THAT is some naysayin!

My sense of humor (especially my ability to be wrong and laugh at myself) has brought about some great friends and colleges in my life. It's also kept my spirits alive in hard times

 

[lectricblueyes]

Yep, too much time on their hands trying to reinvent the wheel. There is a reason most of us don't use such contraptions. There are easier ways. You're gonna have to put in some work. You will only have 100+ mouths to feed for a couple weeks at most as most are going to die. You need to keep all of them in one container until you get a small number like we discussed before. While they are all together you can just pour in some flies. When your nymphs are all in one container for that first month or whatever feeding should take you no longer than ONE minute. Open container, pour in flies. That's it. Feeding only takes time when you have several seperate enclosures and even then I can feed 20+ individuals in just a few minutes so I am not sure why you think feeding is going to be time consuming. Once you seperate them into individual containers you will have to spend about five minutes feeding them every day. I culture fruit flies in 32 oz deli cups. These cups have a whole in the side blocked with a foam plug. I then take one of the small fruit fly vials and put a funnel in it. I then remove the foam plug from the 32 oz cup and and tap flies from it into the funnel and into the small vial which I then put a foam plug in to keep the flies from escaping. I then remove the foam plug from the mantid enclosure which you guessed it is a 32 oz deli cup. I insert the end of the funnel into that and tap some flies from the vial through the funnel and into the mantid enclosure. If your flies are the flying type you will need to put the vial into the freezer for a minute.

This is my technique and it works well for me. You are going to need to find what works for you. Your idea should work but I don't think enough flies are going to get into the mantid enclosure. One nymph can eat several flies and with that many nymphs..........well you see where I am going.

Pic of 32 oz deli cups with feeding holes:

See, Rick, you have your setup done the right way when it comes to efficiency and logic. I do think you can have 2 approaches to this hobby. Those who want to design artful and expressive enclosures and will risk mantid safety, and general functionality along with a grand expense at time in order to capture that little piece of a jungle... desert... rain forest. Where you are strong with your setup is in that your mantids have a higher rate of survival, it's less time consuming to feed them, and it all just works out for the mantid. I'm trying to go hybrid. Nyphs and small species will be kept the as you do, clear cups, holes pocked, feeder hole..etc.

 

[Katnapper]

Haha! You think THIS thread was bombarded with naysayers? Psssh... go read my "mantid cabinet" thread now THAT is some naysayin! My sense of humor (especially my ability to be wrong and laugh at myself) has brought about some great friends and colleges in my life. It's also kept my spirits alive in hard times

As the Aussies would say... Good on you!!

 

[Rick]

See, Rick, you have your setup done the right way when it comes to efficiency and logic. I do think you can have 2 approaches to this hobby. Those who want to design artful and expressive enclosures and will risk mantid safety, and general functionality along with a grand expense at time in order to capture that little piece of a jungle... desert... rain forest. Where you are strong with your setup is in that your mantids have a higher rate of survival, it's less time consuming to feed them, and it all just works out for the mantid. I'm trying to go hybrid. Nyphs and small species will be kept the as you do, clear cups, holes pocked, feeder hole..etc.

Absolutely agree. I was worried you were going to try your hand at breeding and raising nymphs in those big fancy cages. I have long had a desire for a fancy cage but it just never seemed to work well. Have a nice little ecosystem that happens to have a mantis in it is a fine idea but like I said keeping many mantids isn't going to work that way. I do look forward to what you come up with. Don't let me or anyone else discourage you, we just want to throw out our thoughts so you can avoid any pitfalls.