breeding fruit flies?

[chelshart25]

I got my chams last wednesday from kammers and I bought fruit flies for them but on arrival all of the flies were dead. I know they breed a ton and there are a lot of "cacoons" in the jar but none of them have hatched yet so I have had to go buy crickets for them and havent given them any fruit flies yet. Do you know how long they normally take to "hatch"

 

[ChrisnLisa]

Look at the bottom of the container and you should see a ton of little maggots wiggling around. Cultures can take up to two weeks or so to start producing. As long as the maggots are there you should have a ton in no time. I have found by keeping the culture in a very warm place helps speed up the process. Be careful though because once the culture explodes with flies make sure you start feeding them off. Otherwise the culture could crash and all the flies could end up dying. Hope this helps!

 

[leolover]

Yes, I bought all my supplies from Kammers as well. when I got them I was in the same situation. I went out and bought crickets and a couple of days later the whole lid to the container was covered with fruit flies.. the colony lasted me longer than I needed and I ended up throwing about 200 away because they were to small of prey to feed to my quickly growing cham! Good luck!

Also, leave the fruit flies in the container for a couple of days before feeding them off.... that way they will continue to reproduce and keep your colony going for a good 6 weeks!