Drosophilia hyde (fruit flys)
- Thread starter tryme
- Start date
THECHAMMAN
Established Member
snail tail flies does. im pretty sure they could ship to the UK for you
they are a sponsor
www.stflies.com
they are a sponsor
www.stflies.com
THECHAMMAN
Established Member
they just come in little cultures with eggs, they breed on their own, im not sure if you can breed them easily by yourself. ill try to find somethin on the internet.
THECHAMMAN
Established Member
heres a good site. i think all you have to do when your culture goes bad, just move the flies to a diff container.
http://www.a1reptiles.com/a1ffcare.html
http://www.a1reptiles.com/a1ffcare.html
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
This thread details how to culture fruit flies
https://www.chameleonforums.com/fruit-fly-culturing-12441/
https://www.chameleonforums.com/fruit-fly-culturing-12441/
sandrachameleon
Chameleon Enthusiast
I have. What do you want to know?
tryme
New Member
I'm confused on the medium and also I know you have to often create a new culture as they go "bad" after a while. Not sure how often to change the culture and create a new one and also not sure how to put the flies into a new culture, bit confused on that because if the culture goes bad why would you want the flies from it? I would call but it would cost me a bomb i'm in London England lol.
BIGGUN
Avid Member
Yeah.....think of all the fruit flies you could buy with that money!!!
The cultures themselves don't really go bad. It's the media that either gets used up, dries up, or gets moldy.
To start a new culture you just mix up some new media (purchased or home recipe), put an inch or two in a new container (or cleaned container), add a sprinkle of activated yeast, push something for them to climb on into the media (I use excelsior or index cards folded into 1/2 inch creases), and add about 30-50 F.F.'s. To put the ff's in I just tap the full container down to knock them to the bottom, quickly open the container and tap some into the new container, then even MORE quickly close them both. To make that a little easier you can put the existing culture in the refrigerator for a minute to slow them down.
Two things to keep in mind......1) always start at least two cultures at the same time ( sometimes they'll crash for no reason). This way you'll have a backup. 2) never leave your containers open (if one flying FF gets in when you're not looking you'll soon have a whole colony of flying FF's that will shock the heck out of you when you open it)
I start new cultures once a week.
Here are two homemade recipes:
This is the one I use.........I think it's the easiest.
3 oz jar of Gerber fruit baby food (the mushy stuff without any chunks)
2-3 oz of apple cider vinegar
1.5-2 cups of Gerber oats cereal or banana and oats cereal
sprinkle of activated bakers yeast
Mix the baby food and apple cider vinegar in a bowl then add 1.5 cups of cereal. Mix thouroughly. Keep adding cereal until the mix is somewhere between a paste and a dough (kind of hard to explain but you don't want it to run when you go to dump out FF's later)
Put the mixture into your containers this much usually makes 2 or 3 containers, push your cards or excelsior into the media, sprinkle a small pinch of yeast on top (only 10-20 granules), add your FF's and wait a week or two.
The second mix is more of a pain.
Dry mix:
8 cups Potato flakes
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup brewers yeast
Liquid mix:
half water / half apple cider vinegar
Extras:
Activated bakes yeast
Recipe:
Microwave 1/2 cup of liquid
Add 1/2 cup of dry mix
Stir thouroughly
Adjust mixture to proper consistency
Put in containers and sprinkle activated yeast on top.
I think that covers it.
If you have any more questions just ask.
Kevin
The cultures themselves don't really go bad. It's the media that either gets used up, dries up, or gets moldy.
To start a new culture you just mix up some new media (purchased or home recipe), put an inch or two in a new container (or cleaned container), add a sprinkle of activated yeast, push something for them to climb on into the media (I use excelsior or index cards folded into 1/2 inch creases), and add about 30-50 F.F.'s. To put the ff's in I just tap the full container down to knock them to the bottom, quickly open the container and tap some into the new container, then even MORE quickly close them both.
To make that a little easier you can put the existing culture in the refrigerator for a minute to slow them down.Two things to keep in mind......1) always start at least two cultures at the same time ( sometimes they'll crash for no reason). This way you'll have a backup. 2) never leave your containers open (if one flying FF gets in when you're not looking you'll soon have a whole colony of flying FF's that will shock the heck out of you when you open it)
I start new cultures once a week.
Here are two homemade recipes:
This is the one I use.........I think it's the easiest.
3 oz jar of Gerber fruit baby food (the mushy stuff without any chunks)
2-3 oz of apple cider vinegar
1.5-2 cups of Gerber oats cereal or banana and oats cereal
sprinkle of activated bakers yeast
Mix the baby food and apple cider vinegar in a bowl then add 1.5 cups of cereal. Mix thouroughly. Keep adding cereal until the mix is somewhere between a paste and a dough (kind of hard to explain but you don't want it to run when you go to dump out FF's later)
Put the mixture into your containers this much usually makes 2 or 3 containers, push your cards or excelsior into the media, sprinkle a small pinch of yeast on top (only 10-20 granules), add your FF's and wait a week or two.
The second mix is more of a pain.
Dry mix:
8 cups Potato flakes
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup brewers yeast
Liquid mix:
half water / half apple cider vinegar
Extras:
Activated bakes yeast
Recipe:
Microwave 1/2 cup of liquid
Add 1/2 cup of dry mix
Stir thouroughly
Adjust mixture to proper consistency
Put in containers and sprinkle activated yeast on top.
I think that covers it.
If you have any more questions just ask.
Kevin
Chameleon Caretaker
New Member
Great info! Thanks for sharing.
B
blackbetty
Guest
I agree. Im saving that. Thanks Kevin for breaking it down and being so helpful.
BIGGUN
Avid Member
That would depend on what you're feeding. If someone local to you sales cultures and your feeding only a couple of animals then you're probably better off just buying them.
I'm feeding 30-60 baby panthers at a time and noone local sells them. So between buying as many as I need and paying for shipping I'd have to sell my panthers for $500 each to even come close to making up for my cham rearing costs.
Another option is trying to raise pinhead crickets........but that's a whole different thread.
Kevin
I'm feeding 30-60 baby panthers at a time and noone local sells them. So between buying as many as I need and paying for shipping I'd have to sell my panthers for $500 each to even come close to making up for my cham rearing costs.
Another option is trying to raise pinhead crickets........but that's a whole different thread.
Kevin
tryme
New Member
Oh i've raised pin heads before. I'm only looking to feed 5 small geckos. So i'm trying to work out what my best option would be. Reason being I own 10 reptiles in total and a desert hairy scorpion, so waying up the food costs etc. I already breed dubia roaches and mealworms. Bred waxworms and crix before too. Crix are easy but too noisy!
