Does anybody grow fruitflies

[Ozzy]

Like I said I just started a batch of winged fruitflies.
Here's how I did it.
I boiled a glass canning jar and lid.
I made a mixture of instant mashed potatoes, sugar and yeast. I added enough water to make this mixture lump together .
I added this to the jar and then I added the flies and maggots.
I put it in a place that will get a little indirect light and the temps will stay around 60F.
If anybody has any sugestions for me on how to improve this method, I'd love to hear it. I also want to know if I'm doing anything wrong.
If I am successful at this I'll have extra fruitflies to give away soon. I also started raising crickets. If anybody is interested let me know.

 

[Daniel]

OH OZZY,
DOn't do it!!

This is what you want to do. Get a batch of wingless fruitflies, of flightless fruitflies. There are less of a pest than the winged. You can't control the winged they escape from everywhere and become a infestation of fruitflies in your house. The media you use works, but its easier to use media meant for fruit flies. Like the one that has a less chance of smelling and creating mold.

If you need more advice just pm me or email me, both way works.

 

[Daniel]

Oh and crickets, unless you have a spot in your house to culture them, buying them at a petstore may be expensive but its prolly the easiest. The smell gets unbearable so if you have a garage you can put them in, its fine. I tried culturing them in my room, the noise and smell, gets a little out of reach.

 

[NickHubbell]

To help control the flying population, might I suggest tweezers for the wings

I had one chance to get wingless fruitflys at the petshop. I passed the day I saw them, but came back the next day. Sure enough, they were all gone and they will never carry them again as they didn't sell well. I do need to get a culture going. I have many smaller plants that would benefit from a live food source.

 

[Daniel]

Hey Nick, there are many online sources where you can buy fruitfly cultures. I recommend Michelle's Posion Dart frog, there cultures are huge 32 oz cups filled with fruitflies. And you can even buy the media from them. The media would be enough to make so many fruitflies!!

 

[biggun110]

Hi Ozzy,

I second the NO on the winged fruit flies. You are asking for trouble. Get the wingless ones. Your medium is fine but you might want to think about some mold retardant that Carolina Biological Supply sells. I have raised fruit flies for my fish for years. The hardest part is the mold that can form. I use canning jars and remove the loose part of the lid and use a single coffee filter screwed down with the other part of the lid. You also need to use something in the jar to give the flies something to crawl up on -- PVC shavings, popcicle sticks, wadded up newspaper or paper towel, plastic forms, etc... To harvest, sit the jar in the frig for 10-15 minutes to chill the flies and then tap them out. Someone on here said he did a 50/50 water/vinegar mix to stop mold but when I tried it the flies refused to breed -- but there was no mold!
People looking for fruit flies can try <www.lfs.com>. Also Pets Mart usually sells them in the reptile or betta departments. Carolina Biological Supply also sells fruit fly cultures.

Bobby

 

[D muscipula]

I found a flightless culture at Petco a couple weeks ago, and i have started a separate culture from it in potato flakes , sugar, and yeast.

I'm not sure how well these ship, but i could try to send you some if my second culture does ok. There are maggots all over in the media now, so it should be any time now.

 

[Daniel]

http://www.doylesdartden.com/fruitfly.html#MEDIA

Doylesdartden.com shows a great deal on how to care for fruitflies and etc...

 

[Guest]

Fruitflies are the miniature demons of this universe, and I would actualy say the same thing for all flies. Please, for your sanity, be very careful. I had a bad infestation in St. Louis, and you wouldn't believe the ####. They were mating in the air, all over the wall, in my food. Flie around you, no matter what your doing. Sometimes, they would flie into your mouth, and when you sleep at night, they can crawl into your ears. I'm dead serious about this. You have been warned my friend...

 

[Ozzy]

Thanks for all the suggestions.
First let me address the wing vs. the wingless issue. The source I bought from wormman.com had both kinds. I chose the winged for 3 reasons. One they are bigger, second is because these are not primarily for my plants they are for 3 lizards I have and they love flies, it'll be more of a challenge for them to catch the winged and I thought they would like them better. Third is because it'll be more fun to watch them catch them if they have to jump for them.
I may be asking for trouble but with the number of flies that my lizards require I think they will get the fly population down.
If they become too much of a problem then I'll have to go to the wingless.
The mold issue. Here's how I plan to tackle that problem. After every batch of flies I'm going to use a new jar and new medium, I think if I rotate often I can stay ahead of the mold.
Now for the crickets. I am going to raise them in the bottom of my growroom. I have made a a way for them to get out so that when they do they will be eaten, mostly by the lizards and hopefully by some plants too.
Again if this gets out of hand I'll try something else.
Remember I'll be more than glad to trade flies or crickets in the future. Nick if you want a culture of flies pm me.

 

[elgecko]

I have not have mold infect my cultures since I started using it, use more vinegar then water.