breeding fruit flies?

dtknow

Arachnoking
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google is your friend. After you are done reading(everyone has their own way of raising them including me), feel free to ask questions.
 

lychas

Arachnolord
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i googled but only found one page and it wasnt very helpfull
 

JLDomestics

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Well basicly you need a jar or container or canister of some sort and you put a fly media in the bottom and add flies. Fly media can be found at Ed's Fly Meat .com probably and it is pretty cheap.
 

TNeal

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To culture these guys you will need instant mashed potatoe flakes, hot water, apple sauce, bakers yeast, a coffee filter, elastics, paper towels and whatever you decide to use as a culture container.

First mix the potato flakes with some hot water. Stir it in slowly, you want to end up with a very thick paste. Almost to the point where the some of the flakes still look dry. Next mix in the apple sauce. Add slowly and mix in well. You want to end up with a mixutre that is moist but not runny. If the media is runny then the larvae will drown in it. If it is too dry then the larvae will not be able to tunnel through it. After you have it mixed up add some to the culture container. Use about an inch for D.melanogaster and 2 inches for D. hedia. Then sprinkle some bakers yeast on the surface of the media lightly. Do not mix it in. Grab the old culture and sprinkle some fruit flies into the new culture. If you put the culture into the fridge for about 10 minutes before you need to take the flies out, it will make them easier to deal with. Next add a couple of paper towels to the new culture. This gives the larvae something to crawl out on and pupate. Next cover the new culture with the coffee filter and secure it with an elastic band. Your done. The more flies you add and the deeper the media the longer the culture will last. They should reproduce flies for a month or so. Start a new culture every week or so, so that you have a continouse supply. The D. melanogaster's life cycle is about 7 days. The D. hedia's are about twice that.

I'll be happy to help you with any more advise. Don't be afraid to ask.

I look forward to hearing from you again.

Tom
 

luna

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I knew that top secret formula I order from carolina biological was just potato flakes!

TNeal... do you have a more exact recipe especially regarding the amount of apple sauce you add?

Lychas, make sure you use just a few grains of the yeast; too much can be a problem.
 

lychas

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thanks luna, i'm an aussie so i cant buy them, not that its illegal but just no1 breeds them so i gotta catch some, any idea for traps?
 

Hedorah99

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thanks luna, i'm an aussie so i cant buy them, not that its illegal but just no1 breeds them so i gotta catch some, any idea for traps?
Put a soda bottle on its side with a piece of fruit in it. They should fly in and start to settle on the banana or whatever. . You can cap it off and put it in the fridge to slow them down and transfer to the breeding jar. You may want to find out if you can get a flightless culture somewhere in the country. They are a pain in the but to transfer and feed out when they can fly.
 

lychas

Arachnolord
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i have put some pineapple into an icecream container, how long till they arrive?
 

Talkenlate04

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You might want to use a Banna or an Apple. Something that has more natural sugar. They really are attracted to Banna's. I just talked with neal not to long ago and am starting my own cultures.

I do find it weird they seem to come out of nowhere. No matter what time of year or where I have the fruit the flies come. :confused: They hone in better then mosquitoes.
 

TNeal

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It may be worth the expense to have someone ship you some. Especially if no one around you has any. You could sell cultures to your friends. I would be willing to ship to Austrailia.

Tom
 

lychas

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if this was 6months ago i would say yes, its actually illegal to send live animals to aust but am out of that sort of thing now, will put some apple in my trap, so why wont they come to pineapple?
 

ErikH

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It's been a long time since I worked with them, but I believe it is the yeast on fruit that attracts them rather than the fruit itself? At any rate, it seems that apples and bannanas attract them better than other fruit, although grapes seem to work too. I wish I could remember how to sex them; check google, and you can probably find out. The easiest way to work with them is to etherise them if you have access to ether, or a couple minutes in the refridgerator if you don't. If you can anesthetize them you can separate them by sex or trait when starting a new colony.
 

mrbonzai211

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They sell little kits in tubes with a working cycle of fruits flies. It has a gel at the bottom that feeds the flies and maggots. The only thing you need to do is open the top every day or two for fresh air to circulate into it and drop in a piece of orange peel on occasion (the orange peel isn't necessary but is pretty helpful). I see them all the time at Petco and I'm sure they have them other places too.
 

dtknow

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I knew that top secret formula I order from carolina biological was just potato flakes!

TNeal... do you have a more exact recipe especially regarding the amount of apple sauce you add?

Lychas, make sure you use just a few grains of the yeast; too much can be a problem.
IME if you use potato flakes and add some brewers or nutritional yeast it works much better than straight potato flakes, sugar medium inoculated w bakers yeast. The FF's need the extra protein.
 

Vermis

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My question's the same as the original one, even though I have a few cultures with different media on the go. I just can't get them to take an interest and make little maggots. :rolleyes:

One culture is half-n-half mashed potato (not instant mash) and fruitfly medium (out of date :8o ), with a little water, white wine vinegar, and a pinch each of vitamin powder and baker's yeast. It's kind of wet but not sloppy. This one's been going the longest and so far I've managed to culture a bit of bluemold. Just like my attempts in the past.

The other two are mashed potato and porridge, respectively. Both have a small splash of vinegar, about half a teaspoon of honey, and pinches of vitamins and yeast (less yeast than the first, about 4 crushed grains). These are only a few days old, but I've heard that maggots should be visible after that amount of time.

All three are kept at room temperature - 18-20C (64-68F) - which is, conveniently, the optimum temp according to one source.

Anyone know any differently? Any further pointers in general?
 

dtknow

Arachnoking
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Try using brewers or nutritional yeast in the mix. IME without it any maggots will simply wander around, fail to gain size, and die.
 

JungleGuts

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They sell little kits in tubes with a working cycle of fruits flies. It has a gel at the bottom that feeds the flies and maggots. The only thing you need to do is open the top every day or two for fresh air to circulate into it and drop in a piece of orange peel on occasion (the orange peel isn't necessary but is pretty helpful). I see them all the time at Petco and I'm sure they have them other places too.

these do actually work very well and are well worth the 5 bucks because of all the generations of flys that are created, and inverts love em!
 

lychas

Arachnolord
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i'm going to make my own apple sauce, should i add sugar? does the apple sauce need to be runny or thick?
 
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