Feeding flightless fruit flies

[BRussell]

Anyone have any tricks on handling these little, flightless fruit flies? I have two tiny Ts that I'm feeding the flies to. When I open the container, they try to escape and I usually kill them while trying to pick one up to feed. GRRRRR. Someone had mentioned putting in fridge to slow them down? I'm thinking that sounds pretty good, might even make the kill easier for the baby T.

 

[FoxtheLviola]

I've never used them myself, but over heard of people using a straw with cloth on one end, held on with a rubber and or something I'd assume. They use the straw to suck up the flies and the cloth prevents the flies from going into ones mouth. And then just tap the straw to get the flies into the slings cage. I just feed all my tiny slings pieces of crickets or whole pre- killed small crickets. They will scavenge and it seems easier than dealing with tiny flies.

 

[Scuttlebutt]

I just smack the underside of the colony against a flat surface or my hand to get the flies away from the lid, then quickly remove the lid and turn it to the side slightly. When a fly crawls towards the lip I tap the sides to knock it out. They're easier to pick up if you knock them onto a soft surface that will give a little, I use a dirty T shirt on top of my mattress. Also be sure to keep the population down so there isn't an army of flies ready to erupt from the top when you open it and to make it last longer before all of their food runs out. I never have trouble with them getting everywhere, but crickets are just more convenient and now that all of my Ts are large enough for small crickets once my current colony dies out I won't be getting any more.

 

[prairiepanda]

Using cricket parts is definitely much easier than dealing with FFFs. I had a flightless fruitlfy culture before, and I hated it. Even after refrigerating, tapping all of them to the bottom, and then using the straw method, flies got out everywhere.

 

[kalebo1]

I just found out TODAY that my FFF culture was also producing mites. I would keep an eye out for mites because they can easily form inside of your colony. I usually lay a Tupperware lid down on the floor, tap the container to knock all of the flies downward, and then quickly open the lid to allow one or two the crawl out. It is a quick process, but it does work. I also us a small set of tweezers to grab the flies wings and place them in my T's enclosure. The tweezers keep me from squishing the fly.

 

[3skulls]

I pick them off 2-3 at a time when they crawl out of the hole. Slide the coin on the hole while I'm blowing them in with the spider.
Plug the hole when not in use.

They are a pain but I find this to be very easy.