Fruit Flies?

[lesliefox719]

This is going to sound incredibly novice, but I can't help but wonder - can you feed regular household fruit flies to T's? Just something I have never came across to do, and I wondered if they are bad for a T somehow, or just not a likeable source because they fly?

 

[Thistles]

I have never fed regular fruit flies to Ts, but I do culture 2 varieties of flightless fruit flies. I have fed them to very tiny slings occasionally, but usually a cricket drumstick or pinhead is more nutritious. The FFs I have are for my dart frogs and fish and sometimes mantis nymphs. They certainly won't hurt your T, though they may not be worth its time.

 

[lesliefox719]

We can't get rid of these horrible flying things, because of my uromastyx and their diet - plus we can't very well spray for them, now can we? So I was thinking if I fail in trying to culture up my own FFF's, I could find a use for these easily catchable, easily removed wings, type pest. So if it wouldn't hurt, I want to try it. But being key here, I want to make sure there isn't some sort of hidden danger. Pretty sure my house now has its own species of regular fruit flies - I CANNOT get rid of them.

And I will probably fail at the FFF's culture since it was a last minute decision when I had like 10 left ...

 

[Piddleysmith]

Hmmm, to slings you could definatley give it a go, but I'm not recommending it simply because of the same the reason the gentlemen mentioned, the hidden danger of it. Also I heard that normal fruit flies can be bad for T's if you feed them them to often. Something to do with bad molts. Might wanna look into it a bit though...

 

[Quazgar]

From my understanding, they're just generally not all that nutritious. Unless you have a ton of tiny slings you don't want to cut up crickets or roaches for, I just don't think they're worth any sort of effort.

 

[lesliefox719]

Since she managed a pinhead cricket just fine, I believe I'm going to stick to that and just spread out the feedings. Was a random thought anyway, but thanks for all the replies!

 

[TheScaryOne]

Fruit flies are something like 90% water. I alternate gutloaded crix and flightless hydei fruit flies with my G. Pulchripes sling, almost daily (he's quite the pig). I'm pretty sure he just hit his second instar (third stage after egg with legs). I do it because the fruit flies are easy to culture and I've had mold and fungus issues in the past and am weary about overwetting his substrate. He seems to do fine from this arrangement.

 

[Stan Schultz]

This is going to sound incredibly novice, but I can't help but wonder - can you feed regular household fruit flies to T's? Just something I have never came across to do, and I wondered if they are bad for a T somehow, or just not a likeable source because they fly?

Several decades ago Rick C. West, noted arachnologist of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, performed a simple experiment by feeding the babies of an eggsac of some African species of tarantula solely on fruit flies. Within a few molts they were displaying severe molting difficulties, and he lost a lot of them. Since that time a few other enthusiasts have tried the same experiment on other species of tarantula with pretty much the same results.

Bottom line: Yes, you can feed fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, normal or vestigial winged (it really makes no difference) to your tarantulas. But, they should be used only as a "filler" to help vary a diet of some more nutritious prey rather than the main course. Fruit flies are NOT a balanced diet.

Note that the vestigial winged form is easier to manipulate, but the vestigial winged characteristic is a semi-lethal recessive. After several generations your vestigial winged fruit fly colony will soon decline and die unless you periodically outcross it to normal fruit flies, then inbreed the hybrids to resurrect the vestigial winged colony again. This, as you might guess, is a real pain in the patootie! Or, you can get to know someone who works in a college or university genetics lab who can periodically supply you with fresh colonies. Or, you can just forget the whole issue and feed your tarantulas crickets or roaches which appear to be a balanced diet anyway.

Also, there are several other strains of fruit flies that have deformed wings and can't fly that are not so prone to die off. They're not as easy to get however.

Lastly, what we're calling "fruit flies" are really "pomace flies," family Drosophilidae. (Hey! We get uptight when someone misidentifies a tarantula, don't we? Ease back a little on the Dipterists. They have real lives too!) REAL fruit flies are a different insect belonging to a different family of flies (Tephritidae). This is only important if you're doing any reading or research on them. If you don't realize the difference you may make the obvious mistake of ascribing some characteristics to the wrong bugs. Heaven forfend that we should blame one fly for another's shortcomings!

Enjoy your little, 8-legged, connoisseur of flies!

:biggrin:

---------- Post added 08-03-2012 at 11:34 PM ----------

Fruit flies are something like 90% water. ...

So are we all. It really doesn't make any difference because we can merely eat more and gain the same nutrition once we filter out the excess water. The important issue is, of the non-water portion of the fruit fly, what is lacking that's present in (say) crickets or roaches?

Several years ago there was a big discussion about this on either this forum or the ATS forum. But, it's too late for me to go on a searching rampage to try to find it again. You, of course, are welcome to do so if you wish.

Enjoy your little, 8-legged, water balloon!

---------- Post added 08-03-2012 at 11:51 PM ----------

Since she managed a pinhead cricket just fine, I believe I'm going to stick to that and just spread out the feedings. Was a random thought anyway, but thanks for all the replies!

Keep in mind that baby tarantulas, being inveterate predators right from the factory, are easily capable of overwhelming and killing prey up to, and even slightly larger than, the size of their abdomens. Thus, you should be able to start feeding pinhead crickets to virtually all baby tarantulas as they leave the eggsac.

And, providing you can get adult crickets from the pet shop or fish bait store (look for the ones with wings), it's pathetically easy to get the females to lay eggs in a shallow container of damp peat or coconut husk, and produce virtually all the pinhead crickets you could possibly need for your tarantulas. After they're finished laying eggs, feed the adults to your other tarantulas.

It's even very easy to actually get the pinhead crickets to grow a little for you to produce food for the larger baby tarantulas.

Do you need instructions for doing any of this?


Enjoy your little, 8-legged, fearsome predator!

 

[Sharno]

Is it also ok to very rarely take a common moth, for example, from the yard, and offer it? I know there is always concern about pesticides. But we don't use any in our own yard, ever. Is this a case of better safe than sorry?

 

[Quazgar]

Even though you use no pesticides, can you guarantee that for the house next to you? Or the one next to that? Or the one several miles down the road? You also have to worry about mites, parasites, etc. that the moth may be carrying. Better safe than sorry.