Reptile store sold me fruit flies for my true spiders, but the flies have already pupated into larvae! Now what?

[Europus Gigantus]

My daughter bought wingless fruit flies for me a few days ago. I don't have a source for them close by. She brought them to me Thursday night. We were having a large family function this weekend, so I left them in my spider room, in their container, in a paper bag. Tonight (Saturday) I got them out and did not see any fruit flies, but a lot of instar casings and maggots/larvae! Should I have put them in the refrigerator? Will the maggots become fruit flies again or? I am bummed out. I have a jumper and a few juvenile Callobius (hacklemesh) that are getting hungry. So, does anyone know if I will have new fruit flies soon? Thank you!

 

[The Spider House]

Depends on the temperatures you have but generally about 5 days before you get flies again is my experience.

I used to have a cycle of splitting adults up and having fruit fly culture and wood wool so that there was always a constant cycle of flies and breeding going in. Once you get into the rhythm of it, it's pretty easy.

The trick is to feed the adults to your spiders as soon as you see maggots as they done what they need to, and so can be used as prey. GL amd hope there is a few you can salvage to keep your furry friends fed

 

[NMTs]

My daughter bought wingless fruit flies for me a few days ago. I don't have a source for them close by. She brought them to me Thursday night. We were having a large family function this weekend, so I left them in my spider room, in their container, in a paper bag. Tonight (Saturday) I got them out and did not see any fruit flies, but a lot of instar casings and maggots/larvae! Should I have put them in the refrigerator? Will the maggots become fruit flies again or? I am bummed out. I have a jumper and a few juvenile Callobius (hacklemesh) that are getting hungry. So, does anyone know if I will have new fruit flies soon? Thank you!

You should - a good FFF culture so continue to produce for weeks as long as there's food in there for them. Sounds like you'll have adults again in around 6 days, but that's just an estimate. Keep them at room temp - refrigerating them now will slow the process down.

 

[swatc1h]

you'll have the next cycle of fruit flies . as soon as you see mold save the flies and culture the next batch . i just started and its easy like he said . just remember to date it .

 

[Europus Gigantus]

Great! I was hoping to culture a new batch with these so I have a set up already, First time trying this , so I appreciate the encouragement!

 

[The Spider House]

Great! I was hoping to culture a new batch with these so I have a set up already, First time trying this , so I appreciate the encouragement!

NP. Happy to help. If you have bought fruit fly medium, mixing with some fruit juice instead of water seems to increase the number of fruit flies. I prefer to use apple juice.

 

[Tarantuland]

Melanogaster will go to fly faster than hydei

 

[The Snark]

Will the maggots become fruit flies again or? I am bummed out.

It's more of a question as to how to not produce FFs. I'm under the impression they can operate on the immaculate conception principal and possibly have some sort of warp gate where they suddenly appear from nowhere. In the tropics all ripe fruit turns into FF factories within 48 hours. Unable to find fruit they will settle for any vegetation my other is trying to sprout.

 

[Europus Gigantus]

Melanogaster will go to fly faster than hydei

I need to go look and see what they gave me this time. Always seems to be some uninterested college student working the cash register. But what a cool college job, better than flipping burgers!

 

[Europus Gigantus]

You should - a good FFF culture so continue to produce for weeks as long as there's food in there for them. Sounds like you'll have adults again in around 6 days, but that's just an estimate. Keep them at room temp - refrigerating them now will slow the process down.

Thank you for your help walking me through this, yep, I indeed had adults in five days, now I am thinking of getting some beta fish to help control the population!

 

[The Snark]

I indeed had adults in five days, now I am thinking of getting some beta fish to help control the population!

Go for the entertainment. A chameleon.

 

[NMTs]

Go for the entertainment. A chameleon.

Dart frogs would enjoy them eagerly, as well!

 

[DustyD]

So is there nutritional value in FFF? Last year while keeping a tiny G. pulchripes I fed it fruit flies, cricket drumsticks and the occasional really small segment of a superworm. But during that time and even since there have been some comments to the effect that there is NO nutritional value to fruit flies.

I did find on some (mostly reptile) websites a study that listed nutrition for FFF among other feeders and they seemed to be good. I think the study was done on behalf of the feeder industry, but to me that would not affect how the various insects compared.

I know that FFF are hard to wrangle ( man those tiny lassos are difficult to hold onto) but is that biasing some thoughts or could it be that as more may be needed for a meal leading to some people disqualifying them?

The fruit flies I had used came in a tube from a pet store chain. The smart chain.

 

[Frogdaddy]

Pour some ffs into another container with a lid, then put them in the refrigerator for 2-3 minutes, no longer. They will get cold and slow down, sort of a suspended animation. They will slowly warm up and become active again, but it makes it easier to shake a few into your spider enclosures.

 

[Europus Gigantus]

Dart frogs would enjoy them eagerly, as well!

Trying to talk my husband into getting some after he asked a question about them, LOL. They are cool, for sure.

 

[Europus Gigantus]

So is there nutritional value in FFF? Last year while keeping a tiny G. pulchripes I fed it fruit flies, cricket drumsticks and the occasional really small segment of a superworm. But during that time and even since there have been some comments to the effect that there is NO nutritional value to fruit flies.

I did find on some (mostly reptile) websites a study that listed nutrition for FFF among other feeders and they seemed to be good. I think the study was done on behalf of the feeder industry, but to me that would not affect how the various insects compared.

I know that FFF are hard to wrangle ( man those tiny lassos are difficult to hold onto) but is that biasing some thoughts or could it be that as more may be needed for a meal leading to some people disqualifying them?

The fruit flies I had used came in a tube from a pet store chain. The smart chain.