Supposedly Flightless Fruitfly Madness

[aenigmatica8]

Hi arachnolovers,

Maybe you've been in this situation before. I have two tiny Slings in tiny containers, and a massive peanut butter jar full of "flightless" fruit flies that I'm pretty sure can fly. Every time I try to dump some in, the fruit flies fly to the hills and it's a total mess. They're very quick and always move upward out of whatever they're in. Any advice?

Thanks!

 

[basin79]

Hi arachnolovers,

Maybe you've been in this situation before. I have two tiny Slings in tiny containers, and a massive peanut butter jar full of "flightless" fruit flies that I'm pretty sure can fly. Every time I try to dump some in, the fruit flies fly to the hills and it's a total mess. They're very quick and always move upward out of whatever they're in. Any advice?

Thanks!

You could put the jar in the fridge for 5 mins first. It'll slow the little rascals down.

Failing that slings will eat prekilled live food. So a meal worm part or cricket.

 

[Mentat Ix]

I tried flightless fruit flies once. Just had to tap the container a couple times on the table or something to knock them all to the bottom, then open it and get out what you need.

They do climb quick, though. I'm glad I don't need them.

 

[aenigmatica8]

You could put the jar in the fridge for 5 mins first. It'll slow the little rascals down.

Failing that slings will eat prekilled live food. So a meal worm part or cricket.

That's a good idea! I'll have to try that. Thanks for your reply!

 

[aenigmatica8]

I tried flightless fruit flies once. Just had to tap the container a couple times on the table or something to knock them all to the bottom, then open it and get out what you need.

They do climb quick, though. I'm glad I don't need them.

Sometimes that works, sometimes they're too quick. I'm looking forward to my slings outgrowing them.

 

[miss moxie]

Flightless fruit flies aren't very nutritionally sound longterm feeders for slings. I'd look into mini/baby meal worms, or if you're not squeamish regular sized meal worms can be cut into pieces and left in the enclosures. They will readily scavenge feed if you don't see them do so.

 

[The Grym Reaper]

I've never used them as they always seemed to finicky for an ogre like me plus they have very little nutritional value, I use either freshly hatched red runner nymphs or baby mealworms, I pinch the heads before putting them in with the sling if it is a shy eater.

 

[beaker41]

When I'm feeding d. Melagasters I use a nice new plastic cup that is clean and slippery to help keep them from climbing. 5 min in terms fridge will kill them dead, you want more like 10 sec. I notice they don't seem to always find dead ones and they get this yellow fungus pretty quickly. There's easier things to dead feed, so I just stun mine for 30 sec or so. It's takes some practice but you can get to where you can drop 2-3 into each vial carefully tapping them out of the cup. They aren't very nutritionally efficient but I think you get a better, more immediate feeding response feeding live and as small as some species can be as slings (looking at you e. Red) it seems like the only option. I think in general more small meals is better than fewer large meals but mostly I just enjoy watching my tiny killing machines mop up two of three flies like a ninja and ball them up into a nice little meal. If you only have a few slings you want to work then up to pinheads then roach nymphs as soon as they can handle it. If you find yourself in a situation where you have to feed 1000 slings flies are really the only way to go. If you get good at it and it only takes 10 sec each you've got almost 3 hours to feed em all.

 

[Trenor]

I got a few of these when I got my 1st tiny sling (1/8th of an inch) and was worried that my other food would be too big. The tiny sling took the cut up prekilled roach and I tossed them without really using any. Since then, I pretty much use nymphs and it that's too big I use cut up food. All the slings (and Ts) I've had so far have taken prekilled food easily.

@cold blood uses cut up mealworms for all his slings and has had good luck with them as well.

 

[Ztesch]

I tried fruit flies when I started out. It was a pretty bad idea. I could never tell if my T was eating the darn flies or they just escaped through a air hole. Even if they did get the fly it wasn't verry much food in the first place. You can use cricket legs for really tiny slings or meal worms. I use meal worms now and have found that my slings fatten up ALOT quicker then all the other feeders I was using. You can chop them up or just smash the head with your tongs to deter the worm from digging into the sub.

 

[boina]

I agree with everyone else: I tried fruit flies once when I was starting out and it was a mess. I had fruit flies everywhere and they are too small to interest my cats. On top of that I was never sure if the darn things ever got eaten at all. There are easier thing for feeding small slings, like pre-killed anything.

 

[chanda]

I use fruit flies for my Damon diadema hatchlings, jumping spiders, mantis nymphs, and scorpion hatchlings, but prefer larger prey for tarantula slings.

When I want to dispense the flies, I position an open plastic bag (the ones feeder crickets come in) in a large vase, then tap the cup with the flies to knock them down while I open the lid. I tap the fly container over the vase until I have enough flies in the bag, then tap the container again so I can right it and put the lid on. I grab the bag and shake lightly to knock the flies down, then make a crease in one side of the bag and use it to pour/sprinkle flies into the cups/enclosures.

 

[cold blood]

@cold blood uses cut up mealworms for all his slings and has had good luck with them as well.

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Aug 17, 2017
• 7
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling white striped birdeater

chromatus 2i

Not one mealworm piece has escaped yet.

 

[basin79]

nom nom (Nhandu chromatus)

• cold blood
• Aug 17, 2017
• 7
• brazilian red and white tarantula chromatus feeding nhandu nhandu chromatus sling white striped birdeater

chromatus 2i

Not one mealworm piece has escaped yet.

That pic needs to be pinned with the title "Feeding slings". Honestly it's a phenomenal pic. And a picture paints a thousand words.

It instantly shows that there doesn't need to be any feeder conundrums when it comes to slings.

A brilliant, brilliant picture @cold blood

 

[vespers]

Hi arachnolovers,

Maybe you've been in this situation before. I have two tiny Slings in tiny containers, and a massive peanut butter jar full of "flightless" fruit flies that I'm pretty sure can fly. Every time I try to dump some in, the fruit flies fly to the hills and it's a total mess. They're very quick and always move upward out of whatever they're in. Any advice?

Thanks!

There's a difference between flightless melanogaster fruit flies, and wingless ones. The flightless ones still have wings, but their wing muscles don't support flight. However, if your cultures are kept too warm, those flies will breed offspring that can regain the ability to fly. The same thing can also happen if a flying fruit fly gets in your culture and mates with the non-flying ones.

 

[Mirandarachnid]

When my sling was feeding on flightless fruit flies, I just drilled a hole about the width of a pen in the side of the jar and kept a stopper in it. When I fed my T I'd take the stopper out and just turn the jar over and tap them out into the enclosure. One or two would bumble away, but it was pretty efficient for the most part, especially considering how those colonies boom, losing one or two really isn't a big deal.

 

[JanPhilip]

What Vespers said is very true. If you have wild fruit flies in your house, it is advisable to use something to minimize the contact between these and your colonies. They can and will mate through normal mesh or screen. I use foam plugs and it seems to be working pretty well. Others put their colonies in a larger enclosure which also has screen on it. If you think there are flyers in the colony, take it outside, tap it hard a couple of times, open it and most of the flyers will escape while the others are struggling to climb.

@Nutritional value: Where are you guys getting your information from? This is another internet forum myth, which you really should stop spreading around. As far as I know Drosophila are perfectly fine. If you look at the dart frog keepers, most people feed theirs almost strictly with flies. I raise hatchling day geckos with fruit flies as the main food source (some species are intolerant to the yeast though). According to this collection of data, fruit flies are not much different from crickets and a much healthier alternative to mealworms, which have less proteins and more fat than fruit flies. In the end, most things are fine to use as feeders, and if you really do care about the nutrition of your animals a varied diet is more important than which specific insect feeder species you use. firebrats (Thermobia domestica) or isopods are other small and easy to breed options.

 

[aenigmatica8]

Thank you all so much for your advice and ideas! I will be employing your techniques.

 

[cold blood]

.

 

[cold blood]

@Nutritional value: Where are you guys getting your information from? This is another internet forum myth, which you really should stop spreading around. As far as I know Drosophila are perfectly fine. If you look at the dart frog keepers, most people feed theirs almost strictly with flies. I raise hatchling day geckos with fruit flies as the main food source (some species are intolerant to the yeast though). According to this collection of data, fruit flies are not much different from crickets and a much healthier alternative to mealworms, which have less proteins and more fat than fruit flies. In the end, most things are fine to use as feeders, and if you really do care about the nutrition of your animals a varied diet is more important than which specific insect feeder species you use. firebrats (Thermobia domestica) or isopods are other small and easy to breed options.

I get it from arachnologist Samuel Marshall, who states:

"A culture of vestigial-winged fruit flies is very handy for starting hatchling tarantulas. Unfortunately, fruit flies are deficient in amino acids so they are not suitable to feed as more than half the diet of a growing tarantula...Spiders fed too long on fruit flies alone develop molting problems and curly legs, which is too bad as fruit flies are so easy to raise..."