Where do you buy your fruit flies???

[Twisted]

Where do you guys prefer to buy your flightless fruit flies? I have a small group of 1/2" slings to feed and my local source isn't so local and is spendy for what you get.

What about mini meal worms? I looked at them as an option but read somewhere they were not very nutritious.

 

[ghordy]

Numerous places online. Google "flightless fruit flies". They'll ship you the flies and culture and you'll have flies out the wazoo for a couple months.

 

[jayefbe]

Or buy a culture, some medium, and some deli cups. Make your own cultures. If you need a steady supply of fruit flies it's WAY cheaper. I used to keep darts and it's just about the easiest thing to do.

 

[zonbonzovi]

Ed's Fly Meat has strong cultures for $10 a pop and addtional supplies for keeping your culture going if you're not a DIY-er. Nice guy, very helpful.

 

[Twisted]

Ed's Fly Meat has strong cultures for $10 a pop and addtional supplies for keeping your culture going if you're not a DIY-er. Nice guy, very helpful.

That is who I would like to order from because he is close but he is out of the bigger kind that I want.

I have been reading some about trying to keep them going to keep raising them but just haven't found the right explanation of how to do so.

 

[kupo969]

Where do you guys prefer to buy your flightless fruit flies? I have a small group of 1/2" slings to feed and my local source isn't so local and is spendy for what you get.

What about mini meal worms? I looked at them as an option but read somewhere they were not very nutritious.

I find feeding mealworms to slings that small more convenient just because they are easier to grow. Just a personal preference. Some pet stores carry mealies that small, pin heads, and fruit flies (If you haven't checked yet).

Edit: You can also use a cricket leg to feed small slings (drumstick, lol?).

 

[jayefbe]

By bigger kind, I assume you're referring to D. hydei. That species is a little more difficult to raise, and takes longer to mature. Both D. hydei and melanogasters work the same way. Take a large, tall deli cup. Put about 2 inches of food medium in the bottom (bought or homemade). Add something to increase the surface area within the cup (paper towel, long woody stringy stuff) and then add adult fruit flies. The adults will breed and lay eggs. The larvae will eat from the medium at the bottom of the cup (you can actually see them burrowing through the medium) and eventually pupate and emerge as adult fruit flies. For melanogasters the whole process takes about a week or two. For hydei it can take twice as long. Usually a colony will last a few generations, but each successive generation is smaller than the one preceding it.

I also would try to refrain from buying fruit fly cultures from a pet store. IME they are very expensive and very unproductive when compared to homemade using commercial mediums.

 

[Teal]

Well darn, I get mine from you! lol

I've never heard of mini mealworms.. that sounds promising! No funnels! No little tiny objects running around like mad!

 

[Vaughn]

That is who I would like to order from because he is close but he is out of the bigger kind that I want.

I have been reading some about trying to keep them going to keep raising them but just haven't found the right explanation of how to do so.

Bought a FF culture a year ago , still going .

In a large deli cup put about 2 inches of instant mashed potato flakes and a tablespoon of corn floor . To that add 2/3 cup boiling water and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar . Mix well then pat down , sprinkle about 20 grains of instant yeast on top . Put in a small bunch of Excelsior ( the dried grassy looking stuff , you can get it at any craft store ) for the adults to climb up on . Add 2 dozen FF and your good to go. I have 2 cultures going which I rotate every 4 to 5 weeks . I also use the mini meal worms and my slings thrive on them .

 

[RedDragonfly]

One big problem with keeping a ff culture going longer than 4-6 weeks and should only be the month for melanos is that the cultures can become mite infested easily.

Once you learn to culture your own flies, it is easy. I keep several cultures going at all times, but I am primarially the pdf person in our family. I happen to have 3 t's, although my partner has hundreds.

 

[JC]

Once you get you culture you need to separate them into two different cultures or more to ensure that if one culture goes bad, you still have another one to start over again. Keeping them all in only one container is not wise.

 

[Exo]

All the rumors about mealworms not being nutritious is a load of bull. If anything, I have heard that fruitflies aren't nutritious enough.

 

[Royal_T's]

Depending on whether or not you have arboreal slings or terrestrial slings... I've used flightless fruit flies for my arboreal slings and they work well because they climb so much. Crickets are better for your terrestrial species, and it helps if you cut the back two legs off (rather than pulling them off) because they will still walk around drawing attention to themselves but won't be able to jump.