Fruit Fly Culture making Routine

[dragonfrog]

Hey gang,
New to the frog thing and I am getting confused as to the routine you need to get into with the fruit flies. I have the cuture making down pat, I was just wondering if someone has a sure fire step by step routine for setting up future cultures. You know, day one you do this, 3 days later you do this, another 3 days you do this and wallah!!! you have 3,000 flies to feed your frogs. I have read a few I have found on the net and I am just getting more and more confused as I read.
If you do have a method, please keep it in laymans terms, assume you are talking to the village idiot----me!!
Thanks so much

Steve

[Dancing frogs]

A wize thing to do is start the next culture as soon as one starts producing flies. That way, if a culture goes bad (fails to produce) there is still time to make new ones from a producing culture.

[dragonfrog]

Brian,
That is a given. What I am talking about is an actual routine.

[Cindy Dicken]

Steve,
since the two different types of fruit flies have different production times, you will need to adjust your schedule to accommodate this.
Let say you are working with the melanogaster to be referred to as mels from this point forward.
Mels take approx 10-12 days to hatch. Your hatch time will be affected by the temp they are kept at ( warmer-quicker, cooler-slower). When you notice a large amount of larva in your culture ( around the 7-8 day mark),
you can start to feed off the adult flies over the next two days in that culture. After a couple of feedings you will have no adult flies in that culture, only larva. The larva will crawl up the sides of the container, pupate, and start hatching. After approx 1 week after you have fed off the adult flies,the NEW adult flies start to hatch, you can then use the NEW adult flies to start your new culture. After you have used the first new hatch to start your new culture then use the culture for feed. You will repeat this process with your new culture.

Flies are sexually mature and start mating 12 hours after they hatch.

This same method is used with the hydei, it is just that the time frame is a little different due to their slower hatching time. Hydei take approx 21-24 days to hatch.

You want to be sure you do not keep your flies too warm as this believed that this causes sterility. Ideal temp range is 72-78. It is always a good idea to not let your cultures over populate, keep them thinned out.

Cindy Dicken
Vivarium Concepts
http://www.vivariumconcepts.com
http://www.rainforesthabitats.com

[tmkuroda]

Thread Hijack...sorry... So how many FF cultures of each type should you make per week for say 4 juvies and 7 froglets?

[Dancing frogs]

4 juvies and 7 froglets of what?

[tmkuroda]

Sorry.. I guess I think EVERYONE reads my stupid posts I really need to add what we have onto my sig line.

3 Leucs
6 auratus
2 Patricas

[Cindy Dicken]

Tina,
having too many flies is always better than not enough. In the beginning, until you get the hang of it, 3-4 cultures of each. You can adjust these once you see the production you will have and how much you are feeding. Keep in mind that if you will set up new cultures every week you should have enough flies to get you through any unforeseen situations such as mold, mites, etc.

[tmkuroda]

So then you toss any that are extras or use any that are extras to make more?

[Cindy Dicken]

You will want to feed out of each culture to keep from having an over abundance of flies. Too many flies in a culture for too long will smother the culture. Like I mentioned once you get the hang of culturing your flies, you can adjust accordingly the number/ frequency of making new cultures.

[Philsuma]

I maintain a medium to large size collection of Dart Frogs.

The absolute best advice that I can give to having a constant, good flow of producing fruit flies cultures is:

Pick a day of the week and make your new cultures that day. Do NOT skip that day. Do NOT blow it off or just say "eh, no biggie, I'll make em' tomorrow". Stick to your given Culture Making day.

My Culture Making Day is Sunday.

[frogfreak]

I maintain a medium to large size collection of Dart Frogs.

The absolute best advice that I can give to having a constant, good flow of producing fruit flies cultures is:

Pick a day of the week and make your new cultures that day. Do NOT skip that day. Do NOT blow it off or just say "eh, no biggie, I'll make em' tomorrow". Stick to your given Culture Making day.

My Culture Making Day is Sunday.

I agree. My day is today. I'd also like to recommend having a place where you can keep the humidity between 50-60%. We have a seperate room with a humidifier. You will avoid a lot of crashes, maintaining the proper humidity levels. A closet would work fine. On a smaller scale, a rubbermaid container. Dry cultures are dead cultures...

[JJuchems]

I recommend not making them during the Super Bowl. You will do something stupid like not add mold inhibitor. Sucks when that happens.

[ems1016]

Got a FF recipe from one of our more esteemed members here, whose name shall remember anonymous so as not to reveal how much he really does care about his fellow froggers ( ). Anyways, I was at Sam's Club and picked up some instant "Idahoan Real Premium Mashed Potatoes" as a media base. However, when I got home, I noticed that the cover also read "Complete with Real Milk." Can this be used for media or no, because of the "real milk?" Ed

[Lady Bullseye]

I don't know how it affects the recipe you have, but the one I've been trying adds powdered milk, so I don't think it will hurt in general.

[Philsuma]

hmmm....just gonna hafta try it out and let us know.

It may smell a little funky though...