Noticed these in the feeder display:
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The price tag claims 500 qty:
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Looking closer, I would not have estimated 500:
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Anyhow it's good to see more variety in feeders in the local chain stores. I hope the quality improves a bit in what I saw, but they may have just been the remnants from an older shipment. Anybody else seeing hydei in Petsmart?
Yes, I was in a pinch with my flies and had to buy some of these 2 years ago, and again several months ago. Nowhere near 500, I think they mean the potential for up to 500, over time! ha ha, not quite. But it helped me get through a pinch. The production was really low, terrible, actually! They also have somewhat larger jars of melanos, which produce way, way better (if in a bind, nothing like real fruit flies in a 32 oz cup!)
500 flies would not 'fit' in that little vial. I agree that it IS good that major big box pet stores are carrying flies.
I got one and just left it open in the viv. Just to see what it would do I'd say before it all died out I had a couple hundred flys. Note some of them can fly and 2nd generation seems to mostly be able to fly.
You likely saw a better batch than I did. The remaining two cultures I saw had little media if any and only 50 to 100 flies. I would find it difficult to believe that vial as is would yield 500 flies but I could see using them as seed flies. But if you got fliers .... I know where to look now - I will see how they look over time and maybe my local shop will improve. I'm still glad to see them trying to stock hydei.
I got the best one of about 10-12 there. It had just started hatching ffs.
Yeah it will be interesting to see what they look like after a fresh shipment rather than the remnants I saw. Did the one you picked up have much media in it? The ones I saw had about a quarter teaspoonful smeared near the top...
I've had flies shipped to me in these vials which I actually preferred. They were shipped without media to ensure they were not killed during transport by "sloshing" media, and shipping was cheaper (50 ct per vial). I like the idea of the vials. If someone can get non fliers it may be a nice way to pickup some seed flies for a secondary type of feeder fly on the cheap. I'll swing back by and see what the next shipment looks like.
I would say about an inch in the end. A kinda blue stuff (not sure what is actually in it)