A-1 Reptiles
Flightless Fruit Fly Care
Small reptiles, amphibians or insects require small prey items for food. For this reason flightless fruit fly culturing could very well save you hundreds of dollars and alleviate the problem of buying small prey items for young reptiles and amphibians to eat.
Flightless fruit flies are a perfect feeder insect for smaller reptiles, amphibians or insects such as baby chameleons, frogs, Paroedura Pictus, Bearded Dragons, Praying Mantis, spiderlings, etc.
There are four distinct stages in the life of a fruit fly: egg, larva, pupa and adult.
After the initial culture is set up new flies begin to emerge within seven to ten days depending on the specie of fly used. Each female may lay as many as five-hundred eggs in the fly medium.
The eggs will begin to hatch in a few days and the larva will begin feeding on the yeast mixture. Ater a few days the larva will then begin to climb up the sides of the culture vessel to dryer areas and begin to pupate and transform into adult flies in a couple of days.
Always date the culture with the date the culture is started. Start a new culture when the original culture is ten days old and before any flies are removed for any other purposes.
Fly cultures will not begin to produce flies until after the culture is established, which again could take up to seven to ten days or longer depending on the stored temperature and specie of fly used.
For a continuous supply of fruit flies, always set up a new culture before taking flies from a culture for feeding purposes. Cultures should not be kept longer than two weeks.
Never feed off all the flies from any given culture. At least a dozen flies should remain in the culture at all times so you will continue to have breeding and egg laying inside the culture for a continuous producing culture.
The flightless fruit flies have been genetically steered not to fly. Although they have wings they will only hop just as a pinhead cricket will do.
All utensils and working areas should be kept clean. This will help prevent mite infestations into the cultures. The best prevention against mite infestations is cleanliness. Just laying the lid or covering of the vial onto a counter top can pick up mites or mold spores to small to see and when placed back on top of the culture vial you have allowed mites or mold spores to contaminate your culture.
The mites are perfectly harmless but can generate quickly in the fly medium and overcome a culture. If a culture is contaminated it should be destroyed and a new culture started from a new source which is not contaminated.
Remember these cultures are genetically steered not to fly. For this reason you must take care not to contaminate your culture with the common household fruit fly. If one common household fruit fly were to enter the culture it would breed and cross with the flightless flies and then you would begin to produce flying fruit flies. If your culture has become contaminated with flying flies and is now producing flying fruit flies simply feed off the flying fruit flies from the contaminated culture and then dispose of the culture.
Flightless fruit flies can be raised on a variety of fermenting plant materials or by using a prepared medium, preferably with a mold retardant. Prepared medium can be ordered from most companies who breed the fruit flies or from a biological supplier.
Use distilled water only when preparing new fly cultures as distilled water is sterile. Problems may arise if you use tap water to prepare new cultures as many contaminates can be found in tap water.
Equal amounts of prepared medium and distilled water are mixed together to form a thick paste. The newer fruit fly mediums available on the market today, already contain mold inhibitors. You may want to cut back on water just a bit if you are using large culturing containers to avoid runny cultures. The medium may look dry when prepared but it will become smoother in appearance when the medium begins to ferment.
After preparing the medium add a dozen or more flies to the vessel. This should remain undisturbed for about seven to ten days, depending on the type of fly specie you are using in your culture. After the seven to ten day setup time you may begin to start new cultures and feed off the remaining flies.
Fly culturing vessels should be kept clean but they do not need to be sterilized when the medium is properly prepared. Plastic containers, made especially for fly culturing, may be used repeatedly. Just wash the containers and lids in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly.
If you find that the culture is starting to dry out after a week just add enough water to moisten the medium or you may drown the existing flies and larva.
Ten to fifteen cultures should be kept going at all times in order to provide a constant food supply for just a few reptiles, amphibians or insects.
Fresh cultures are shipped unless you specifically request an older culture. Please note the start date on the fly culture and allow the proper setup time of seven to ten days for the specie of fly you are culturing.
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