Flightless Fruitflies 101: How to Raise and Culture

[@markcarney9144]

I've watched a lot of videos on this topic and yours is far and away the best, the most comprehensive and thorough. Kudos.

[@justmejo9008]

Just going to start my first culture.. This is so great the containers and tips to use. My recipe is a bit different but I like your set up very much! Thanks for your time and knowledge

[@andrewcrisp4340]

Just got my first culture from Sans Vertigo in the mail and am going to follow this guide to keep the food up to my growing collection of jumping spiders. Great video!

[@HellenicBM]

Thank you so much for the video, the calendar explanation answered all of my questions.

[@Bobbiecass]

Thanks, I’m spending a small fortune in buying fruit flies to feed 20 baby frogs ( from tadpoles) and a newly hatched Carolina anole. I’ve got 6 store bought containers… and still have days where I don’t have anything to feed the babies. I’m going groc shopping tomorrow to start cultures, have fruit flies coming from a Bio lab/store tomorrow.

[@ravingcyclist624]

Excellent video! Very detailed and scientific. I think I actually understand the process now. (subscribed)

[@donnaroberts34]

Very interesting and informative video! I learned so much about keeping these feeders, thank you!! 😊

[@ljhooka3735]

Wow so well explained. Ordered fruit flies from your site few days ago. Need those starter cultures!

[@yes937]

Do u know how i could keep them from escaping while i feed my frogs?

[@ljhooka3735]

@@yes937 before I open the container I just tap it repetitively on the table so the flies fall to the the bottom, and then I tapped the container repetitively on the side of the enclosure so the flies fall out into the enclosure. Then you gotta quickly tap it flat on the table again so they fall back into the bottom of the container. Basically just a lot of tapping to keep them under control.

[@1dowsey]

Very helpful. Rather than recycle or bin an old culture I use them to breed springtails for my pdf’s works a treat

[@Anne-gs7tr]

Awesome video - thanks for making this!

[@morwenna]

Thanks to this video, I immediately ordered supplies to start a new culture after buying a culture of D. hydei last weekend. They arrived today and I set up my next culture so I can keep my tarantula slings fed! Thank you!

[@nathangilbert8623]

Gonna give this a go to feed my mantis nymphs. Thank you for the very good informational video!

[@TheLittleVirus]

This was very informative! Sadly can't buy any colonies here in my country, but with your video and other tutorials on how to make some from the wild, I feel like I can do this now. 😊

[@bipolaryx]

Hey im in the same boat. cant get any colonies in my country. Mind sharing how did u get the first colony by yourself?

[@SatouKazuma]

@@bipolaryx just put a couple of slice of banana in a cup with holes you'll collect them easily

[@Edigor100]

the issue is that you won't find any flightless ones in the wild

[@SoraiaLMotta]

thanks for sharing in a very pleasing way.

[@Skyp.e]

I’m about to get a culture for breeding baby jumping spiders. Excited:D

[@ballpain1]

better to opt for fabric lids instead of holes. Holes sometimes allow larvae to get out, and mites to get in

[@SansVertigo]

Yup! This video's quite old now. I put fabric under the plastic lids now. The holes were small enough to prevent larvae from getting out, but it wouldn't prevent wild mites coming in if someone had a mite problem at home.

[@garyash4823]

very in-depth & helpful

[@reidmock2165]

Thanks for the wonderful video! I'm culturing fruit flies to feed to my ant colonies. Ant larva LOVE them!

[@yes937]

Do u know how i could keep them from escaping while i feed my frogs?

[@reidmock2165]

@@yes937 I refrigerate my culture in order to slow them down while I transfer them to a big plastic box. Then, I put the plastic box in my freezer for 10 minutes to kill the flies I separated from the culture. My ants eat them frozen

[@harmonharmon6974]

I've followed these steps and my cultures are molding and i added a lot of air ventilation. Any ideas?

[@avia_aviaries]

thanks for perspective from oz...we cant wait till our flies get here :-)

[@reedgfx435]

Very informative video, I've been having issues with having to buy a new culture every month for my two dozen+ tarantula slings. Hopefully I can make this work out for myself.

[@SansVertigo]

Hi, the video's gotten on a bit in age- but definitely do try a few recipes in case this one fails. I've been learning that success can also depend on ventilation, room humidity and temperature. The most foolproof way is to use Drosophila medium for lab use if all fails. Fruit flies are super easy once you find what works best for you!

[@reedgfx435]

@@SansVertigo Thank you very much!

[@SinisterCity]

Hard to buy just one sling huh ? I tell people it’s like a tattoo Once you get one you want more And more and more haha.

[@malelpn37]

Try blending the oats until powder, same for mashed potato flakes.. smooth media works better

[@lunarminx]

I dumped about 200 into my bioactive anole tank. I figured my anoles( adults would eat some) I found a baby and ordered them for her and she is in her own bioactive. I keep fruit and a wet bug chow they love in both tanks for them to eat. I am assuming they are laying in the soil/banana pieces/bug chow. I just wonder if they will keep reproducing in the tanks.

[@SansVertigo]

I had something like that with my rhino beetles (they eat banana), i accidentally put some flies in and they stuck around, reproducing in the banana. If you remove or replace the banana often, they won't be able to reproduce.

[@joannamatlock4511]

Why did you switch from brewer's yeast to bananas?

[@tomrobertson6747]

A culture of mine is doing something I wasn't expecting. The flies seem lethargic. I am feeding them to praying mantids and a surprising number of mantids are dying. Could the 2 problems be related?

[@ethans.5876]

are you using a home made culture recipe? its possible the culture is growing mold. i prefer buying instead of making because store bought culture tends to have things like mold inhibitors. i would start a new culture alltogether

[@tomrobertson6747]

@@ethans.5876 No, I'm using Repashy. I had mold in another culture that used rotting fruit, but this just seemed moist, not moldy. Would making the food too wet cause that?

[@LetsTalkHerps]

Helpful video. Thank yoy

[@Rovertjeronnie]

hi! amazing video, thankyou! I was wondering if I can use nutritional yeast instead of brewersyeast. I don't know yet if/where I can buy it in my area and I already have nutritional yeast.

[@SansVertigo]

They should both work for the mix- just make sure to use active bakers yeast to sprinkle on top to get the fermentation of the food source going!

[@yes937]

@@SansVertigo Do u know how i could keep them from escaping while i feed my frogs? Cuz i hate when i have to smoosh like 10 escapees

[@SansVertigo]

@@yes937 You can put the culture in the fridge for a few minutes to slow down the flies. I'm not sure what your set up is, or how exactly they are escaping though. Are they escaping the frog enclosure? If so, try to feed deeper in the enclosure to allow more time for flies to be eaten before they can reach any exits. Are they escaping from the culture cup itself? Refrigerate and tap the cup when the lid is still on to avoid escapees. At the end of the day you still might get a few that fall/crawl out where you don't want them- generally it's not a big deal. I just sweep them into the nearest trash can.

[@theviciousrebirth5447]

Do they fly

[@D0S81]

I have 4 tiny english jumping spiders that i feed wild regular flying fruit flies that i caught myself from my kitchen in summer after i left my back door open. I have closed system i made of transfering them from an old culture to a new one via a bottle, anyway. The first time was the worst. I heard about putting them in the fridge for a while. Two mins it said or theyd die. It took mine an hour to fall asleep, and then i forgot about them for 4 hours. But dont worry, they were fine, as soon as i tipped quite a few in my hand to see if they were really dead, they almost instantly warmed up and half my culture flew off. Disaster. Hence why i made closed system to transfer them. Suffice to say. Our fruit flies can handle fridges for more than two minutes. Also whats this food stuff? I just slice some apples, throw in a few drops of apple cider vinegar and then a teaspoon of thick whipped double cream or the cream off a store bought trifle, and they thrive. Like i said i caught mine wild. I got them in july of this year, and have only had to transfer them once in that time until yesterday when i decided to do it again. But yeah man, they love apples n cream man. And banana. Hardy little fekkers. And my wee 5ml spids that i decided to keep to try and combat my arachnaphobia love them.

[@BLAZENYCBLACKOPS]

That tiny mantis was getting his Kung fu ready, lol.

[@tomlewitt]

I'm having no real success, even after trying 3 different media types seen on YT. What always happens is that the flies aren't interested in the media! They just head straight up the sides, to the top of the container. It has an excellent see-through nylon mesh, so the ventilation is not the problem. The flies never hang around down the bottom and roam on the media. Why is this?? ...Many thanks

[@SansVertigo]

Sounds like normal fly behavior to me. The flies don't spend a lot of time at the bottom at all. What happens is they spend most of their time climbing on the wood wool or mesh or near the top. The magic that happens in the media is that eggs are laid there, and the larvae will feed and grow in there until they are big enough to crawl out and pupate. Try the recipes you've used previously and let the cultures age for at least two weeks under warm conditions (24C/75F). Leave the flies alone for this time period, even if it looks like the flies are hanging around the top and see if any larvae, and pupae come about.

[@tomlewitt]

natry @Sans Vertigo Many thanks for your reply. Yes I'll put them away for a while and let their natural behaviour happen! But I'm curious that they don't seem hungry. I put a small bottle-top with some delicious over-ripe banana, in the bottom to see what happened, and they weren't interested in that either. And with one culture, a few quite small larvae developed and climbed up the side, but died quickly. They were much smaller than the larvae I get in the commercial shop cultures .

[@thomaxtube]

@@tomlewittthis is quite late, but maybe can help someone with similar situation: maybe some of the ingredients you have have too much pesticides, try making an organic option, it’s better anyway as the pesticides will accumulate in your pets eating the flies. The food also needs to be fermenting / in stage of decomposition as these flies cannot otherwise eat it. 3rd I would allow some natural sun light (or UVB reptile lamp) there, as this has good effect on the fliest health and it reduces risk of mold and bacterial overgrowth

[@tomlewitt]

@@thomaxtube Many thanks for replying! Yes I found good success in the end, with quite a simple recipe: Beer, potato flake, a bit of white vinegar, and yeast. You're right about the fermenting, they love it. Good points about the light, and pesticide possibilities. Anyway my little frogs got heaps of flies in the end!

[@christinestanley4577]

Thank you for the medium recipe. I tried this just using banana and it went mouldy within a week :(

[@SansVertigo]

Banana can work! But success of any recipe can depend on the environment. The biggest problem a lot of people run into is temperature, especially in drafty, air conditioned or cold spaces. Too cold and the mix doesn't ferment properly, leading to mould.

[@kat2533]

do i need to use the microwave or can i use the stove top 😭

[@SansVertigo]

You can still use a stove top to heat up the contents in a saucepan, just be mindful of burning the mix (it's not intended to be runny like regular oatmeal).

[@Dareen1992]

Mine flies 😂 i have no idea how to get fliles flies e dont have them here

[@Pam_50]

Do fruit flies, exist in fruits, or other food we buy from grocery stores. I found where my fruit fly problem-a house keeper had put a small bag of potatoes in pantry w things in front of them. The had rotted to just rotten watery spoiled mess. Ugg, smh, I don’t put any potatoes in the pantry! I think I’ve killed the majority of them after $20 spray-that u had to spray flies directly. I have finally made a do it yourself seems to be working well! Fruit Flies be gone 🙏🤷🏻‍♀️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏!!!!

[@_repti_fangs]

Shredded paper is not good for climbing at all, wood stripes works best. Paper will absorb too much moisture and break down after few days

[@SansVertigo]

For sure, that is my experience too. Sometimes it works if you use card paper, but for me it's not as good as wood wool/excelsior. That's why I recommend it as the best option.

[@fruitythebudgie3682]

Hi

[@reedrodger2065]

Wow but I got flying fruit flys in my house but still works

[@fruitythebudgie3682]

I had to freeze the flies for about 7 mins to just slow them down

[@SansVertigo]

The time must vary from the strength of the freezer you are using! With our freezer we can't freeze invertebrates for that long, otherwise they risk dying.

[@artsymarsy8480]

Eternal flies...

[@shanesmith8997]

The kind you don't want to eat? That's not what Klaus Schwab of the world economic forum says. He says you will eat the bugs and own nothing and be happy.