whats your fav fly to culture?

[insularexotics]

Mike,
Thanks for sharing your secrets. That's really bold for someone trying to make money to post their tricks. Do you think using the powder form probiotic capsules would be similar to the milk you use? do you have a favorite beer for your cultures or do you use whatever is on sale? Is IPA better for cultures than stout?

I culture 4 different flies for reasons I've long ago forgotten. I guess I do it for the reasons listed above - gliders for quantity, goldens as tweeners for Mantella froglets outgrowing springs, wingless cause they stay down in the screen topped tanks and hydei for their size.

Of course I, like many other recently, have started playing with more feeders insects. I have termites, dubia roaches and bean beetles. All frogs definitely benefit from variety. But Mantellas (most of my frogs) seem to really need diverse and larger food to breed sucessfully and minimize spindly.

[FlyCafe.net]

I am not too worried about sharing the ingredients we use as it takes just the right amount and just like cooking a dinner you need to have a passion for producing quality. Two chefs making the same meal with the same ingredients and the same tools will never make the exact same tasting meal, you will prefer one over the other.

As for beer, I am not a heavy drinker but I do appreciate a quality beer, so when I buy it I keep in mind that I will probably drink half the 6 pack.
You can easily use almost any Hefeweizen type beer. UFO Hefeweizen is usually easy to find but I prefer Weihenstephaner Hefeweissbier (which is a little expensive) as the brewer is known for their quality and is supposedly one of the oldest brewer's in the world. Pretty much any Hefeweizen (pronounced "hay-fuh-veyt-sssenn") will do but I avoid any that have spices, citrus or any other added ingredients beyond the basics.

As for the probiotics, I can see the benefit of the capsules but keep in mind that live versus dormant is always a better deal. Plus the larger the variety the better the absorption and overall health of the flies which we know carry over to the predator that eats them.

As for variety I more than understand as the only reason I specialize in Fruit Flies is after breeding Viper Geckos and Panther Chameleons among others at one time. I can seriously appreciate the roaches as my Chameleons loved them as a treat from Crickets, mealworms, superworms and waxworms to name the staples. I also found that Chameleons had such diverse personalities that each one actually had a "Favorite" food type. I have yet to notice that with Dart Frogs but they are a lot less demanding too.

[DCreptiles]

wow i just want to say that i truely appriciate everyones input and im pleased with the responses on the thread from some good names in the trade. and im glad mike was able to chime in and share some tips. i perfer the wingless over flightless also im having a problem right now with flys getting loose from a few vivs since i surran wrap all my lids i get tiny holes from moving lights and taking them on and off so the flys are escaping a bit and i also think i over feed because i have a thing with seeing my frogs nice and chubby. i feel that im going to back off the gliders and stick with the wingless mels and the black hydei because they are both solid food sources. between the rapid mel production and the black hydei size i got all my frogs covered from vents to azureus. even my vents love hydei and i dont have to feed much.
-Derek

[frogfreak]

We have exo's and they escape regularly. It doesn't really bother us. We put some salt shakers with some wine and a couple of drops of dishsoap in them. As soon as they get out of the viv they go straight for them and drown. A little off topic but We thought it might help someone out.

[FlyCafe.net]

Escaping flies...
First the wingless D. Melanogater = we all agree they prefer hanging out on the bottom.
Golden Flightless D. Hydei - Although these guys will not always hang out on the bottom they do seem to explore and/or hang out in an area compared to the more common Black Flightless D. Hydei which always work their way to the top.

Another bit of help as I have never tried the surran wrap (not even sure how to spell it - but may be trying it soon) and like to rotate different types of flies all the time with the exception of the Flightless D. Melanogaster as they seem to take the autobahn highway to the top of the lid and escape very quickly is to use a catch all for escapees.

Simple trap for anyone who isn't using something already -
Take a water bottle and cut the top off right at the part where it flares out.
Cut the bottom at about 3" up from the base. Now flip the top upside down and place it inside the bottom of the bottle and wrap tape around the top edge to seal. This should give you a clearance between what use to be the very top opening and the very bottom of about 1/2 inch. Fill with Vinegar just a few millimeters from the "what use to be the top" (the part you drank out of). Basically you now have a funnel setting on top of a tiny tub with vinegar in the bottom. Place these close to your terrarium and fly cultures to catch both escapees and wild flying bugs that may get into you home.
Here is a good example although I don't leave as much of a gap from the bottom and the opening as I don't want to waste the vinegar which you will need to replace about once a week. And yes, you can hide these behind your terrarium.

[davecalk]

Originally Posted by mongo77

Mix your mels and hydeis into one culture. It will bloom first with the mels and as you start to feed them out, the hydeis will start to replace them. Just put alittle extra media into the culture than usual.

If you decide to mix flies, don't mix wingless fruit flies and flightless fruit flies, like the gliders. Some types of flies you can mix, but some you can't. It all depends on what the genetic trait. Some flies are bred with a genetic defective flight muscle and some have the genetic defect where their wings don't develop. Mix the two and you can end up with fliers. I did that once and when I opened the culture I was met with a cloud of flies invading the kitchen. Wasn't pretty. Only made that mistake only once.

Dave

[DCreptiles]

hey mike the water bottle thing is a cool idea just a bit of a eye sore i really need to get my self a frog room when we move to a bigger place. but i do have these small glass jars that i put a splash of vinager in and place them on the floor behinde my rack and i have vivs on each side of my couch in the corners of the room so i have a jar behinde the couch next to the vivs ect so it can be out of site. so far no1 has noticed so it seems to work.

and Dave i know what you mean just from feeding different flys into the viv i sometimes open the viv and get some fliers. useually 2 or 3. i never mix in the same culture when there isnt a need to. i have enough containners for both.