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maggots not climbing the sides anymore?

2.9K views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  syble  
#1 ·
I'm assuming it a temperature thing. My cultures are not doing well. The maggots form, but dont climb the side of the cup before cacooning, so most of them never hatch, and they get so thick that the flies cant get to the media. most of them cacoon right on the surface of the media, or just under the surface. This just started resently, basically when it got cold.

Anyone know if it is in fact the cold, or something else? I have an incubator I'm try to get set, but its still a little hot. Man I hope my beardies dont lay eggs for a while if I have to leave my cultures in there.
 
#2 ·
Do you have central heating(forced air). The maggots on the side are like a humidity meter. The higher the maggots climb the higher the hunidity. If they are all at the bottom try putting a loose newspaper over the top or stacking cultures and switching them to allow for ventilation only part of the day. A sterilite container may work also.
Could also be too many flies added and not enough medium for them to morph all the offspring.
 
#3 ·
that is something I haven't even concidered. It does fit though. My cultures weren't producing very fast, but one that I left on my computer monitor was really warm and boomed. So I thought it was the heat and lined my other ones around the heater vent. I probably dried them out doing that.

I just gave each culture a mist, and took them away from the vent.

thank for the responce. I'm sure that was it. I dont know why I didn't think of it. Man I feel kinda dumb now :roll:
 
#4 ·
Don't feel dumb, there is a correlation between the temp the cultures are kept at and the level of production, do a search to pull the details on it. At one point in time I kept my cultures on a heating pad because I could quickly turn over the cultures (hydei were completely finished in 4-5 weeks), but it took alot of effort to not miss the boom of the culture.
 
#5 ·
Making fruit fly cultures is an art and a science. There are many ways to be successful given your initial conditions, however as conditions change you may need to change your procedure. I recently had the same problem you did since I add cardboard to my cultures 4 days after the new flies are introduced (in the summer). For some reason adding the cardboard with the adult starter flies led to mold. In the winter however the mold issue disappears and I get a far better yield by adding the cardboard when I add the adult flies (actually just before I add them).

Long story short, try adding some cardboard.

good luck!

Matt
 
#6 ·
FF cultures drying out

I heat a room with dry heat so I routinely use clear masking tape on my culture lids to close off 1/2 the holes. It is indeed the humidity factor with causes this speaking from expierence. I used to additionally use more water in the cultures when using the standard mashed potato mixture but not now using the grape juice/ banana/mashed potato mixture I rarely have that problem.
B.
PS mold was a real issue with me until I switched to 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar (Hydei don't like the acidity though)
 
#8 ·
There is a thread on fly storage drawers... something to look into. It helps keep a more constant humidity as well as temps (you can also try and heat them to warm them up) since the circulating room air won't get a chance to dry them out as much. Also, I always have to add a touch more water/liquid to my mixes during the winter just because they dry out faster...