flightless fruit flies

[Star1]

I got a vial of d. hydei fruit flies from the pet store a couple weeks ago to have for my L. Williamsi. Today I noticed a bunch of little white worms in there. I can't find anything helpful on google, but was wondering if they will turn into fruit flies (like mealworms turn into beetles) or if they're something else. There's also a few darker ones. The one that looks huge in the picture is actually multiple small ones right by each other.

 

[Caleb C]

You need to start culturing your own fruit flies, lol. It's cheap and fruit flies are extremely overpriced at pet stores anyway.
Those are the fruit fly maggots, they turn brown and stick to something for a week or so, depending on the temperature, then come out as fruit flies. After a month its best to throw them out, as they get infested with mites.
Btw, if you didn't know, your culture is upside down, and hydei love climbing up. Melanogaster are smaller and have shorter lifespans, but breed quickly because of that. They're easier to culture.

 

[Star1]

I just had it laying on it's side for the picture I usually keep it standing up

 

[Amanda1]

As Caleb said, those are baby fruit flies. The brown ones are actually pupae, which means they're turning into flies. After a while the culture will get really gross and stop producing flies, so you'll know when to toss it. I feed D. hydei to my thumbnail darts, but haven't bothered to set up my own cultures yet, so I can't help you there. If you use melanogaster, make sure you get the wingless ones, or else they'll be flying all over the place. You can find both species and culture kits at the Josh's Frogs website.

 

[Caleb C]

Potato flakes or powder is the base, I got boxes of mashed potato flakes, and mixed it with brewers yeast and some vinegar. It's cost effective to buy your own sets and culture them. They take maybe 5-10 mins to set up and will start producing in a week or two. I'm pretty sure all melanogaster sold online for feeding purposes are wingless. Petco sells cultures at $10 per jar, it's made from the fruit fly company but is quite pricy. The petsmart near me sells vials like the one you have.

 

[Josh2]

I don't think I could ever be trusted to maintain a flightless fruit fly colony

 

[Star1]

Potato flakes or powder is the base, I got boxes of mashed potato flakes, and mixed it with brewers yeast and some vinegar. It's cost effective to buy your own sets and culture them. They take maybe 5-10 mins to set up and will start producing in a week or two. I'm pretty sure all melanogaster sold online for feeding purposes are wingless. Petco sells cultures at $10 per jar, it's made from the fruit fly company but is quite pricy. The petsmart near me sells vials like the one you have.

That sounds pretty easy, but I don't know if I need a colony of fruit flies for 1 gecko. Do I just put some of the flies from the vial into there to breed?

 

[Caleb C]

I believe I used 4 parts potato flakes, 2 parts brewers yeast, and1 part sugar. I may be wrong, so just google online. I put in 50-75 fruit flies for every new culture and give them something that they can walk on that will increase surface area and will not collapse due to moisture.

 

[Amanda1]

I don't think I could ever be trusted to maintain a flightless fruit fly colony

lol, I have the same suspicions about myself, which is why I haven't tried. I buy the tube cultures at Petsmart for about $5. I've ordered larger cultures online, but shipping is very expensive (especially in winter when they add heat packs and such), so I'm not going to make that a regular thing.

 

[Caleb C]

You should really try culturing your own. It's really simple once you get the hang of it. You slam the container down before opening, pour ~50-75 fruit flies in the new culture, and close both of them as fast as possible. You can also swish them around in empty containers with calcium, they coat very easily. The tubes are extremely small and dont produce much, you can get a 32 oz culture for $5 at reptile shows that will produce a whole lot.

 

[Star1]

You should really try culturing your own. It's really simple once you get the hang of it. You slam the container down before opening, pour ~50-75 fruit flies in the new culture, and close both of them as fast as possible. You can also swish them around in empty containers with calcium, they coat very easily. The tubes are extremely small and dont produce much, you can get a 32 oz culture for $5 at reptile shows that will produce a whole lot.

I'll have to look this weekend when I go to the reptile show! Sounds like a way better deal

 

[Caleb C]

I'll have to look this weekend when I go to the reptile show! Sounds like a way better deal

You can also pick up some 32 oz cups and fruit fly media and make your own cultures, it's simple and cheap. It will probably cost a dollar or less per culture if you make them yourself.
Fruit fly media is the blue stuff, but it's usually white. You basically add water to the powder that you purchase and mix it up, then put it in a cup, add something to increase surface area, then add 50-75 flies and wait for a week or two, you should start seeing maggots, then they turn into brown pupae, then you eventually get flies.