# Fruitfly production way down



## Guest (Jul 30, 2004)

I was doing really well supplying my frogs needs, starting new cultures and keeping them going.....then the mites showed up, crash! Cleaned up the area, ordered new stock, new media, new mason jars, and they just are not producing at the levels I was used to. Thank god for the flour beetle larvae. I don't see any mites and I wonder if temperature might be the issue. I keep them on my screened porch which hovers around 85-90 during the summer. I am using a commercial media, and since I heard that light suppresses the mites I leave flourecents on 24/7. Suggestions?


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## mindcrash (Mar 3, 2004)

I could be wrong, but i always thought that the higher the temperature the lower the production rates, and if it gets too high the fly's will even go sterile.


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## geckguy (Mar 8, 2004)

I thin your temps have something to do with it, I heard that at temps of 90 degrees that they go sterile.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Yea those temps seem high, I keep mine around 70-74, and I notice a drop in production at 74 from 70.


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## Greenstar (Feb 28, 2004)

I was told by Ed's Fly Meat that the majority of hydie go sterile above 83 degrees.

Danny


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Try to keep them in a shadier spot. The weather has been hot around here (around 85-95 degrees), and I haven't noticed much of a drop. I keep my FFs inside, where it's usually around 75 during the day.

If you're still worried about mites, buy some commercial mite treatment to get rid of them. There's stuff you can use inside the cultures and outside on the ground to kill them. The stuff you use around the cultures lasts a very long time, I've heard.

Be careful about where you buy your FFs, too. I almost ran out once, mainly because of lack of planning and thinking I had more cultures going that I did. I went to Petco and got a culture to make homemade cultures from. I got some of the initial flies out and made new cultures, then took the original culture downstairs to feed my leucs, and left the rest of them upstairs with my azureus. About two days later, I found the original culture with white speck in it, which is not unusual because it's usually fly poop. But this culture had blue medium, so I looked closely and found that it did indeed have mites. I threw it away ASAP, and luckily they don't seem to have infested my upstairs cultures.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2004)

i read some where that if the tempature is to high that the fly's slow production and if its to low they can come out retarded


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Considering that all my FF cultures seem to contain flies that pupate while under the medium and then smother, I don't see how they can be any more retarded than they already are.


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## Guest (Jul 31, 2004)

thanks for all of your input, I am moving the newer cultures inside, under protest of my better half, but its just for a few months I promise.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I have planned to try one in cool temps than 70, and may set that up today. My basement stays under 70 and above 65, so I want to test that compared to 70-75.


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2004)

Hi All,  My frogroom varies between 75-80 degrees.I have had to leave the lgihts off for the very warm hours when I am not home to monitor the temps.I have had my production slow down some but I started using raffia in my cultures and the newer ones have gone crazy.I changed from using plastic canvas to the raffia and it has made a HUGE difference.
It can be a hassle to use but not near as bad as excelsior. Thanks for the tip Scott M.
Mark W.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Ok what is raffia?

Also I have a culture in my basement for a test, we will see how it does. I will also try to take temps down there to see how it compares to my others.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

It's a dried grass or palm frond used for crafts. This is what it looks like:


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## Guest (Aug 1, 2004)

I guess I should have said what it was,ooops. Anyway,my son got it from a craft store, Micheal's.It is used for crafts like scarecrows or thing people make for fall decoration.It is basically like straw used for bedding for livestock.I gave him a $20.00 and told him he could keep the change.Dumb move on my part it was only $3.99 or somthing like that.
What I did was cut it up into serving size peices for 32oz.deli cups and the 8oz. frult fly vials I use.The larve really seeemd to like to pupate on it so in turn that was probably the biggest reason my cultures really took off. Hope that helps,
Mark W.


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## Ryan (Feb 18, 2004)

I used to use raffia, thinking it was excelsior(bad information) and it worked great, it absorbed too much of the water from the media though.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

I use excelsior, but in my recent cultures have switched to a crumbled up piece of paper towel. I may switch back, but last 2 times I went to the store they were out. I am almost to the point where it is just a pain to use it.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I'm looking for something else other than excelsior. I've got a ton of it, but it's just a pain in the butt to use. It gets everywhere when I have to break up the clump for individual cultures, and it falls out with the fruit flies so I have to dig it out of the cup or it get stuck on the frogs' tongues. I'm going to be going to plastic netting I think.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

yes it can be a mess, thus why I am not too worried about getting more. 1/4th of a paper towel seems to do well, I have used it when I was out of excelsior in the past. AS long as the flies have a place to get out of the medium it seems to help.


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## snmreptiles (Feb 26, 2004)

I still don't remember who mentioned this, but I got it from dendoboard. I use the shower puff things. You just cut it open and cut off little pieces. I get a small tube piece and flip it in half (kind of like you are rolling a pair of socks up) so you have the cut ends together and I put the ends in the media and it holds nicely. I like it much better than the excelsior!

-Shelley


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

I used the puff thing form shower as well, but now I use screen that I bought from Lowe's. Buy a roll and you have lots for cultures.


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## mindcrash (Mar 3, 2004)

I agree with shelley, the shower puff things work great.


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