# Fruit Flys not reproducing?



## kshorey (Feb 4, 2013)

So I am getting ready for my first dart frogs and I started my fly cultures but I am having problems.

I bought a NE herp fly culture and it had been doing really well so on 7/15 i started another culture to help the population. that culture is still sitting on the shelf, and I see no signs of production. Five days later the original NE culture was packed again so I started a second.

I did my best to follow the instructions I have seen on here and joshs frogs. boiled bottled water, rapashy media, let cool. add excelsior and flies. but like i said i just have two jars with the same number of flies in them as they started with.

kind of strange, they aren't dying and they aren't reproducing...


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## Thickthighs (Jun 9, 2012)

Maybe they just need more time. have you checked to see if there are any maggots?


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## kshorey (Feb 4, 2013)

there aren't any that i can see. just a bunch of flies crawling around.


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## Amphinityfrogs (Jan 30, 2013)

From time to time we have cultures that take more than the average two weeks to produce. I have seen a culture take a month. What are your temps like if its to cold the flies life cycle will slow down. Flies like it around 75 to 78F.


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## kshorey (Feb 4, 2013)

the are probably in the low 70's. but i will keep an eye on them! maybe it just hasn't been long enough. one is only 10 days old.


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## Trey (Sep 10, 2008)

Just keep em at 78-82 and you will see an increase in not only the production speed, but gross production as well.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

What kind of flies are we talking about? Their life cycles are very different.


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## kshorey (Feb 4, 2013)

my original culture was a NE herp d. hydei culture. the other two cultures were started with probably over 100 flies each.

as an edit, it is starting to sound like they may be too cold, my basement hits about 65 at night. i will try to move them to an upstairs room if i can find a good place.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Hydei sometimes take about 3 1/2-4 weeks so don't worry,just be patient


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## pdfCrazy (Feb 28, 2012)

Hydei are great flies for larger frogs....BUT, because their life cycle takes alot longer, I do no recomend them as your soul source for food. I would still raise Melanogaster


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## pavochavo (Nov 21, 2012)

I have noticed that my Hydei culture does take longer than others and my temps in the room they are in are consistently around 77 or so. I didn't know one should switch up as much. I do feed other sources of food but for FF's I stick with Hydei. My frogs are Azureus and Auratus so they are larger. 


Robert


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

I have 5 different species of ffs.Hydei are great for their size, but turkish gliders make up for it in quantity and speedy reproduction.They are by far the fastest ff to reproduce and I love the way they move(and more importantly so do the frogs).They all have a place in rotation for me.


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## radiata (Jul 24, 2010)

oddlot said:


> I have 5 different species of ffs.Hydei are great for their size, but turkish gliders make up for it in quantity and speedy reproduction.They are by far the fastest ff to reproduce and I love the way they move(and more importantly so do the frogs).They all have a place in rotation for me.


Lou,

I have to agree with you on the Turkish Gliders. I've kept multiple FF cultures in the past, but now I'm down to just the TGs and Buzzatis. The Buzzatis are a little larger than the TGs, and reproduce almost at quickly...

Bob


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

I have a much easier time with hydei in the summer then winter. They do like warmer temps it seems. Regardless of time of year....I do get hydei cultures that result in no production but that pretty much never has happened with Turkish gliders.

You may want to try an easier fly. Just be prepared to get a replacement culture in the event these two do not result in anything. My July 25 hydei are coated with larvae at this point. My cultures from July 15 are pretty much used up at this point.


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