# PETCO fly cultures



## neudl (Oct 18, 2007)

Has anyone bought fruit flies from PETCO? I made the mistake of buying a culture of what are marketed as "flightless" fruit flies, and as soon as I took off the plug, I was surrounded by flying flies. I started some cultures using the PETCO flies, and not surprisingly, they produces mass amounts of 100% fliers. I could hear the flies popping against the coffee filters I use as lids. I threw those cultures out after getting some wingless D. Melanogaster from Ed's Fly Meat, which have, in turn, been used to create some great cultures. Theother day I was at PETCO and looked at the flies, and media in their cultures were moldy and runny, and no live flies. I am wondering what is up with the quality control at the company that produces these things? Clearly they must know that the cultures they are selling as "flightless" are contaminated with fliers.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

i have used them several times when i needed to start new cultures and i have not experience any fliers, but all it takes is one flier to affect the whole culture.


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## skronkykong (Jan 1, 2007)

It may have just been a bad batch. I got all my cultures started from Petsmart FFs. I do get some flyers every once, but never the whole lot. Its quantity over quality - once I even saw a culture there that had a small spider web in it and a very fat spider, surrounded by dead flies! It was sealed and everything!


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I have bought starter cultures from Petco and Petsmart. Sometimes fliers can invade cultures, just like with the ones people raise. It appears to be more of a problem in some areas than others. I rarely see flying cultures around here. Just look at the culture before you buy. Shake it a little and see if there are fliers inside.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

i also made the mistake of getting from Petco a while ago. not only do they fly, but there's like no flies in there. if you're lucky the media isn't all dried up. the most flies i've seen is about 20. so for 5$ you can feed your frog for a day! what a deal. the ones i got were marked as hydei.


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## allanschon (Mar 25, 2007)

I got my hydei at Petco about 7 months ago, and while a little pricey, I've been very happy with the cultures. I've had a few fliers develop in the past few months, but, nothing too bad.

That said, I definitely noticed a difference in quality between the cultures on the shelf. You might do well to find out when they have a new supply coming in, so that you can choose healthy looking cultures.


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

Those Petco cultures,more than once have helped me when the food supply was getting to low for comfort.

John


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

it's worth the money to buy from some place like Eds Fly Meat or Black Jungle. For a few more dollars you get hundreds more flies.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

Most people buy flies from local pet stores when they have a crash or they are in the need for emergency flies right away. While it's true that you can get bigger cultures from ordering them, there's still the factor of the time it takes for shipping and the possibility that there might be a problem with shipping. Going down to Petco or Petsmart gives you flies right away, in your hand.

I bought a culture from Petco about two weeks ago when I found mine infested with mites. It's still going strong, along with the new mite free cultures I made with it.


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## Otis (Apr 16, 2006)

i think it depends on the store and also how long the cultures have been sitting there. sometimes they look OK, other times they are completely dried up.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Note that these guys get NO CARE once they are in store hands... this means they can dry out, get infested with mites and/or wild flies, or any number of things in the hands of those that do not know how to care for them. These are not a dependable source of flies... but if you can get a fresh culture that doesn't seem to be infested with fliers (do they drop to the bottom when tapped or swarm in the tube?) or mites, they can be good in a pinch... tho they don't produce enough to feed that many frogs. That said I've kept their hydei going for over a year at one point... good flies, just bad care 

If you fear being in a pinch for food, make sure to check into local froggers for emergency supplies! Many of the FF suppliers can also overnight flies but EEK! The shipping :shock:


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## MonopolyBag (Jun 3, 2007)

One word, "SUX"

I work at PetCo and must agree, they get no care what so ever

They often die off and are left on shelves due to lack of demand. And I offer to dump them, but manager says don't worry.


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## Parsons (Sep 20, 2006)

Yep this happend to me too, flys starting hitting my face when I opened the petco fruit fly culture. I wont be buying their fruit flys again.


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## neudl (Oct 18, 2007)

I am happy to say that I just got a letter from Ed's Fly Meat indicating that many Petcos here in Washington, including the one around the corner from my house, are now carrying his flies. I have lots of good cultures, so I don't need them now, but it is good to know that in a pinch, good flies will be near.


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I'd say "their flies" rather than "his".... Gotta give Erin credit where it's do especially since she's the one that makes the majority of the cultures  Now too bad they can't do the ones here on the east coast which are still crap :?


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## neudl (Oct 18, 2007)

Whoops - gotta give credit where due.


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## dartfrogs (May 26, 2004)

Thanks Corey!


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## stchupa (Apr 25, 2006)

^Must be sooo hard


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I wasn't saying your guys' FFs were crap! I was saying the evil little timberline FF vials sold at my local Petcos are crap :? But it's also about the care... sorry I'm not paying $5+ for a tiny vial that has been dried and dead (and still on the shelf) for the past two weeks :shock: Same deal with the timberline cricket boxes they get... not always a bad deal when you get them fresh (when there are still 36+ overcount healthy crickets which make it almost worth the $5) but when you've got boxes on the shelf that are supposed to be 36 small crickets and there are 13 crickets alive in there (yes, I counted) I'm not paying $5 for that.


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## aquick (Jan 17, 2008)

My flies come from the Columbus, OH monthly herp show that my work pays me to go to (sweet). I used to work at a Petsmart back in the day and when those fly cultures went on the rack, I think I was the only one who checked em to make sure they were still kicking, and tossed the bad ones--so I guess it depends on the store associates whether or not there is any QC. It's true too--fliers happen. I once had to scrap 11 mason jars with close to I'd guess 15-20,000 flies because some fliers got in and all the flies became flighted--which put a clamp on my food supply for a few weeks, completely sucked.


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