# Best way to keep Fruit Fly Cultures to get the best production out of them?



## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

What is the best way to keep Fruit Fly Cultures to get the best production out of them?

Area of the house to store them, temperature, humidity, etc.


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## Tincman (Jan 18, 2013)

I have played with this over the years & find 76-80 degrees to be optimal for Melanogaster cultures (Room Temps at the slightly warmer end). I have found the biggest issue leading to premature "Culture Crash" to be improper humidity drying them out. I started keeping my cultures in the 60-70% range & also about 2 1/2 weeks into the life of the culture I lightly spray just enough water to coat the top of the substrate and moisten the excelsior. The idea is not to spray enough water sit & create mold, but to just provide moisture to the culture itself to keep it going. This may or may not be needed depending upon your climate, but Im in New York & it can literally be 20-30% Humididty on Avg during a winter month. I have even discovered my culteres will last until the 5th week still producing now that I keep them in a Rubbermaid Rack that also helps stabilize temps & humidity.


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## Tincman (Jan 18, 2013)

Also I forgot that you mentioned where in the house to keep the flies. I would say anywhere away from a window or radiator, essentially nowhere the temperature typically fluctuates a lot. I keep mine in an old Arboreal snake Rack in 9" deep Sweaterboxes (theyre just deep plastic clear bins that slide into a plastic shelf) not using it for snakes so I found another use for it) on top of Mite paper with very little ventilation.. The bin not only cuts down on the loss of moisture & helps stabilize temps, but it will also cut down on odor that comes off the culture if that matters to you as well.. I almost never have a Culture die out before 4-5 weeks now using this system, but there are many ways to achieve proper temps & humidity, hope this helps at least give you an idea.. Take care..


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

There is a huge amount of variation in this depending not only on your location in the country but how your house is set up.. For example, how people keep thier flies in say Florida probably is going to have issues in Southern Arizona due to the differences in humidity... 

Fruit Flies-Doyle's Dart Den

Saurian Enterprises, Inc :: Culturing Fruit Flies

see http://www.frogforum.net/content/fr...verything-you-need-know-about-drosophila-143/ 

Some comments 

Ed


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## Juand15 (Jan 16, 2012)

I keep my FF culture in my fishroom (which is also my frogroom) it does stay pretty humid in there.

I was having bad luck when i placed them in a much cooler/dry room but when i moved a few cultures back in the fishroom things went back to normal.


Juan


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## Nismo95 (Jul 30, 2011)

So a question I should of asked over a year ago regarding flies.. After the first bloom of flies in a culture, when is it normally safe to begin feeding from that culture as to not worry about crashing it due to to few of flies/larvae. 

Any insight on lighting? I know room temps are ideal, and I get the humidity factor. Ive noticed an increase in populations in our springtails now that they have ambient light rather than sheer darkness. I have our flies in the cabinet of an exoterra stand. Should they be removed from complete darkness as well?


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## Bjcg (Jan 4, 2013)

^^^ i would also like to know this


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## jdooley195 (Oct 19, 2009)

I can say that I've recently seen a lag in production with cultures kept in the dark in comparison to ones that were not...This was on a 20 culture scale, and the lag was about 2-3 days...which is definitely a short enough time to be considered a coincidence or perhaps a variable in production rates, or due to a small difference in temps...
I'm not saying it isn't, I'm just stating what I noticed


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## Bjcg (Jan 4, 2013)

Hmmm, I wonder..... Would the bathroom be a good spot to place cultures? I would imagine it would be good because of all the humidity from showers ??


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

I had great results in the bathroom.....now I have a closet for them.


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