# hydei crisis over



## AJ_Cann (Oct 6, 2004)

I've been struggling with flies for the past few weeks, scratching around each day wondering what on earth I'm going to feed the frogs. hydei culture after culture I set up went bad (liquid, stinking, no flies). I've had to order hatchling crickets each week. At the same time, the melanogaster cultures were doing OK, better than my normal hatch rate actually. Well, I've sussed the problem - temperature. At 70F, the melanogaster do well, but the hydei fail completely. I've had to install a heat mat and a thermostat in my fly cupboard. At 77F, the hydei cultures explode but melanogaster production is down. At 74-75F, I can get both going. Frogs have had breakfast and are happier now!


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## Michelle (Sep 13, 2004)

We haven’t been into frogs for a year yet and this was our first fall and we had the same problem! We started to panic our flies weren’t doing as well as they had been and we hadn't changed a thing, then we clued in they are in our laundry room and it was a fair amount cooler there then the rest of the house! So needless to say I put a little heat in that room and they are doing much better. go figure :?


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## Guest (Oct 15, 2004)

HEY IDEA :idea: Maybe that's what's going wrong with mine too. Didn't think of that. I've been worried too because most of my frogs like the hydei vs. the melanogaster (which have been doing fine other then I've been feeding them off way too fast). I've been setting up cultures like you wouldn't belive trying to get them to produce and they've just been dying off. :x Question is, how am I going to warm them up without baking them all. I guess I can try heating pads on low and put a towel over them to keep it from getting too hot. Gee and I thought all this time it was my cooking


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## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

*Yeah*

Sudden changes in weather will absolutely affect your fruit fly cultures. Most of the time its the Spring to Summer transition that gives people problems. But we see a trend with Fall to Winter flies as well. No its not you, its mother nature.
Dave


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## AJ_Cann (Oct 6, 2004)

Chantel,
If you put your cultures on a heating pad, they will tend to dry out quickly. Better to try creating an incubator, which can be as simple as a cardboard box, although a cupboard works well. If you add an aquarium airpump, you can pump air from inside outside your dwelling, and the smells with it. Marital bliss!


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## Guest (Oct 16, 2004)

Is this why Hydei hatch out smaller? Mine are starting to hatch out the size of melanos.


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## AJ_Cann (Oct 6, 2004)

The more "stressed" the culture, the smaller the flies become. They get smaller as the medium gets exhausted and drier.


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## Guest (Oct 18, 2004)

AJ_Cann said:


> Chantel,
> If you put your cultures on a heating pad, they will tend to dry out quickly. Better to try creating an incubator, which can be as simple as a cardboard box, although a cupboard works well. If you add an aquarium airpump, you can pump air from inside outside your dwelling, and the smells with it. Marital bliss!


GOOD- I need em to dry out a little bit. The last batch I made was too wet and the stuff isn't sticking to the bottom the way it usually does. I fugured if the culture didn't take I was going to dump them anyway and try again.

I put all 35+ cultures in a 96 qt (I think) sterlite box and put two heating pads on low under the whole thing with a thermometer at the bottom. It's hitting right around 86 degrees at the very bottom. Of course I stuck all the hydei cultures at the bottom and the others at the top and staggered them so the top vents weren't completely covered. I open it about twice a day to let the air exchange (wheww don't stand too close :shock: ) and check the temp. We'll see how it goes. 

Good thing my new heavy duty, extra strength sweep net came in the other and it was a really warm day today. My daugter and I filled up several Bug Bazooka canisters and all the frogs are well fed till these flies figure things out.  

Thanks for the tips though.


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## bgexotics (Feb 24, 2004)

Another trick I have found for hydei (besides keeping them warm) is starting a culture with both melanogaster and hydei. It seems to keep the culture from going bad and has a very high yield of both kinds of flies. I actually seem to have better luck with hydei than melanogaster. I never seem to have a shortage though, but then I keep no less than 8-12 cultures going at once for 15 frogs. Any extra flies get fed to my fish. 

I need some house geckos in my aprtment to keep the poulations ofloose flies down, I have flying fruit flies all over my apartment, one of my culture grew winged fruit flies. I threw it out and I am hoping none of my other cultures do that.


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## Guest (Oct 19, 2004)

I'm still struggling  . I just tossed all the cultures that failed or just didn't take and going to start all over. The melanogaster are doing great (I think I could raise them on leftover pizza :roll: ), but ever culture I set up of the hydei dies in two days. I've reduced the bakers yeast, warmed them up. Now I'm going to try drier media and go back to the patato flake based instead of the rice/oatmeal based I was using. I half wonder if it's the vineger I'm using that's killing them but I don't use all that much. I'm about ready to try using the Fungus Cure (what I use for my frog eggs) in the media since I don't have Methyl Blue and see if that works. My poor frogs may end up on meager fare this winter between the lack of hydei and the mites in the superworms. I can't wait till I get my new bank card so I can order some Meal moths and Confused Flour Beetles to add to the menu. What else do you guys feed when the flies take a dive?


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I have been using the medium from saurian on both melanogaster and hydei, and have had no problems. I also use 50/50 apple cider vinegar and water, so I doubt the vinegar can be the issue. My biggest problem is adapting to some new lids that I got (polyfiber coated from Superior) and the cultures drying out. I think I've licked it by adding more of the vinegar/water mix and letting the cultures stay wetter. If they get too messy when the larva show up and start whipping it, then I add more media mixture a pinch at a time over a day or two until it solidifies.


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## AJ_Cann (Oct 6, 2004)

I get better results by starting with the medium on the dry side rather than wetter. It's *very* important to start a new culture with quite a lot of flies - more is better than less in this case. Also, the starter flies need to be "fresh" for hydei (unlike melanogaster). See:
http://www.thebdg.org/library/feeding/d__hydei.htm
I normally use the first big flush from each culture as a starter for the next.


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

I don't make it totally liquid, just so it's visibly moist.


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## *GREASER* (Apr 11, 2004)

This makes me feel a bit better because my cultures have also hit the skids and I wondered what the hell was going on. Luckaly the locaL PETCO sells cultures.


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