# Fruit fly diet



## Bergermister (May 21, 2012)

Hi all,

I am new to this forum and I am doing a ton of research before I set up my vivarium. Yesterday I was listening to an old podcast from "quirks and quarks" ,which is a science based radio show from Canada, (I highly recommend it) and they had a segment on it about fruit flies drinking alcohol from fermenting fruit. The reason they do this is to get drunk in order to kill parasitic wasp larva. Sounds like a great way to spend an afternoon.....  They also mentioned that fruit flies eat only mold and fungus growing on/within the fruit. 

When we make fruit fly culture media, I understood that the reason why we add yeast (either bakers or brewers) is to prevent mold.

Is the fruit fly culture media consumed by the larva or is the media food for the yeast which is in turn food for the larva?

Also, are we concerned with the effects (if any) alcohol from fermenting yeast inthe media may have on the frogs?

Cheers!

David


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/1020-yeast.html

The alcohol occurs lower down in the layers of the culture. In the layer we see the larva and adults feeding, the larva oxygenate the media which shifts the etoh production towards acetic acid. There isn't any concern about secondary etoh consumption. 


Ed


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## peres (May 22, 2012)

Fruits in simple form or in diet form always better for the health,but the fruit fly diet is a new recipe how to prepare it and how it can be used in our daily routine life.some says such fruit fly diet can be taken before breakfast and some suggest to have the breakfast with this.Here need for exact answer.


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## ShelbyFFS (Apr 30, 2012)

Alcohol isn't bad at low levels anyway. Lots of animals and insects ingest it at times.

I think air in the liquid itself would provide oxygen and almost all the sugar would become acetic acid. The pickles at the bottom of the brine still become pickles after all.

peres me thinks has been getting too much alcohol if you read that post above.


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## mydumname (Dec 24, 2004)

ShelbyFFS said:


> Alcohol isn't bad at low levels anyway. Lots of animals and insects ingest it at times.
> 
> I think air in the liquid itself would provide oxygen and almost all the sugar would become acetic acid. The pickles at the bottom of the brine still become pickles after all.
> 
> peres me thinks has been getting too much alcohol if you read that post above.


No....haven't you heard about that new fruit fly diet? Puts weight watchers to shame. But only if before breakfast


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