# drosophila melanogaster media / food



## R&Mfroggers (Mar 10, 2012)

ok i am looking for a recipe with the best successes in mold free and healthy flies i buy josh's feed but i don't know i would like to make my own, my frogs love the fruit fly company flies but they do not sell large bags of media just small ones thru petco.com and way over priced.


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## billschwinn (Dec 17, 2008)

Have you looked at their website?


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## R&Mfroggers (Mar 10, 2012)

yea they don't have a way to order and you can't contact them


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

The Fruit Fly Company Flightless Fruit Fly Starter Kit at PETCO
maybe that?


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## aberreef (Feb 20, 2012)

I use a mix of potato flakes and ground oats mixed with water as the culture media. I also put a small piece of banana on the top to get the flies started laying. Works well for me and no dodgy smells


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/food-feeding/58072-best-homemade-ff-media.html


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## R&Mfroggers (Mar 10, 2012)

cool, thank you all...


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## JacobP (Feb 21, 2012)

joshsfrogs.com if that is what you mean by Joshs. They sell bags of 1.5 lbs up to a 5 gallon bucket


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## SOswanski (Mar 6, 2011)

If you have not found this already, you should look into adding methyl paraben as a mold inhibitor. I started using this about 8 months ago and have had zero signs of mold since. Josh's sells the stuff in bulk and it will last forever with a small collection of frogs.

Now only if I could get rid of 100% of my mites...

Methyl Paraben (1 LBS/453 grams) | Josh's Frogs


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Repashy Superfly. Nuff said.


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## R&Mfroggers (Mar 10, 2012)

that stuff will kill the mites because <Censored, Catfur> stuff is the only one i get mites from


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

R&Mfroggers said:


> that stuff will kill the mites because <Censored, Catfur> stuff is the only one i get mites from


What do you mean?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

SOswanski said:


> Now only if I could get rid of 100% of my mites...


Unless you are able to culture your flies in a way that you are routinely screening the media, the flies and the old cultures (this means the flies are gone over under a microscope to make sure that they aren't carrying mites or thier eggs, you just need to embrace the idea that you will have some mites and understand that the goal is to manage them. 

Ed


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

You'll get mites if you keep developing ff cultures with OLD fruit fly cultures. It will happen no matter what you're using.

I've used just about everything - and I currently use what you're mentioning here. The only I ever had issues was when I kept all ff cultures together.

Keep the developing ones away from the ones you're feeding from.

s


R&Mfroggers said:


> that stuff will kill the mites because <Censored, Catfur> stuff is the only one i get mites from


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## R&Mfroggers (Mar 10, 2012)

where do they come from and what do they do to your flies


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

They come from old cultures. They only appear when a culture is pretty well wrung out.

They're basically little vampires that latch on to ffs and suck the life out of them.

This isn't a big deal on old cultures - it IS a big deal when they the population booms on developing cultures.

Keep those two categories of ffs separately and you'll have most of the issue solved.

d


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## R&Mfroggers (Mar 10, 2012)

wow that is sick i will do that thanks


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Scott said:


> They come from old cultures. They only appear when a culture is pretty well wrung out.
> 
> They're basically little vampires that latch on to ffs and suck the life out of them.
> 
> ...


There are a number of different types of mites that get into the cultures. Some of them compete with the flies for the food and can potentially have numbers large enough to cause the flies to not fare as well. 

Ed


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