# Fruit Flies Escaping Cultures. Help!



## Abuxton45 (Jan 30, 2010)

hello, i just got a couple of my fruit fly producing cultures from <Censored,Catfur> and they seemed good. one day, about 3 days after i had them, all the flies seemed dead/gone in both cultures. I didnt open the cultures at all yet, and i noticed the eggs/larva all the way down the side of the cup on the outside. I was keeping temp + humidity good. so, my dad went and bought 2 cultures from a different place. tonight when i got home, the <Censored,Catfur> ones seemed to hatch again and have flies, and so did the new cultures. both had flies on the outsides!!  i dont get it. please help me. Oh, and they looked kind of dry so i very lighty sprinkled water on the top of the culture but it doesnt seem wet, and its still solid w/ no escape holes.


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## azure89 (Jan 5, 2009)

There has to be a hole somewhere otherwise they can't escape, flies are not capable of osmosis so I'd recheck for holes or a loose lid, cracks in the sides maybe idk, pictures or better discription would be good


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## joshsfrogs (May 6, 2004)

> about 3 days after i had them, all the flies seemed dead/gone in both cultures.





> <Censored,Catfur> ones seemed to hatch again and have flies


If you don't take flies out the culture and it continually produces, the flies will die from overcrowding/CO2 buildup. Make sure you are feeding out the flies are dumping them down the toilet or this cycle will continue.



> both had flies on the outsides!!


Check for cracks in the cups and also excelsior getting stuck around the lid causing it to not shut completely


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## jeeperrs (Jan 14, 2010)

Check your lids and make sure that they are completely shut. Also, I will give you a fast break down on how the culture works. The flies will live on the coffee filters, or whatever you put in there. The media is where the eggs are laid and where the larva will crawl and feed. So, you won't see flies down in that media because they will be higher in the cup. Now, when too many flies are kept in the cup they will die and make the culture look dead. If eggs were laid prior to the flies dying (which they most likely did), you will probably see new flies in a matter of days. I hope this helps explain the cycle a little bit for you and where you will find the flies verses larva  Let us know how this works out for you.


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## Alan (Jan 12, 2005)

As others have noted - you either have cracked cup sides or the lids are not on tightly.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

I have had the odd vented lid, where the fabric was not fastened properly.

The top of the lids were covered in Larvae.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

OR you have wild FFs / pharoid flies that want to get in to the cultures and hang out on the outside, this happened to me with the pharoid flies, they got into one culture, that boomed with the winged [email protected] after i killed off the breeding sources in the house and set up the fly paper they disappeared.

ive had a cracked josh's culture that never let flies out. as long as the crack isnt split wide open, i cant see the flies pushing the plastic out of the way, they just arent that strong.

james


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## Abuxton45 (Jan 30, 2010)

thank you guys for the input, they came back and now they're doing good, ill make sure they dont get too populated


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## jeeperrs (Jan 14, 2010)

I am very happy to hear things worked out


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