Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought these little vials at petco full of melanogaster fruit flies, and i had some ed's fly meat media, and i made some cultures using those flies. Late of last week I noticed mold growing on the sides. Now, the whole surface area is covered in mold, and all the flies had died. before they died, they laid some eggs, and i've got some pupae on the sides and some hatching. Now, would these be bad to feed to my frogs? Cuz u gotta think that since they're exposed to this mold (which smells really bad), you'd think you shouldn't, but i wanted another opinion. So lemme know what's up! thanx

Kasey L.

3.4 Hawaiian Auratus

Go ahead and feed the flies to the frogs. I have purchased a few of these same vials in a pinch and they almost always mold. They are also extremely expensive -- nearly $5.00 each, if I recall. I have also used some of the clean cultures to restart cultures using a different medium and it worked all right. One bit of caution though-- The Petco flies seem to be of a different flightless line than others you may get elsewhere. Due to genetic quirks, if you allow cross breeding, you may end up with a lot of flies quite capable of flying up into your face when you open the cultures.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos

I got a container of fruit flies from PetCo since having shipped to me in 85F from somewhere else would cost me more than $5. What type of fruit flies are they? Drosophila melanogaster or Drosophila hydei? They come in a container marked from "superior enterprise". Luckily mine doesn't have mold in it. I see alot of containers that are nearly all dead or just has sludge on the bottom. I bought mine the day after it arrived in the store. Maybe later I will phase these guys out and buy new fruitflies from a reptile store (a pretty good drive away) if that would be better.

I think they're melanogaster because they are not quite as big as hydei--although they are a bit larger than the melanogaster I'm culturing now. I finally got the whole kit and kaboodle from Saurian--cups, media and some fresh starter flies. I know shipping costs are high, but at the nearest Petco (100 miles from me) each of the small cups were around $5.00, so the cost of shipping is worth it for me. The media is simple to mix, works well, doesn't get slimy or stink. I think Ed's flymeat also has good starter "kits."
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos