Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This may be a dumb question, but why do you have to start new cultures? Why cant you just put more medium in? I breed roaches for my cham and that is about as easy as it can be. Also, how do you know you need to start a new culture and how do you do it? You just take a few of the adult flies in your existing culture and throw them in a new jar with fresh medium?

Thanks,
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Matt

They get way to dirty to keep using them, after about 3-4 weeks mine are nasty, they need remade.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

so then do you just grab a few a throw them in with new medium?
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Matt

Ya just tap a few in the new container. I think I have read about 10-20 or so.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

hmm...sounds great....oh one other thing....do they stink?
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Matt

I guess that depends on who you talk to. I use vinegar in mine so they smell a little. I also keep mine in a closed cabinet, so that helps. They can stink if you keep them for a long time.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

np
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Matt

I have read that to start a new culture, you should put in 50-100 adult flies!

You might get more if you start with more, but you also get more waste, which over a few weeks can cause it to crash. I use 10 or so, and if I think I need a little more then about 20-30.
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

The more flies you put in, the faster the instars (maggots) will turn the medium. When the medioum is constantly being turned by instars, the chanced for molding is dramatically decreased. Also, the more flies you put in, the heavier the firts hatching will be....making it easier to start new cultures with alot of flies. 50 to 100 isn't all that many when you realize just how many flies your cultures will pop out.
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2.2.6 D. azureus
1.2.24 D. ventrimaculatus 'yellow'
1.1 D. tinctorius 'cobalt' (one subadult)
0.0.3 D. tinctorius 'patricia'
1.1 D. auratus 'blue'
0.2 P. aurotaenia

It seems as if everything is relative. I will only have 3-4 frogs, and won't need that much food. Is it possible to just make smaller cultures....in all aspect? fewer flies, less medium, less water, smaller plastic cups, etc?
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Matt

Yes some people use pint mason jars or old snapple bottles. I have the same problem I have way too many flies, but my frogs will never go hungry. I have 7 frogs and about 15 cultures. I make about 3-4 a week. I've backed off a bit, but my hydei are unpredictable so I keep enough melanogaster around just to be safe. I want to try some buzzatti which I guess are in the middle www.flyculture.com has them. I am so bad at overfeeding my frogs as you may be able to tell from my pictures. They are all very fat. I keep trying to cut back...
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
0.0.2 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators