Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have about 200 Drosophila melanogaster in the pupa stage. The first pupa appeared Monday, but no adult flies seem to have emerged so far. I am running out of flies, so I need these new adults to feed and start new cultures. Is it possible that they died while in the pupa? Thanks.
-----
0.0.5 Blue Dendrobates Auratus
3.2.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Hymenochirus boettgeri)
2.2.0 Asian Floating Frogs (Occidozyga Lima)
1.1.0 White's Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea)

Length of pupation depends on temperature, humidity, nutrition and possibly other factors. Could be 2 days to 2 weeks. Usually 4-7 days.
-----
Mike.
--
http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Amphibiary

You will know they are about to emerge when the puparium begins to darken.

In my experience, they emerge within a day or so of the darkening.

Kevin H.

You may want to consider obtaining an alternate food source for times when your fruit fly cultures run a little dry. Many people recommend flour beetle larvae as emergency back-up food, as these cultures can be stored away for months with little to no care, and certainly should not be the mainstay of your frog's diet.

The reason I say this is that you will need some of the newly producing fly culture in order to begin yet another culture, and 200 will not be enough to both feed your frogs over the next few days and also begin another culture (though in reality you probably will find that you have more pupae than that).

I have 4 froglets (about 2-3 months old) and I try to have two actively producing cultures from which I alternate feedings and 1-2 non-producing, developing (recently set-up) cultures- staggered weekly. This way I always have enough flies to feed on any one day as well as having a up-and-coming culture on hand in case I get mold or something in my producing cultures. Also this way I only have to start up one new culture every week or so.

In addition, I only start my new cultures from cultures which have only just started to produce baby flies (I feed their parents just as the offspring begin emerging). This lessens the chance that I will get a reversion to a flight-capable offspring from a wild-type house contaminant. You might not believe this, but they can magically fertilize a female through the culture lid, or perhaps lay eggs that somehow make it into the medium. (These are probably the reasons for the majority of spontaneous "reversion" stories). Wild-type house fruit flies are extremely drawn to the food source you have created in your culture. The older your cultures, the more chance that the females in this culture have been inseminated by wild-type flies. Don't be naive enough to think that you will never have a wild-type fruit fly in your home at some point. They are too ubiquitous.

I am also in the process of obtaining flour beetle cultures for back up- I have heard horror stories of reversion, mold, and other things ruining all producing cultures.

Kevin H.

I was also thinking that I should get some Rice beetles for a back up food. I know that you are only supposed to feed the larva of the beetles, but how do you feed the larva? It seems to me that if you just put them into the vivarium they would disappear, and the frogs would never find them.
-----
0.0.5 Blue Dendrobates Auratus
3.2.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Hymenochirus boettgeri)
2.2.0 Asian Floating Frogs (Occidozyga Lima)
1.1.0 White's Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea)

I just put them in a shallow, opaque dish.
-----
Randy

Well I ordered 2 more cultures of flies and a culture of rice beetles today. They should be here Tuesday. Hopefully my pupa will hatch tonight or tomorrow. Thanks for the help.
-----
0.0.5 Blue Dendrobates Auratus
3.2.1 African Dwarf Frogs (Hymenochirus boettgeri)
2.2.0 Asian Floating Frogs (Occidozyga Lima)
1.1.0 White's Tree Frog (Litoria caerulea)