Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I started a few cultures about a week ago, and I started one in a large deli cup (picture what FF are sent in when you order the larger cultures) and another I just put in the smallest gladware container, just to kind of experiment. Well, the ones in the gladware has larvae crawling all over while the one in the large deli cup has none that I can see...what would be the reason for this? I found it very strange.

I'm just going to watch and see...this is much better than ordering FF over and over.

Thanks, Tyler, for the recipe! And the flies...oh, by the way, the Hydei I got are going crazy now!

Kristen
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1.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

LOL you're welcome! My Hydei's are also getting going pretty good lately. I keep starting new cultures every few days because they're getting crowded in the ones I have them in. I still don't have anything that eats them besides 1 little Tamatave. I'm kind of neglecting the smaller flies since I don't need them anymore LOL. They're packed in their containers. I'm not sure about the different containers besides maybe if they have more floor space they can space themselves out more but I don't know how that would affect breeding. I think the piece of screen I had in there or something similar to that helps them alot as far as spacing themselves out and it's got to help in the production. Are you still using the small ones or are you getting rid of them?
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

Yes, it's very strange...set up the exact same except for the size of the container.

I ended up tossing the small ones...wild flying fruit flies were getting mixed in and I didn't want to end up with those breeding with the flightless. Those are too hard to tell apart...I couldn't figure out if the small ones were escaping for if they were the wild ones. I can tell which the Hydei are.

Kristen
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1.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders

Hi Kristen,

it could be a couple things. A smaller container will heat up more and this will cause them to move around a lot more. did you start them with flies or larva? You may have simply put more in the smaller container, or if you did it equally, well as best you can with ff(!), you may have not had as many egg carrying females and/or too crowded in the little cup.

I preferred the hydei b/c they take longer to cycle and thus are around much longer. Also, the little ones are more prone to revert back to flying after just a few generations whereas the heydei are not (it's not always a contamination of a common FF from our house that creates this problem, it's just the nature of the beast - so to speak! LOL)

my 2 cents
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0.1 veiled - Luna
0.2 green anoles Jaida & no name
0.1 brown anole - Jamaica
0.2 house geckos - Gaia & no name

Hey Lele,
I started them with flies...I really shoved a good amount in the large container...not too overcrowded, but enough to get them going well.

The ones in the small container are the ones that are doing everything right...maybe the ones in the big one are having too much fun with all the room to roam. hehehe

Thanks for your ideas!

Kristen
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1.1 pygmy leaf
1.0 carpet
1.0 jackson
0.0.3 red eared sliders