Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been using ed's for a while and it works nicely. Carolina's is alot cheaper, but I've never tried it. Does anyone have any experience with Carolina's? Thanks.
-----
Randy

I have used Carolinas, and it worked well, but I can say my home made medium produces about double if not more flies. Now I have not used Eds, but I have heard great things about it. My home medium has been too good to stop using, and it is about as cheap as you can get, I modified this from a listing on doylesdartden:

1 cup of powdered sugar
8 cups potato flakes
1/2 - 1 cup of brewers yeast

Then for the liquid I use 1:1 mixture of water:vinegar. The vinegar stops the mold, and helps the yeast. You could also use 4 teaspoons Methyl paraben, and then use just water as listed on doyesdartden, but the vinegar has worked great for me. I can get everything at the local store, but I have started ordering the brewers yeast from www.bulkfoods.com/ You will also need some active yeast, and like a lot of other mediums you just put a small pinch on top after you have made a culture. I also use craft elixor (spelling) in my cultures, which seems to help production also.

Hope that helps a little,
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Hi,
I also use that medium from doyles dart den and it works really great. The only problem i have had is with it drying out quickly, but i solved that by adding more water, duh! While we are on the topic, Does anyone know of a place that sells deli cups cheaper than the places like black jungle and eds?
thanks
-----
Nate
1.1 alanis tincs
0.0.2 imitators(looking for sens and horn line frogs)
0.0.2 Azureus
0.0.3 green pumilio(On waiting list that puts the waiting in waiting list )

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
Sir Winston Churchill

... try Superior Enterprises. Their web address is http://www.reptilepackaging.com/ . If you need a smaller quantity try contacting us off list and we can work out a better price.

Melis
-----
Quality Captives

I was using the same recipe for media that many do it yourselfers are using. The one with potato flakes, powdered sugar, mold inhibitor, and brewers yeast. I recently ran out of brewers yeast and the only place I can buy it is on the other side of the city, I live in New Orleans and if anyone knows the midcity area, they know the pain getting there and finding a place to park.

Anyways to make a long story short I used a third of a cup of human protein supplement I had sitting around. It is a mix of protein, vitamins, and minerals, so I figured in couldn't hurt. I set up 12 cultures of each kind, treating them exactly the same except for the recipe change. The protein powder flies pupated in 7 days, and their production was incredible. The entire cup is packed full of pupae. They are just starting to hatch out now. My only problem is using up all the flies fast enough so the culture doesn't crash.

On a side note, I mix 1/3 cup of media with 1/2 cup of hot water. No yeast was added, and I did not ever mist the protein fortified cultures, they grew so fast I didn't have to.

I am going to try this media with hydei and the new species of flies next, hope I get as good of results with those.

Happy Frogging,

Shannon

Very interesting! Please keep us updated on the production rates!
-----
Randy

Hi,

Which protein powder did you use? I've been thinking about trying Myoplex as I have some strawberry flavor that is not to my liking!

Bob Stockdale
-----
Bob Stockdale

green pumilio
fantasticus(one lonely male...)
azureus
regina
alanis
leucomelas
auratus

I use quart mason jars, and just reuse them. It can be a pain to clean them out, but a small brush, and a dishwasher is all you need. I think I got 12 for $6 or something, and have been using them for about a year. I have 24 now, and its plenty.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Where can you get them? Walmart The super market? Also what do you use as a top when you use mason jars. They seem like the best way to go, i'm getting sick of the expense of using deli cups.
-----
Nate
1.1 alanis tincs
0.0.2 imitators(looking for sens and horn line frogs)
0.0.2 Azureus
0.0.3 green pumilio(On waiting list that puts the waiting in waiting list )

"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
Sir Winston Churchill

I also use mason jars and swear by them . Im cheap , but if you think about theres no waste. I got mine from SafeWay. I also use Carolinas medium again because im cheap but it works great.

Damon

Hi,
I recently bought 24 8oz.culture vials from carolina.I saw a post by Brent Brock on frognet about them then I e-mailed him and discussed it.I used 8 of them lastweek and started 8 more this week just to be safe until I have the ratio figured out on how many I will really need.Like Nate, I was using 32oz.deli cups and was tired of it.They take up alot of room and finding them was getting to be a problem.I also ordered foam plugs that will be so much better then paper towels or coffee cup filters for the tops.Heck, all 24 of them going will take up less room then 12 deli cup would have.I buy my media from Patrick and it has worked for me for over a year and see no reason to change.
Mark W.

can you describe the foam plugs? What are they?
-----
Matt

Basically they are just foam plugs that will keep the mites and other flies from coming in contact with mine.They are made for the bottles I bought and are reusable.
Mark W.

I drink lots of water and I end up with hundreds of these. They work GREAT as ff containers, not to mention having a built-in pouring spout. Plug 'em with foam and it's easy, at least for the less than huge collections.
-----
Kristi
0.0.2 Azureus
0.0.2 Cobalts
0.0.2 Powderblues

I am sorry, but if you have a lot of cultures going, cleaning mason jars out is a pain. I set up about 15 - 20 quart size cultures a week, I have better things to do with my saturday mornings that clean fruit fly cultures. I never could seem to get the jars spotlessly clean, and my wife almost shot me when she found pupae in the dishwasher from the last washing of jars. The cups can be a little expensive, but just buy them in bulk. I get 240 from superior enterprises about every three months, now a little faster because my collection is on the rise. It costs me 60 bucks with shipping, and I don't know about you, but I think its a fair trade for at least 12 hours of washing nasty fruit fly cups.

I still use some of my jars for wax moth and springtail cultures, but never again for flies.

Happy Froggin,

Shannon

0.0.3 D. azureus
0.0.7 P. bicolor
0.0.7 D. auratus (polka-dot)
0.0.3 D. auratus (blue)
0.0.3 D. auratus (kahlua and cream)

All starting to finally mature, hopefully sexes will be evident soon.

Well, I make about 3-4 cultures a week, but cleaning them is cake. Get a small brush and rinse them out then scrub them in seconds. After that the dishwasher which is mostly for disinfection. The brush cleans them off very fast with a little water. I can see the if it was a ton that it might be a pain, but I would not have a problem doing it up to about 10 or so a week. It takes me less than 15-30 mins to clean out the old ones and make the new ones.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Shannon,
Who did you get your kahlua and creams from?
Mark

They came from a pair of Ian Hillers. Two of them are regular, the other one retained its green spots and is really unique looking. I will try to get a picture of it up for you.
-----
0.0.3 D. azureus
0.0.7 P. bicolor
0.0.7 D. auratus (polka-dot)
0.0.3 D. auratus (blue)
0.0.3 D. auratus (kahlua and cream)

Shannon

That would be cool,thanks.I have 4 from Patrick but not sure of their origin.All he told me is the parents came in from a shipment from Europe.

...