Culturing Fruit Flies
About Fruit Flies
There are two flightless varieties of fruit flies suitable for culturing and feeding to finches: the smaller Drosophila melanogaster (in vestigial winged or wingless form), and the larger Drosophila hydei. Note that the mutation which makes Drosophila melanogaster unable to fly is recessive; it is therefore imperative that your culture flies are not permitted to mate with wild (flighted) fruit flies.
Fruit fly by André Karwath.
| Life Cycle (at room temperature) | |
| Egg | <1 day |
| Larva | ~6 days |
| Pupa | ~5 days | Adult Lifespan | ~6-7 weeks |
Fruit fly adults are not very nutritious, but they can be dusted with a calcium supplement
prior to being fed to the birds which helps address this problem.
Culture Set Up
You can buy an entire starter kit (contains adult fruit flies, containers, fruit fly medium/food, etc.), or do-it-yourself:DIY Container Options
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1) Go scientific: Use a Polypropylene Erlenmeyer Flask
2) Upcycle: Use a "vintage" milk bottle
which is wider at its bottom than it is at the top (ideally <3cm wide top opening & about 10cm tall)3) Recycle: Use a 500mL (half liter) plastic soda bottle
Depending on the container chosen, the top can be plugged using:
-
1) A wad of tightly-balled non-absorbent cotton wool
2) A correctly-sized fine-pored sponge (i.e. cellulose acetate plug
)3) Paper tissue held in place over the opening with a rubber band
(Avoid netting- the holes are wide enough to allow wild fruit flies to mate through the netting.)
Temperature, Humidity, & Lighting
- Temperature of 70-80F (21.1-26.7C) for optimal growth
- Optimal humidity 70%
- Ambient room (not direct sun) light during the day & dark at night.
Medium/Food
Fill the bottom of the container to a depth of 2cm with:
- A commercial fruit fly medium (wet gel-like consistency, follow manufacturer's directions; add few drops of water as needed if drying out)
- Mashed banana + water (can also add powdered or condensed milk) + ~10 pellets of baker's yeast
- Mashed banana + coarse digestive bran to stiffen mixture into a paste + baker's yeast
- 1 cup instant potato powder + ½ cup powdered milk + ¼ cup white sugar + a pinch of baker's yeast
If the home-made medium begins to dry out too soon, add a dollop of mashed banana to the container.
Substrate
Adult flies need material above the medium to climb on to prevent drowning, and larva also need the material to assist with pupation. Therefore, on top of the medium, add one of the following:
- A ball of Excelsior (wooden craft straw)
- A ball of plastic straw
- Plastic canvas
- Broken skewers
- Unused coffee filter
Adding Flies
Each container should have at least 10-12 starter flies (you could add 100-150 if you desired). Keep several containers simultaneously to ensure constant supply (multiples of 7 allow for daily feedings).
Maintenance
Every 20-30 days flies should be transferred to new/clean vial with fresh medium. The old container should be washed (discarding the old medium). Keep the area around the culture containers clean; wipe surfaces down using rubbing alcohol. These steps should help prevent problems with mites, mold, and odor. Another method of discouraging mites is to also place culture containers on top of anti-mite paper
(sold in rolls). If a small amount of blue or green mold occurs, transferring cultures to clean vials weekly may help control and eradicate it; if black mold is seen, however, the entire culture and flies should be discarded and you will need to start over.
Feeding Fruit Flies to Your Birds
To remove flies for feeding, tap the container firmly to dislodge flies from the top and sides, then remove the top of the container and "tap" the flies* into a plastic cup with a small amount of calcium powder added to it. Swirl the cup of powder with the flies to coat them, then tap the flies from the calcium-powder cup into a smooth-sided serving bowl in the birds' enclosure. *Remember to hold back enough adult flies to continue the culture.
Tips
If culturing indoors, keep a few strips of safe (insecticide-free) sticky fly strips around the room to catch any escaped or unwanted flies that may be attracted to the cultures.
How-to video from Carolina Biological Supply
on Youtube
Additional Resources Used for This Article:
Breeding Insects as Feeder Food
Raising Live Foods (Complete Herp Care)
Breeding Invertebrates for Food & Fun