How to Prepare for Culturing Fruit Flies

Fruit flies are a cheap, nutritious food for reptiles and amphibians. When you culture your own fruit flies, you provide an ample food supply for your pet that is cost effective. Learn what items you need and how to effectively culture fruit flies.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Container
• Medium
• Fruit Flies

1. Find a container to culture your fruit flies. A clear container that traps the fruit flies but offers ventilation is important. Mason jars and clear containers from a deli counter or specialty containers created for insects work well. Use a paper towel or thin paper over the opening to allow air into the culture while you contain the fruit flies.

2. Use healthy fruit flies to start a new culture. Choose between the two types of fruit flies: the smaller variety that breeds quickly or larger fruit flies that are slow-breeding.

3. Create a "medium" for the cultured fruit fly larvae and mature flies to eat. A medium is a substance that you can buy from specialty stores or make yourself for a cheaper alternative. Basic ingredients in a medium include baker's yeast, warm water, potato flakes, sugar and powdered milk. Use measuring devices and a funnel to easily mix the ingredients.

4. Place solid pieces of matter in the culture container for the fruit flies to lay eggs. The more surfaces you offer the fruit flies, the more eggs are produced. Use household items such as pieces of cardboard, egg carton or moss purchased at a craft store for egg-laying surfaces.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep your fruit fly culture at room temperature for optimum growth.
• Mashed banana is a good food source for fruit flies and provides a place for the flies to lay eggs.
• If you need to slow down the fruit fly-culturing process, move the culture into a colder area.
• Remove mold in the culture immediately to avoid contaminating the culture.
• Don't cross-breed fruit flies--culture one variety at a time for a healthy batch of fruit flies.