Blah... fruit fly issues

[Lacibeth]

I have to stop in and buy more anyways now that these failed. So I will bring them in and let them know what happened. If I'm at fault, then I don't blame them, but I've never had a problem before.

Are they the cultures from Petco? I've been too lazy to culture my own so I've been purchasing the ones from Petco and I haven't had a problem w/ them except a bit of white mold on an older culture. Fingers crossed that it stays that way--I'm on vacation for 2 wks and one of the other ladies in the office has agreed to take care of my cope's and my two chorus frogs which are still eating FF and I don't want to panic call.

[LilyPad]

They were from a local store. I don't have any petcos nearby (just 3 locals stores and a petsmart) I was buying the tubes at first, but considering my frogs eat 100+ fruit flies a night lately, that just isn't going to work for me. I usually keep between 6 and 8 big cultures (like the kind you see everyone doing in here) in the house to make sure I have enough without wiping out the population in one feeding. I'm also still feeding the toadlets fruit flies sometimes. They do eat small crickets but the 2 smaller of the toads still prefer fruit flies.

[Lynx]

My house isn't insulated except for the bathroom we gutted out and the ceiling. As a result, the temp and humidity fluctuate wildly. I now keep my newer cultures on a shelf in the bathroom. The temperature is much more steady, and the short burst of humidity from my showers seem to keep the cultures from drying out when the air is on.

I've found that I still have to add a lot of extra water to the Joshs medium I use. Maybe because of all the ceiling fans running full blast? I made 2 new cultures a week ago, and all the flies are dead and the medium is covered in mold. The only thing I did differently was keep them in a different place, in a dish of water, as an experiment in mite control. I'm thinking the kitchen was a bad idea.

[Frog Mom]

I'm sorry to hear that your cultures were newer because I was also going to mention that mine have all turned runny like that as they have gotten old. I wonder what happened.

You should definitely try starting your own cultures. I have bought 4 over the past few months and then emptied out the first two and used the recipe here on frog forum, and voila! They worked! I am so excited because those store bought ones cost so much dang money. I'm getting ready to restart the next two and just keep rotating them.

[frogmania21]

Amy - sometimes cultures can get wild fruit flies in them which makes them fly. I had that happen to a couple of my own - very frustrating. I agree with the above comment to try cultures yourself. I have used the recipe on this site of Rust and it is sooo easy! I make new cultures every week and have had great success with this particular recipe. I used to buy flies, but now do all my own.... Good luck!