Summer, fruit fly cultures keep crashing.

[k5MOW]

What kind of media are you using to culture.

Roger

[hroney]

I've only been culturing fruit flies for half a year now but here's the tricks that have helped me:

If mold is taking over then try adding some vinegar to the water before mixing the media - this helped my culture tons.

If if the media gets hard or crackly as it crashes then it could be drying out so adding a tiny water every few days may help.

Could just need try switching medias? Hard to say. Good luck!

[LilyPad]

Any specific issue you've noticed? Are they molding?

[teslas intern]

The cultures are store bought from Petco, and everything looks fine. They just die, while there is good food left that is perfectly moist. I had the same issue last year with homemade media. My room gets pretty hot from attic air leaking down, I'm wondering if it is temperature related? In the mean time there seems to be plenty of wild flies outside (and in the kitchen unfortunately) and I think they'll get me through until my froggies get bigger, but it is mysterious...

[Sunshine]

I think fruit fly cultures go sterile at temps 85+

[teslas intern]

That would make sense, as that's pretty much what is happening. I'll move them downstairs and see what happens...