Fruit fly husbandry, Have some Culture-Learn how to Fly!

Shipping even the best of active cultures leaves the adult flies dead and requires time for the larvae to recover and hatch.

Learn about culturing fruit flies or you'll be fed up and wasting money.
What I recommend to all my mantis lovers is learning to culturing fruit flies is as important as learning how to care about your mantis. It’s impractical to order fruit flies as they don’t always ship well and are expensive. They can be easy to make. When ordering cultures get 2 or 3 to start. This way you’ll have plenty to feed with and also to make fresh cultures.
You'll learn that they take about 2 weeks produce, and are useful for about 3 weeks before they go bad. Also some cultures will fail, mold can be a problem if not made properly as there is yeast and ingredients invite its growth. This is why I recommend being careful to use clean ingredients. The excelsior (wood wool), the cup and the medium need to be fresh and pure. I put the ingredients separately (before mixing with hot water) including the excelsior in the microwave for 10-15 seconds which sterilizes it. Then be mindful to keep it from being contaminated while you mix and adding flies from an active culture.

Make cultures every 2-3 weeks, don’t wait till your last fly. Make extra and throw them away or sell them on eBay for $10-15 and be smart.

Making cultures is as simple as making a cup up instant oatmeal and can cost less than \$1-2 dollars to make. Here’s a recipe that works

And there’s also the culture kit we sell.

Every so often you’ll need to order a fresh culture or 2 to replenish your your breeding stock. If cultures are kept at temperatures above 85F the flies become sterile and will die. Drosophila Hydei flightless especially will become sterile and stop producing. Experiment with the mix in your environment depending on humidity and temperature and how thick or wet your medium should be.

Learn how to fly!