Fruit Flies

Flightless fruit flies are the standard food item for dart frogs. These small insects are easy and inexpensive to culture, and along with a good quality powdered calcium and vitamin supplement, can provide a complete diet for dart frogs.

There are two different types of fruit flies that are offered here, and both are flightless.   These two fly varieties are referred to by their scientific name. The first is Drosophila melanogaster, (or melanogasters) and the second is D. hydei, or hydei. If you just say fruit flies, in most cases that would mean melanogasters, as they are the more common fly, and by far the best choice for a beginner frog keeper.   These flies are also great because they can be fed to any size dart frog, from the smallest babies (with a very few exceptions) to full grown adult frogs.

Melanogaster fruit flies are very easy to culture, and cultures produce a steady stream of flies for two to four weeks.   New cultures are easy to make, and will take about ten to fourteen days to begin producing more flies.  

Hydei fruit flies are a little larger fly, and dart frogs love them as well. However the reason they are not recommended for beginners is that the cultures tend to take longer to begin to produce, and, most importantly, they produce 95% of the flies within a two or three day period.   A hydei culture could produce a third of a cup of flies, enough to feed thirty or so frogs, but in a couple of days, when your frogs are hungry again, that culture will be empty, or nearly so.   So, we suggest hydei for those with larger collections.  

Click here for our Fruit Fly Culturing Instruction Sheet

Fruit Fly Cultures
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Culturing Supplies
9 products