FF in Toronto...

[Moe]

...Hi. Im looking for a supplier of fruit flies in Toronto, or preferably in Mississauga. If you know a supplier, or if YOU are willing to sell me a culture, plz respond (pickup only) :). Thx:D

[LurkerAccount]

Hey I heard they are good shippers. And are you looking for flightless fruit flies? If not, just stick out a jar of rotten fruit, and you have a free culture, if you want 2 cultures, stick out 2 jars of rotten fruit, and so on.

Post Script: Heh, I like the exclusive scientific names :D :D

[Darlene]

Where could one get the flightless kind ? If they ship well I'm in Nova Scotia & would be interested.

[damzookeeper]

I'm pretty sure Cindy (Reptile Woman) sells them. I think she is right in Toronto or that area anyway and I'm pretty sure she shipps too. I was going to get some once but then I heard they don't fly but they jump all over and get out of the enclosure and you find them everywhere. But little helpful hint, later I was told to leave a piece of fruit in the enclosure and they wont stray, they will stay right around the fruit, which makes it easy for the pretitors to find them as well. ;)

I will leave you her site addy so you can visit and ask. :)
http://ca.geocities.com/cindythereptilewoman/

[Moe]

Thanks damzookeeper! I emailed them!:)

[LurkerAccount]

Yeah I did too, thanks damzookeeper

[Darlene]

I shall also. Thanks !!

[Moe]

to the people who emailed: .....did she answer any of your emails? (.....she didnt answer mine):confused: :confused: :confused:

[Darlene]

I got a reply. Read closer & you'll see that it is not Cindy who tends the fruit flies but Robert. He has a seperate e-mail address to contact him with. Here is a copy of the reply that I got :

Hi Darlene,

Sorry for the late response, I just finished my final exams and had to study quite a bit. Anyways, the ones I culture are flightless. They do have wings, but because the wings are crooked and they do not have muscles to use the wings, they can not fly.
Yes, I do ship to Nova Scotia. Let me get the shipping information and reply back in a few days ok? I think it shouldn't be too expensive. The most I'd expect is 15 dollars for shipping, but I will check with the post office to make sure.
Escape scenarios? Well, I use coffee filters as well as the lid
cover. They don't escape this way easily. As to feeding your animals, you can use the edsflymeatinc.com caresheet that I have posted below :
With proper care and culturing fruit flies can be very prolific and
cultures can last a very long time. Please keep in mind that this is a general list of do's and don'ts.
DO :
Keep your fruit flies at room temperature, between 70 and 80 degrees. Over 85 and the larger fruit flies, Drosophila hydei will become sterile.
Keep a light on the flies for any period of time.
To feed, gently tap on the container lid to get the flies to the bottom of the container. Quickly remove the lid and material and tilt the culture at a 45 degree angle. Shake out the desired amount of flies into the cage or vivarium.
To feed with vitamins, we put our vitamin powder (about 1 teaspoon) into a 16 or 32 oz container and sprinkle the flies in there. Shake them up until they are all white then put them in the vivarium.
DON'T :
Refrigerate your culture for more than 60 seconds. This method will slow down the flies, but it can also kill them.
Put the culture in direct sunlight.
Add any water, yeast or paper towels. The culture has everything it needs.
Bang on the jar as this may dislodge the media. Should this happen, Don't panic! There is nothing in ED's medias that can harm your animal! Just remove it from the vivarium and throw it away or put it back in the container.

Robert