So, you just bought some fruit flies and mix at your local pet store, now what?
1. Feed your animals FIRST! Make sure they are well fed before you start to make any new cultures.
2. Obtain an empty 32 oz or smaller container. Glass works best but plastic is just fine. You can use mason jars, spaghetti jars, peanut butter jars etc. Make sure the container is cleaned out really well and then boiled for sterility. The media (aka fruit fly mix) does contain mold inhibitors but its best to start off very clean.
3. When making the culture you want to use HOT water. Hot tap water is fine or almost boiling works well too. You want it hot enough not to touch it.
4. Put 1/3 of a cup of the media into the sterile container and add 1/2 cup of the hot water. Swirl really good to mix it. If there is some dry media at the bottom of the container, don't worry. it should look like a tan hockey puck. You can also use 1/4 cup of media and 1/3 cup of water for smaller containers.
5. Put a lid on the container to let it cool. If you leave it out in the open the culture is prone to flying fruit flies or midges getting in.
6. For a lid you can use paper towels (not recommended if you have kids, they like to poke holes in it), an old pair of nylons or coffee filters. Secure this with a rubber band. If you have the original lid for the container you can put a large hole in it and then secure the nylons, etc. underneath it.
7. After the media cools down and is barely warm to the touch, add approximately 50 adult fruit flies from your original culture. The more flies you add the faster the new culture will produce. YOU MUST ADD FRUIT FLIES TO THE NEW CULTURE OR IT WILL NOT PRODUCE MORE FLIES.
8. Wait approximately 7-14 days for larval (worms) activity. The warmer you keep them the faster they will reproduce. The optimal temperature is 78o.