Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is mostly nothing new but I was proud of myself for making a kit without ordering anything offline.

I grabbed some jars from work, I work for engineering company that collects dirt, woot! Of course you can get jars anywhere though.

For the foam tops I bought a foam mattress pad for $11 and cut out the tops, you have to be sure to cut them just right though and test them so there are no little holes for flies to get out.

I had some rafia in my closet (an arts and crafts straw)that I used to give the little guys something to crawl around on.

I have never like the instant fly media, I used in my Genetics fly experiments and the flies just don't seem to like it as much, so I made my own using : 1 can of frozen grape juice, 1 cup of water, 1 banana, 1 mango, 1 papaya, and about 3/4 cup vinegar to prevent fugus and mold. And of course yeast to top it off in the jar.

Then I added my flies, curdosy of ED's Fly Meat. The only problem with this method I can forsee is any chemicals used in the mattress pad or the rafia, but my investigations have shown none, if anyone sees any flaws please let me konw, I want healthy flies!! As soon as I find my ditigal camera I will post the pics of the new tank, I'm so happy with it! I took this with my cheap web cam, which would not due the tank or frogs justice.
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The image didn't come up on my computer, so these may be stupid questions. That sounds like a totally liquid media. Don't the flies drown in it, or do you just moisten the raffia? How do you get them out to feed without the media pouring out? Other than the vinegar, it sounds like a wine recipe, so doesn't this produce alcohol?

I've never been very inventive with ff media, just use either Ed's or Saurian's potato flake type mixes, so I'm not being critical, just want to understand how this works.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue
D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
D. imitator
D. leucomelas
D. pumilio Bastimentos
D. fantasticus
P. terribilis mint and organe
D. reticulatus
D. castaneoticus
D. azureus
P vittatus
P. lugubris

Haha, yes I forgot that I added potato flakes to make it gooey, and boiled it to kill any wild type flies that might be in the fruit. I've used this media the last time I had flies and it worked great, I just froze the excess and took it out whenever I needed more.

That makes more sense. When you run out of raffia, excelsior (aspen wood shavings) is a bit cheaper and works the same way for supporting the flies away from the bottom. You can find it in the same section of a crafts store as raffia.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

D. auratus blue
D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
D. imitator
D. leucomelas
D. pumilio Bastimentos
D. fantasticus
P. terribilis mint and organe
D. reticulatus
D. castaneoticus
D. azureus
P vittatus
P. lugubris