Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was just wondering how everyone else dusts their f.f's prior to dropping them in the tank. I've been using the two cup method. The first plastic cup is filled with about a 1/4 inch of supplement powder. The second has the bottom cut off and has mesh screen(substrate divider) taped over the opening. I put the flies in the second cup and insert that into the first cup. It gets the flies dusted and the rest is shaken into the first cup. This doesn't make too much of a mess. The only problem is that when I use D. melanogaster for my smaller frogs they tend to fall through the screen. I'm just curious how everyone else handles this topic. Thanks!!!!

Here is a picture of some dusted f.f's dusted with Dendrocare Vitamin & Mineral Supplement.

I just put a little bit (very little) of powder in the bottom of cup, dump the fruit flies in, and swirl. The powder keeps the little suckers from crawling up the sides of the cup. Then tap them into the tank. I change the powder every two days.

Joe
-----
3.0.1 Tinc Patricias
0.0.2836 Pea Aphids
0.0.4392 Springtails
0.0.1842 FruitFlies
0.1.30 Dampwood Termites

The two cup method works well, but I do things a bit different.
I use a medium sized mason jar and place a funnel over top so that it fits flush over the jar. I add powder through the funnel and then just tap the flies into the jar. I shake it up and then they are ready to go.

Hope this helps.
-----
Justin
stk18119@loki.stockton.edu

D.auratus
D.leucomelas
D.tinctorius (lorenzo, yellowback, citro, pb, oyopock,etc.)
D.azureus
D.ventrimaculatus (yellow/gold)
D.pumilio (blue jeans, solid red)
P.aurotaenia (narrow bands/green)
P.bicolor
E.tricolor (Santa Isabel)
H. leucophyllata
P. hypochondrialis azurea
P. resinfictrix
etc.......

how do you like the Dendrocare Vitamin & Mineral Supplement? i was thinking of switching over to this once i run out of my other dust. i have been told that it sticks to the flies really well. thanks.

It works great. All 6 of my dart frogs are extremely healthy. I dust the flies every other day. The powder sticks very well. I get mine from Blackjungle. Hope this helps.

Here is what I do and it has worked well for me. I took a old 32oz cup from say mcdonalds, and then I cut the bottom out. I then places very small sewing screen in the bottom. The holes in the screen are very very small and I acutally use it to cover my vents on my tank also since ff's can not get out of it. I then use 2 plastic sandwish bags one over the bottom to catch the dust and then another to dump it in over the flies. I then alternate the bags for each use. Has worked great and limits escapes and mess. I also use a standard car funnel to put the flies in the cup.
-----
Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Maybe I'm just completely doing this wrong, but the way I do it is so simple and easy that I'm not going to do it any other way

All I do is empty my flies into a wide-mouth cup directly from the culture container (no funnel)...as long as you keep tapping in just the right place, all of them will go in the cup (and not crawl around the sides of the culture container and end up falling outside the dusting cup).

Then I shake them around a good deal to get them nice and coated.

Once they are coated, I turn the cup on its side (90 degree angle), and the little suckers stick to themselves and travel as a little ball of flies, pushing themselves toward the lip of the cup. I let them push themselves so that the powder remains at the bottom of the cup. Once they are all near the edge, I gently tap the cup and they all fall in without any extra powder.

Of course it always seems like within minutes they have cleaned themselves of the powder if my frogs haven't eaten them already, which is kind of frustrating but unavoidable I guess unless I feed them in small aliquots.

Kevin H.

That's all I do too Kevin, just tip the culture into the cup, a little tapping and out they come, seems pretty simple. I think the difficulty may come in the lid that people use to cover their cultures. I have seen, and tried, cultures where you have to remove the entire lid which may be causing some of the problems people are having. I use a foam piece inserted in the top of my cultures lids so I don't have to remove the lid, just the foam. My cultures grow great, I don't see 'flying ' ff's inside the cultures, and it is really easy to access and remove the little buggers.

Thank you for all your imput.