Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hi,

i have 3 6 week old, 1.5 cm long dart frogs. now ive put endless amounts of food into the viv with them,

probably about 15 crickets and 10 fruit flies per day.

ive seen what i think msut be all three of the frogs eat now (flipping hard to see the frogs in the natural setup viv)

my problem...

i have a 80% moss covering on my tank.
10% bark (large peice of)
10% slate peices...

the only way i can think of inproving the situation at the moment is buy getting more fruit fly cultures (i have 2 at the moment)

each culture at the mo is releasing about 6-8 flies a day.

shoudl i just keep chucking food into the tank?

how do i know when my frog is not being fed enough?

does anyone have dart frogs and use a food bowl / tray of any kind?

Thanks

Jono

I am relatively new to frogs myself, but I know that your cultures should be producing ALOT more than 8 flies per day. What recipe are you using? There is a good recipe at doylrs dart den...link at bottom of page. You might want to set up at least two cultures per week until you get the hang of it. You may have to throw some flies away to keep them from overpopulating the cultures...they will crash if too many adults die in there. As for the amount of food...just put a load of flies in the tank, and if there are flies roaming around the next day, dont put in so many the next time. Also, a piece of apple or banana(any fruit) in the bottom of the tank will help keep the flies concentrated in one area. Also, feed the frogs in the same place everyday. They will soon pick up on it and be waiting for you where you feed them. They are actually pretty smart

Like I said, I am still a newbie...experts feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
Doyles Dart Den

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Matt

The Galactonotus, if this is the splash back you are talking about, are enthusiastic eaters, much like tincs. It doesn't seem like you have enough cultures going and they certainly aren't producing like they should. So as already suggested, get a series of cultures going, as well as pinhead crickets and perhaps springtails for variety. I don't count, but my three adult galacs probably devour 100 or more fruit flies a day. I have a total of about 20 dart frogs of different species, and have about as many fruit fly cultures going at one time, divided between melanogaster and hydei, with occasional pin head crickets and spring tails. A good culture in a quart container should be producing hundreds of flies at the top of the production, then last about a month before petering out. Starting new cultures every two or three days keeps a steady supply and allows for the occasional failures.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus pending

thank you sooo much for your replies.

ive now noticed one culture of fruit flies have BURT into life, with about 40 flies this morning - YAY

frogs are thriving it seems, thanks for your advice chaps/chapesses.

im hooked on dart frogs now, gonna get me some more oveer xmas

one thing thats confusing me is that some of my "flightless" fruit flies can fly - some anyway ?!

heh
Jonno

This can happen if wild fruit flies get into your culture and interbreed or if you inadvertently mix D. melanogaster and D. hydei in the same cup for breeding. In this case, a certain percentage of the flies will be fully able to fly. Just let them fly away and continue your cultures. This will eventually sort out. I have this problem mostly in summer when there are a lot of wild fruit flies about, but it goes away entirely by winter. The genetic reasons are somewhat complicated, but suffice to say, it happens.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus pending