Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here’s the deal guys... i heard that if you add the calcium and
vitamin supplement to the substrate of your fruit flies that
will make it so you don’t need to dust them... is this true? If
not... i am having probs dusting and then introducing the flies
into the viv w/o spilling the dust too...
thanks again:
Sam

Hey Sam,
Smart question

The supps going into the FF media will be wasted to a massive %.
I do put supps/cal/yeast only as food for my springtails as they eat only what is added. The FF media is the main source of food for the Ffs and the bang for the buck of adding supps to media vs. dusting is not worth it.
When dust hits the viv , not eaten by frogs, there are usually enough hitchhiker bugs in most vivs to actually be beneficial to existing springtails and other critters in viv.
I would say don’t worry about dumping a little dust in your vivs. It would be VERY hard to enough add dust to the culture to make things work out well. Bang for the buck.

Rich

That's not a dumb question. Besides agreeing with what Rich has said, you can also prevent excess dust from getting all over your vivarium by simply becoming an expert at a "tapping out" technique, as too much dust does seem to harm mosses and discolor plant leaves. I dust my flies in a plastic deli-cup by swirling them around in just a finger tip full of vitamin dust, then by tilting and shaking back and forth, you can separate the flies, which will try to climb upward, from the excess dust, which will fall downward. (It's rather like panning for gold, if you've ever tried doing this, with the dust being the heavier "gold" retained in the pan.) You can also shake them into a second deli-cup first, so virtually nothing but the dusted flies will go into the tank. You have more "specific" control over the amount of vitamins and calcium the frogs are actually getting. I also understand that some feeder insects, especially crickets don't fare well on constantly high calcium diets, although I don't know that this pertains to fruit flies as well. As Rich says, it's just more efficient to dust them.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

thanks guys!
how much should i feed my frogs? i have been feeding ev day but they still seem a lil skinny... other peoples i see r fat and mine are not... i hear they are supposed to b a lil on the heavy side but mine just are not gettin there...
should i feed more... they are in the "Dry" season b/c im gonna try ma hand at breeding these guys.. should i wait till the "rains" come and up the food provided?
thanks again:
Sam

If they look skinny, feed them more--or maybe twice a day. I'm sorry, but I have forgotten what species of darts you have, and this may make a slight difference. I'd truly panic with a skinny thumbnail, but the other larger frogs seem to vary back and forth. If they are eating well, have plenty of food available, but still remain skinny, I'd start thinking about other possible problems, perhaps intestinal parasites that may have had a chance to take over while adapting to changes and stress. I wouldn't try to cycle wet/dry periods for breeding until they are all fat and happy in a well misted environment. I may be mistaken, but in my own experience, it is rather difficult to over-feed dart frogs, and obesity doesn't seem to present the same kind of problem that it does with a White's Tree Frog, as an example. Fat darts are generally healthy darts. The only problem with over-feeding that I've observed is too many insects annoying them after they are no longer hungry. If my larger, greedy frogs seem to become too portly, I cut back on the feeding or sometimes skip a feeding, but I'd rather have them fat than looking skinny.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

i have 1.1 leucs. i feed in the morning and sometimes i will feed again on the afternoon... i just didn't know if i would be in any trouble by feeding them... every time i feed they are very eager!! i use a plastic lid to keep the dusted flies in one spot so i know how much they are eating... and when i feed them they eat all of them... an i am giving the frogs like 40 or so flies at a time... they don't look really skinny just not fat.. i would also rather have a fat frog than a "malnourished" frog!