Dendrobates Auratus question

[JeffX]

http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...ing-101-a.html

The above is a link to culturing fruit flies. This is really easy. The only problem I had was losing my fruit flies as they jumped out of the jars. You might want to look into culturing your own. Those guys eat alot. You could also order Phoenix worms. I have some extra small ones for my Bumble Bee Toads.

Those guys tend to grow to about an inch and a half. I'd look into getting a bigger tank, and maybe put in a false-bottom. It will help with the humidity.

[xkatelynell]

Tom - I'm going to order some live plants soon from Josh's Frogs

Jeff - I will have to look into culturing sometime soon. What do you use to get the fruit flies out of the jar? or is that a lame question? hah. I still live at home and my mom is like freaking out about the fruit flies in the house so I'm trying to figure out how to keep them here with as little as possible escaping :/

I will look into a bigger tank. Do you suggest one that's wider or taller?

Here's another little picture of him/her. Seems to be doing okay. I'm really glad. I woke up so many times last night to go check on temperature and humidity

[JeffX]

I use an old film canister which I have a little calcium dust in there to dust my fruit flies.

What I do to get mine out is tap on the sides of the containers to get them to fall down to the bottom. Then I try and to put them in the canister. I always do this over the tank so if any fall out which they do they get eaten, and not lost on my floor. I'm still able to dust most of them though.

Flightless fruitflies aren't much of a mess. They won't be flying everywhere so your mom won't have to worry about that.

I'd go with a wider tank than taller for them. They really need a good amount of space. The 2.5 gallon is fine for the time being, but if you can get a bigger tank than I would.

[Kurt]

I use an old film canister which I have a little calcium dust in there to dust my fruit flies.

I used to use a vial, roughly around the same size as your canister, and found it to be too small. Flies would be crushed/smothered by the flies on top of them. So when they got poured into the enclosure many are dead which not good for the enclosure.

I now use jars. I reuse the fruit fly culture jars that I get at Petco. I also use them for culturing more flies after the old cultures are dead and cleaned out.

[xkatelynell]

Thanks guys. I will start looking into culturing my own. I thought about getting a cricket breeding kit too, then I'd be all set haha.

Here's an updated picture of my tank, it's all fake but the one plant in the middle and the humidity is about 80% and the temp is about 73.

This is only temporary until I can get more money for a bigger tank and some more live plants. Is it better now with more hiding places and not a toilet paper tube ?

[SethD]

I would recommend you put some dirt over the coco fiber to cover it up if possible. That stuff is great for humidity but as I am sure your finding out it sticks to the frogs and gets tracked all over everything. Also if your dart frog is captive bred it shouldn't be much more toxic than any other frog so the poisonous label isn't necessary unless you want to impress someone... In that case you might want to try a different spelling of the word "poisonous ". Best of luck with your new frog.

[Kurt]

I cover the coconut bedding with leaf litter to prevent it from sticking to the frogs. Besides it looks nice and natural.

[Kurt]

I use a funnel to get the fruit flies into the dusting jar, especially if the container they are coming from is wider than the receiving container. I do shake, sometimes violently, the reciving jar and funnel to prevent the fruit flies from climbing out. Once they hit the dust, it becomes very difficult for them to climb upwards.

If fruit flies manage to get away from you, I find they usually walk right back to the culture and try to get back in, which they can't obviously. Let your mom know that they are flightless.