vivarium problem - excaping fruit flies!

[Lexyfrog]

might not be the right area... but, has anyone else got problems with fruit flies excaping from an exo terra vivarium??? Mine ALWAYS manage it! Any suggestions to stop this?

[deranged chipmunk]

You can either seal the doors with a silicone strip (I believe folius.net sells them), seal the lower vent below the doors, or feed less. Only feed enough flies that the frogs can eat in a short time. 10 minutes or so.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Lexyfrog]

thank you. My tree frogs always left some but i figure that dart frogs will eat them all pretty quick?

[deranged chipmunk]

Some will. My oophaga pumilio and my phyllobates Vittatus eat when they feel like it. Others, like tincs, will devour food before it hits the tank floor. Depends on the individual frogs, really.


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[Lexyfrog]

right, thak you. i shall try feeding them a little first and see if they go for them quickly then.

[Mentat]

A little cup with molasses in it, set next to vivarium, works wonders attracting escapees and disposing of them .

[DigitalPunk]

I do the same trick Carlos does except I use juice with a bit of dish soap in it

It also helps if you feed your frogs in the same place every day. They will eventually learn where to go to get food and will help them clean up the flies as soon as you put them in.

My Tincs devour everything I give them, but my Mantella and Vents eat when the mood hits them so I have to be careful I don't over feed those tanks.

[numpty]

might not be the right area... but, has anyone else got problems with fruit flies excaping from an exo terra vivarium??? Mine ALWAYS manage it! Any suggestions to stop this?

When my tree frogs were small and I was feeding them fruit flies (D. melanogaster - the only kind I could get here), the flies would just wander en masse out of the Exo Terra tank. I sealed the doors and air vents below the doors with tape, covered the screen with fine mesh ... and then watched in despair as they casually sauntered out of some tiny corners, joins and cracks I hadn't thought of. After weeks of tinkering I managed to cut down on escapees, but the tank was a mess of tape and silicone blobs, and even then I never did completely solve the problem. After enough flies had found their way around the apartment and my wife started giving me grief, I surrounded the tank with anti-mite paper, which was toxic enough to kill most of the escaped flies.

I appreciated the ease of culturing the flies, but was happy to graduate to crickets!

[Lexyfrog]

Oh my god numpty that gave me a good chuckle. i was basically doing the same thing! I'm getting my dart frogs in two weeks or so. Just setting up the tank for them really. Its not big, but they'll be moving into a 100 x 40 x 50 tank in a couple months. Plus they'l only be teeny. Just got to remember to seal everything up nice. Guess i'll be making some custom lids for the tank. I will not have escapee's