Culturing Fruit Flies

Fruit flies are one of the easiest feeder insects to care for. Each 32 oz fruit fly culture includes all the food and water the flies will need for months. The culture will continue to produce flies for at least 2 months. Freshly Started Hydei Cultures will start to produce flies you can feed to your animals in 17-21 days. Freshly Started Melanogaster Cultures will start producing flies in 10-14 days. Each culture has the potential to produce 1000s of flies, but there are a few things that can slow down or stop production all together.

Humidity

Fruit fly cultures are prone to dry out in environments that are under 65% humidity. To maintain humidity, place the culture inside of a clear Rubbermaid container or storage shelving unit to keep the culture from drying out. You can also spray down the culture with de-chlorinated water if it dries out.

Temperature

Fruit fly cultures should be kept between 70 and 80 degrees. If the cultures hit 85 degrees even for a little while, the culture will go sterile and will not produce any more flies. Cultures that are kept under 70 degrees produce much slower.

Mold

Our 32 oz fruit fly cultures are made with a media that has a mold inhibitor already in it. However, if the culture begins to dry out, mold will appear on the top of the media. If mold develops on the top of the media, spray the mold down with some de-chlorinated water and put the culture in a clear Rubbermaid container or storage shelving unit to maintain humidity.

Mold will occasionally develop on the coffee filters or excelsior used in the culture. To prevent this from happening, make sure cultures are away from heater/air conditioner vents. If mold develops on the coffee filters or excelsior used in the culture, remove the portion with the mold on it before starting new cultures from that culture to avoid spreading the mold. Feeding from a moldy culture will not hurt your animals.

Mites

Mites are tiny bugs that love to attack fruit fly cultures. Mites are everywhere, so care must be taken to prevent mites from taking over your cultures. All cultures should be placed on paper towels that are sprayed with a Mite Spray. In addition, the area where the fruit flies are stored should be cleaned regularly.

If mites attack your cultures, it is best to toss all of your cultures and buy new fresh cultures.

Making Fruit Fly Cultures

Supplies:

1. Fruit Fly container and lid

2. Fruit Fly medium

3. Water free from Chlorine - Chlorine will slow the rate of fruit fly production. You can use distilled, RO, spring, etc.

4. Active Baker's Yeast

5. Coffee Filters or Excelsior - Needed to create more surface area for more flies.

Procedure

Task	Tips	Pictures
Heat up 1/2 cup to 1 cup of water per culture you plan on making.	You do not need to boil the water. Just make it pretty hot.
Add 1/2 cup of media to each cup	My media has a mold inhibitor in it already so the vinegar is not needed.
Add 2/3 cup of hot water to each cup and stir	When your cultures start producing, if the media is runny, then use less water next time. If they dry out, use more water next time.
Wait for the media to cool	In a rush I put mine in the fridge for 5 minutes if I don't want to wait
Sprinkle a pinch of Active Yeast on the culture (optional)	Do not put too much Active Yeast on your culture or your media will become soupy. We do not recommend using Active Yeast with our Hydei Fruit Fly Media
Spray the culture to activate the Yeast
Put in some coffee filters or Excelsior for the larvae and flies to climb	The number of coffee filters is dependent on your taste and humidity. Coffee filters absorb some of the moisture, so too many can cause your media to dry out and too few and your media will be soupy. With Excelsior, you will want to make sure that all the strands are out of the way of the lid being put on.
Add 50-100 fruit flies	For Melanogaster cultures, it is best to use flies from cultures that are just starting to produce. For Hydei Cultures it is best to allow a culture to produce for a few days to a week before starting a new culture with flies from that culture.
Immediately put the lid on your culture

Culturing Springtails

Supplies:

1. Container-I use large 5-6 quart clear Tupperware/Rubbermaid/Sterilite.

2. Charcoal

3. Starter Springtail Culture

3. Water free from Chlorine - Chlorine will slow the rate of production. You can use distilled, RO, spring, etc.

4. Springtail food

Procedure

Task	Tips	Pictures
Order a starter culture of springtails by clicking the "Online Store" link above	If you want the springtails to colonize in your tanks, just dump the culture in your tank or drain off some water from the culture into the terrarium.
Fill the Tupperware 3/4 full of charcoal and dump in the starter culture (you can also buy the charcoal by clicking on the "Online Store" link above)
Add food
Spray down the culture until there is 1/2 to 1 inches of water in the bottom of the container.	Humidity is the key. The springtails don't need to swim, but keeping water in their container keeps the humidity up.
Put the lid on.	No ventilation is needed.
Every couple of days add food and spray down cultures as water evaporates.	Make sure the water level is not too high. The springtails will not utilize any of the charcoal that is under water.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Possible Solution(s)
Springtail culture stinks	Cut down on food
Springtails are dead	Make sure water is 1/2 to 1 inch deep. They will die if humidity is low. Make sure you are not overfeeding Check temperatures. Temperate springtails like a little cooler than room temp and tropical springtails need it at room temp or higher.

Creating a Terrarium Fogger

Supplies:

1. Ultrasonic Humidifier. These are the cool mist humidifiers. Other humidifiers heat up water to create mist which will increase the heat in the vivarium or could burn your frogs. Click here for the cheapest Ultrasonic Humidifiers

2. PVC reducer. Needs to be large enough to fill the hole in the humidifier. It should reduce to 1/2 inch. I use a 2 in to 1/2 inch reducer.

3. Plastic tubing. With a 1/2 inch connectors you would use 5/8 tubing.

4. PVC fitting. This will be the access point on the vivarium. With 5/8 tubing you use a 1/2 inch fitting.

5. Timer. Used to set up a misting cycle.

Procedure

Task	Tips	Pictures
Gather supplies	Ebay is a great place to find cheap ultrasonic humidifiers. PVC supplies are cheaper at your hometown hardware store than at home depot or lowes.
Take cap off of Humidifier
Insert PVC Reducer into Ultrasonic Humidifeir	If it doesn't fit exactly, you can use 100% silicone to make a sure fit.
Attach tubing to the reducer
Run tubing from Humidifier to the tank	You do not want any point of the tubing to lower than the point at which the tubing meets the tank (sagging). Condensation will form in the tube. If there is sagging in the line, the condensation will gather at the lowest spot and block fog from going through the tubing.
Attach fitting to vivarium	Can either be siliconed to the screen or drilled into glass lid or side.
Attach tubing to the fitting
Set timer	2-3 times a day max. You want to allow things to dry out in between foggings. You only need the fogger on for a couple of minutes. A few minutes is more than enough to fill the whole tank with fog.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Possible Solution(s)
Fog isn't making it to my tank	Make sure there are no leaks at any of the connections. You can use 100% silicone to seal any leaks. Make sure there are no sags in the tubing. Condensation will gather at the sag and clog the fog. Make sure there are no cracks in the water reservoir on the humidifier. 100% silicon can fix the cracks.

Building a Vertical Tank

Supplies:

1. Two pieces of glass or acrylic

2. 100% silicon for glass or Weld-on #16 for acrylic

3. Hinge

4. Latch

5. Pull

Procedure

Task	Tips	Pictures
Measure the inside rim of the tank.	You want the measurement as close as possible to avoid gaps. Measure to the nearest 1/4 inch
Buy 2 sheets of 1/4 inch thick glass from your local glass shop. One sheet will be for the bottom of the door (I use 6" for the bottom piece)	Shop around for glass. The price of glass can vary greatly from shop to shop.
Place the tank in its desired final position and silicon where the black rim meets the tank at the bottom of the tank.
Place the tank into it normal horizontal position, silicon the smaller piece of glass into the rim of the tank	Use plenty of silicon to make sure there are no leaks.
Then place the other sheet of glass into the frame.
Silicon the hinge, latch, and pull in their desire locations.	A 10 gallon is only 10" wide, so use a 6" hinge for a 10 gallon tank. I have had as big as a 20" X 21" door on a 12" hinge.
Let the silicon dry for at least 48 hours.

Troubleshooting

Problem	Possible Solution(s)
Hinge/pull/latch is coming loose	Silicon is not a glue, but a sealer. It is meant to be used in open air as opposed to a glue. Allow 48+ hours to dry to get the best results.
Tank will not stay shut	Place a twist tie (from a loaf of bread) into the hole in the latch
Bottom piece of glass is leaking	Add more silicon to the seal.

Terrarium Construction

There are a few considerations that need to be thought through before construction begins. The first consideration is how big you want the enclosure to be. The rule of thumb is 1 frog per 5 gallons. While all froglets can be kept in groups, some species will fight if there is another frog of the same sex in the enclosure. Larger terrariums support more microfauna, provide more space and exercise for the frogs, and are much easier to work with.

Tank

The first item you need to get is the tank. Garage sales and EBAY are great places to look for larger tanks. Once you have the tank, you need to build a lid for the tank. If you are going to be making the tank a vertical (tipping the tank on it's side and making the tank opening the front of the tank) check out my How to make a vertical tank page.

Driftwood

The right driftwood makes the tank. Before I even picture the tank I'm going to build, I get the wood. The best wood for Poison Dart Frog Terrariums is Cypress, Burrows, or Grape Wood.

Cypress Driftwood - Smooth and holds up extremely well in very humid environments. This type of wood will even hold up as part of a water fall. It is also very light so it is easier to incorporate into the background.

Burrows (similar to Malaysian Driftwood) - This type of wood has tons of character with numerous grooves and a non-uniform color. This wood is the heaviest of the three, but can still be incorporated into the background of the terrarium.

Grape Wood - This type of wood has a lot of grooves like Kampas. This type of wood will be home to mold and fungus in your tank (don't be surprised if you get mushrooms on this type of wood). The molds/fungus are harmless to frogs.

Terrarium Backgrounds

There are tons of options for Terrarium Backgrounds. Although you don't NEED a background, it adds usable space to the terrarium, allows for more cover, and looks better than a tank without a background. The options for a terrarium background are:

Tree Fern Plaques - These plaques are 10" X 10" X 1". They are light weight and the woven tree fern twigs provide a great environment for epiphytes to grow their roots.

Handi-Foam - Handi-foam is like Great Stuff except that it is 100 times better. It is black so it blends in better, it cures in less time, and we know it is safe for frogs. Spray the foam on the background, use a rubber glove to mold it like you want it, press in driftwood, and then cover it in coir and lightly press it in. Let it sit for 24 hours and you are all set!

Coco Fiber Square - These coco fiber squares are 12" X 12" X 1", covered in latex, and come in brown or red. They are cheap, light, and long lasting (due to the latex coating). The fibers create a great place for plant roots to grow.

Drainage Layer

You will need drainage to keep your plants from drowning. Drainage is a necessary requirement for all Poison Dart Frog Terrariums. There are many options to accomplish this. All of these methods could be considered a "false bottom".

Egg crate and PVC fittings - This is the oldest method around. Cut a piece of egg crate (the light diffusing stuff sold at hardware stores) to fit in the bottom of the tank. I have found that pruning sheers work for this. Then lift the egg crate off the bottom of the tank using PVC fittings.

Hydroton False Bottom - Poor enough balls in your tank to give you a 1"-3" drainage layer. To figure out how much hydroton you need, use this formula:

Inches deep / height of the tank (in inches) = hydroton ratio

hydroton ratio X number of gallons = Gallons of hydroton needed

Gallons of hydroton needed X 4 = Liters of hydroton needed

To hide the sight of the false bottom, you can use black silicon and paint the bottom few inches of the tank.

Substrate

There are tons of options for a substrate. They are:

ABG Mix - The ABG mix was developed at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and is the Lexus of terrarium substrates. It is long lasting, holds moisture, and drains well. An all-around great choice.

Coir and Orchid bark - This is the simple and cheap method. Mix equal parts.

Sphagnum moss - This type of substrate holds a lot of moisture and inhibits the growth of molds. On occasion, the dried the moss will come back to life. Most of the time, however, it just gets covered in algae and appears to be alive.

Peat Brick - These blocks are a great choice. They are unlike the peat you can buy locally as they are a solid brick that can be cut to fit in your terrarium.

Terrarium Plants

Some froggers almost love the plants more than the frogs. You can go simple or you can hand-pick expensive plants. The plants become your filtration for the frog waste that will develop in the ecosystem. Live plants are a must for Dart Frog Terrariums. Josh's Frogs offers tons of plants that do well in Dart Frog Terrariums. All our plants are selected to grow in terrariums.

Terrarium Lighting

Picking the right lighting for your terrarium can mean the difference between lousy looking plants and vibrant, colorful, and healthy plants in your terrarium. Your lighting options are many. Here is a quick rundown.

T-12 - These are your standard fluorescent lighting fixtures. These lights will provide enough light for most easy plants, but will not allow your bromeliads to color up and your other plants to bloom. It works, but isn't a good choice for a display tank.

T-8 - These fluorescent bulbs have a 80 lumens per watt. They are more efficient and produce more light than T-12s. A good investment if you are doing a rack of tanks as it not only produces more light to help your plants, but it costs less to run.

T-5 - These are the best terrarium lights available. They are bright, create less heat than the CFs, and put out 90 lumens per watt. Their small size produces tons of light with little energy use. These lights are efficient enough to be used in racks and bright enough to be the top choice for display terrariums.

Once you choose the Lights you would like, your next choice is picking the right frogs!

Breeding Poison Dart Frogs

One of the joys of keeping Poison Dart Frogs is breeding them. I have taken what I have learned from other froggers and read many books and articles to develop my methodology for breeding Poison Dart Frogs. I tweaked this method based on what I observed as I have bred thousands of frogs over the years. The following is my methodology.

Getting Frogs to Breed

Sometimes I think this is the hardest part of the whole process. It begins when you buy froglets. I recommend that you ask tons of questions when you are purchasing your froglets. You want to make sure that the frogs are healthy and that they were not weak frogs that were allowed to live. Buy frogs from reputable breeder. When buying frogs, keep in mind that most species of frogs do not produce a 1:1 ratio of males to females. The ratio can be as much as 1:8 with some species. And either sex can be the majority depending on the species of frogs. So, I recommend that people buy at least 5 froglets if they plan on breeding. After the frogs have matured and can be sexed, a pair can be separated and the others sold or traded. This is also a great investment as sexed adult frogs can be worth as much as double what you paid for them as froglets.

Once you have a pair of frogs, you must setup a tank that is conducive for breeding. This includes:

• Heavily planted tank - Frogs feel more secure in more cover and have less interruptions.

• High Humidity - I do not have any vents on most of my breeding tanks. I want humidity as high as possible in those tanks.

• Breeding spots - Note that it is plural. I find that frogs breed better when there are more options. They know the best places to lay eggs that lead to the best chance for healthy frogs. You don't want to force them to breed in a mediocre spot. Breeding spots for larger frogs is a cocohut over a Petri dish and for smaller frogs, a film canister is the best option.

The next step is for you to induce breeding. In the wild, some of these frogs are seasonal breeders. While frogs will usually breed right after a storm, it is also possible to "trick" the frogs into thinking the wet season has arrived. There are many theories out there on how to do this. I have found a method that works pretty well. What I do it mist the tank once every other day for two weeks and follow that with two weeks of misting twice a day. I will also not feed as much during the light misting and more heavily during the higher misting frequency.

The best indicator of breeding success is the health of froglets. Froglets that are strong and healthy will be better breeders. Therefore, it is important that you acquire healthy froglets and continue the regiment of supplementing the frogs.

What to do with eggs

Sooner or later you will get eggs. Usually you will get a couple of clutches of eggs that will go bad and mold over. This is normal. Bad eggs will swell up and get cloudy. In developing eggs you can actually see the tadpole develop in the egg. When I get eggs, I take a paper towel, wet it, and place it in the bottom of a 24 oz Ziploc container. I then take the Petri dish and place it on the paper towel (I do not put the top of the Petri dish on Petri dish). I then add enough RO water to just touch eggs. If the eggs are laid on a film canister, I scrap out the eggs and put them in a Petri dish and add water so it just touches the eggs. Finally, I put the Ziploc lid on and mark the top with species of frog egg.

Tadpoles

The tadpole will fill the egg and assume a C position. When the tadpole's tail is straight again, you know it has hatched. It is now time to take the tadpole out of the petri dish. I use a turkey baster to get the tadpoles out. I place the tadpoles individually in tadpole cups. I add 1"-3" of Reverse Osmosis water and a small piece of Java Moss. After a couple of days, I fill the cup up entirely. If you do not have a Reverse Osmosis System, I recommend that you use some of the water treatment products.

I feed my tadpoles a variety of tadpole foods. I feed once a week and I NEVER do water changes.

Once the tadpole sprouts front legs, I pour out all of the water, get rid of the java moss, and add an inch or so of Reverse Osmosis water back into the cup. I then use a dixie cup to prop up the cup. This creates a sloped area where the frogs can climb out. When I see a frog completely out of the water, I move the froglet into a froglet tub.

Froglets

Froglets get put into tubs in pairs. The tubs are a 190 oz container with sphagnum moss, some terrarium plants, and a film cannister. I seed all tubs with springtails so the froglets can have a variety of food. I feed all froglets every other day.

Poison Dart Frog Caresheet

About Poison Dart Frogs

Poison dart frogs are frogs of the Dendrobates group. These frogs are extremely poisonous in the wild, but loose much of their toxicity when kept in captivity due to the change in their diet. In the wild, the frogs eat ants that eat poisonous plants, while in captivity they don't get to eat these ants. These frogs range in adult size from 2 and half inches to some that never get bigger than your thumbnail! These frogs can enjoy a long life (there are reports of these frogs living for over 20 years in captivity). As long as a few things are kept in mind when you are planning the acquisition of your new pets, Poison Dart Frogs make great pets.

Housing

Poison Dart Frogs should be housed in what is called a Naturalistic Terrarium. A Naturalistic Terrarium is an aquarium that has been designed to create a tiny ecosystem. In this ecosystem, there are plants, soil, and a drainage layer to keep the soil from becoming completely saturated. This ecosystem creates a balance in which the animals waste is used by the plants. This balance creates an environment where the maintenance involves adding food for the frogs and cutting plants out as they grow. No removal of waste and/or tank cleaning is necessary!

The rule of thumb is that you should house one frog per five gallons of tank space. More space is always better than less space. Giving your frogs as much space as possible leads to healthier frogs, bolder frogs (you'll see them more in a bigger tank), and allows you more options when designing the terrarium.

Temperature and Humidity

Before you get frogs, you need a Temperature and Humidity Probe. This tool is a necessity. High temperatures and low humidity can kill a frog quickly. Your humidity should stay above 80% all the time and your temps should stay between 70 and 85 degrees. This is best accomplished in an all glass aquarium with a glass lid. Screen lids will be unable to maintain the correct humidity in the majority of setups. For the vast majority of setups, no heater will be needed as the lighting will create enough heat to keep the terrarium slightly above room temperature.

Feeding

Poison Dart Frogs eat fruit flies, springtails, rice flour beetles, phoenix worms, and other small bugs. Before you get your frogs, you need to start culturing their food items so you get the hang of it. There is nothing worse than not having enough food to feed your frogs. You will want to dust your bugs with a multi-vitamin and calcium supplement every other feeding.