# Fruit in viv for flies



## AFHokie03 (Mar 9, 2007)

I've read many posts about keeping a small piece of fruit in the viv to round up the ffs. I have a small piece of strawberry in mine to help out my froglets. Are there any potential health problems with doing this? Of course I will change out the fruit and not let it rot in there. I want to make sure that the fruit won't pose any problems to the frogs.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

No problems


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## AFHokie03 (Mar 9, 2007)

Thanks Phil


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## afterdark (Jan 16, 2007)

Yep - I would think just about any kind of fruit would be fine. If it molds - the springs will eat it. I say go nuts!


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

I put a piece of bannana in a water bottle cap.
In a matter of minutes the fly`s come out of no where.
I just leave it in there until it turns to mush and is crawling with maggots.
The frogs take it from there.

John


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## FuzzyTB (Apr 3, 2008)

The only concern would be if you added mixed fly types, wingless and flightless. They could breed on the fruit and you likely open the viv and be greeted to flying friends.


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## laylow (Apr 6, 2009)

I actually heard about putting fruit in the tanks awhile before I bought my first pair of frogs. It talks about it in the dart frog book written by the guys from AZDR.com Great book and they recommend it!!


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## AFHokie03 (Mar 9, 2007)

So far the fruit seems to be doing its job. Not attracting flies, that's a given, but helping the frogs eat. I know for sure one of the froglets is eating, I see him all the time gobbling down flies. The other two I've only seen attempt at flies but no confirmed kills. I've had them for 5 days now. If they were not eating would they be withering away by now? They are still pretty shy so I get paranoid they are not eating, but most of the time I'm not watching them.


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

AFHokie03 said:


> So far the fruit seems to be doing its job. Not attracting flies, that's a given, but helping the frogs eat. I know for sure one of the froglets is eating, I see him all the time gobbling down flies. The other two I've only seen attempt at flies but no confirmed kills. I've had them for 5 days now. If they were not eating would they be withering away by now? They are still pretty shy so I get paranoid they are not eating, but most of the time I'm not watching them.


Fear not-
When those Luecs. grow up They will eat anything that moves in that tank.

John


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## atlfrog (Dec 31, 2006)

I do this with a piece of banana. I haven't seen any issues other than when I forget to take it out, luckily that was only once.  Long term affects I don't know, I would assume, in my opinion of course, that it would break down like most plant matter and become part of your substrate.


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## Mworks (Mar 23, 2008)

I regularly put a couple of small pieces of banana in, partially hidden and it works a treat. The terribs soon sus out exactly where to go for flies and it keeps the escapee flies to a minimun. I also just leave the pieces in and they soon have FF larvae crawling over them which the frogs eat with relish!

Regards
Marcus


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## Tuckinrim8 (Jul 26, 2007)

As froglets this is perfectly ok, especially in the size viv you got those guys in (tank looks awesome by the way). Feeding stations in my opinion, are ok when the frogs are young, as you are wanting them to put on good weight as they mature. However when adults I would do it much less because it is good for the frogs to hunt and forrage about the tank. Constantly keeping feeding stations with adults frogs in my experience creates lazy, overweight frogs..


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## JLHayes13 (Feb 21, 2009)

White mushrooms from the grocery store work too; especially if you have springtails in the viv as well. I have had my Leuc in a 10 gallon for about 2 months or so. I seeded with springtails and so I put mushrooms in about once every week or so. The mushrooms will begin to crawl with ff, ff larvae, springtails, and springtail eggs. I actually notice more ffs on the mushrooms than the small pieces of banana I put in there. The bananas also break down and feed the springs. I haven't added any food from the outside for about a month now; it has become an almost fully self sustaining environment.


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## atlfrog (Dec 31, 2006)

JLHayes13 said:


> White mushrooms from the grocery store work too; especially if you have springtails in the viv as well. I have had my Leuc in a 10 gallon for about 2 months or so. I seeded with springtails and so I put mushrooms in about once every week or so. The mushrooms will begin to crawl with ff, ff larvae, springtails, and springtail eggs. I actually notice more ffs on the mushrooms than the small pieces of banana I put in there. The bananas also break down and feed the springs. I haven't added any food from the outside for about a month now; it has become an almost fully self sustaining environment.


I will try this out. I will get back to you on this.  I like the words, "self sustaining". All my tanks are pretty much that, except in food and cleaning the glass.


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## DCreptiles (Jan 26, 2009)

a feeding station is pretty popular practice among expierenced keepers and breeders especially to make catching flys easier for the froglets. i havnt tried it yet but i think about it all the time. i think im going to try a piece of banana in a pringals lid.


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## kamazza (Sep 2, 2008)

Im going to have to do this with one of my citronella froglets. I separated it from the other healthy one but it is still very thin despite daily feedings and a springtail-seeded container. Im not sure what else to do so I guess Ill try this.


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## atlfrog (Dec 31, 2006)

kamazza said:


> Im going to have to do this with one of my citronella froglets. I separated it from the other healthy one but it is still very thin despite daily feedings and a springtail-seeded container. Im not sure what else to do so I guess Ill try this.


Yeah Derek! I see tanks and hear people talking about feeding stations all the time. I decided awhile back, at least a year or two ago to start. You do run the risk of fliers in your tank but more food the better, as long as they don't infest the house. LOL

Termites will help fatten up your frogs and give a healthy weight to them if the termites are not used inappropriately. Look around the forum and research how to use termites as there as some rules and things to follow. It also depends on the frog as well.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Tuckinrim8 said:


> As froglets this is perfectly ok, especially in the size viv you got those guys in (tank looks awesome by the way). Feeding stations in my opinion, are ok when the frogs are young, as you are wanting them to put on good weight as they mature. However when adults I would do it much less because it is good for the frogs to hunt and forrage about the tank. Constantly keeping feeding stations with adults frogs in my experience creates lazy, overweight frogs..


Only if you overfeed.. if you don't overfeed the frogs will get the flies off the feeding station and then still forage.... 

Ed


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## jelly_shrimp (Apr 17, 2009)

Well, there's fruit in the wild, and frogs do well with that, so why not?


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## jelly_shrimp (Apr 17, 2009)

Tuckinrim8 said:


> As froglets this is perfectly ok, especially in the size viv you got those guys in (tank looks awesome by the way). Feeding stations in my opinion, are ok when the frogs are young, as you are wanting them to put on good weight as they mature. However when adults I would do it much less because it is good for the frogs to hunt and forrage about the tank. Constantly keeping feeding stations with adults frogs in my experience creates lazy, overweight frogs..


I also agree 100% with that, but it would be a good trick to see if there's to many flies in the tank, or almost none at all, a goo portioning trick! Also, you could do feeding stations, but move them every now and then, and only use one, then it will still require them to move around. Or you could just get them used to feeding in front of the glass, (ploppin em in through the top, and watch em go OM NOM NOM on the FFS till they're full)!


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## JLHayes13 (Feb 21, 2009)

Well most darts will move to the front of the tank when someone stands there because they know it is time to eat. 

In my experience, for some reason the flies aren't that smart and for some reason a lot of them do not swarm the feeding station. Only about 40% of the flies that I put in the viv actually sit on the feeding station. The rest wander about in search of who knows what. Even with my most active frogs there are always flies left for a couple of days and they are always foraging for flies around the tank. Also, I will observe the amount of flies left and adjust the feeding from every day to every other or every two days if there are a lot of flies left about the tank and allow them to forage more. 

I like to have my darts fat just in case my ff cultures crash for some reason; then I have a couple of days to get new ones although I have just recently gotten the hang of producing efficiently. Luckily Jl-exotics is about 5 mins from my house and Jeremy usually has good cultures for $10 which has been a life saver in the past when I was still getting the hang of culturing.


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