# How do you feed out your flies without getting powder all in your viv



## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

So in the viv I had them in there is calcium spots and stuff and I'm trying to avoid that with my nice Paludarium. 
Maybe I can use a petri dish or something? I'm sure they can crawl out of just about anything. 
I just don't wanna have calcium stains on plants and such. It's an eyesore. 

So how do you feed out your flies without getting powder everywhere?


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## Tzunu'un (Apr 15, 2014)

I use a petri dish to dump onto. Other container lids, etc. can be used.

You can also transfer the flies first to another container (to get rid of excess powder) before adding.


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## jarteta97 (Jun 13, 2014)

I know of at least one person who placed a small flat stone in their viv, between some mosses, on which to feed. Afterwards, said person just wiped the rock off with a damp paper towel. It looks natural and is quite effective.


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## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

Maybe try using less powder to dust your flies. They don't need to be ghost white with excess powder still in the cup. A little goes a long way. Plus, i've found that flies that aren't completely coated in powder tend to move around more before stopping to groom themselves.


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## Dendro Dynasty (Jul 11, 2013)

Small plastic condiment cup you might find at Carl's Jr or jack in the box to put ketchup in. I will grab a nice stack everytime I go in there. Neherp also sells them for about 0.08 I think


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Dendro Dynasty said:


> Small plastic condiment cup you might find at Carl's Jr or jack in the box to put ketchup in. I will grab a nice stack everytime I go in there. Neherp also sells them for about 0.08 I think


So I've they all crawl out just remove the cup eh?

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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

A little extra calcium in the vivarium is a VERY good thing. Your microfauna will thank you.

Just spray it off the leaves ect with your mister ect


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## Mavpa (Jan 5, 2015)

Philsuma said:


> A little extra calcium in the vivarium is a VERY good thing. Your microfauna will thank you.
> 
> Just spray it off the leaves ect with your mister ect


The big concern is keeping your supplements off the leaves of your plants. But yeah... anything on the bottom is just gonna get washed into the substrate and add to that.


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

Finesse!

After a while you get pretty good at shaking flies out of the cup but leaving most of the excess powder in the bottom of the cup. It's the ole' shuffle-bump-tap-shake. Sometimes If I have to dump all the cup contents I will pluck a big leaf of some large fast growing plant and place it on the viv floor, then dump the cup contents on it. My intention is to pull the leaf after feeding but I usually forget and just leave it. Calcium enriched leaf litter.


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## Kurokitt (Aug 24, 2015)

I've been having decent success by shaking my flies into a freezer bag with the supplement, shaking to coat, popping them in the fridge for a minute or two to slow them down a bit, then shaking out and pinching the bag corner if there's any excess powder. Dump into petri-dish, and serve. It's basically FF shake-n-bake.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

I just barely dusted them and it didn't leave any residue this time

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## Dendro Dynasty (Jul 11, 2013)

Just put a piece of banana in the condiment cup then pour flies in they won't want to leave the cup


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

DragonSpirit1185 said:


> I just barely dusted them and it didn't leave any residue this time
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII using tapatalk


don't skimp on the dusting. just spray the residue if it bothers you or until you get better at feeding out.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

Philsuma said:


> don't skimp on the dusting. just spray the residue if it bothers you or until you get better at feeding out.


they still looked to be coated sufficiently.

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## RRRavelo (Nov 21, 2007)

It's easy enough to put down a few large dry leaves like magnolia or grape and make a plate-like spot to drop your feeders. Just spray it off after feeding when you water your viv. Try and prune near the spot so you're not dropping them on live leaves and make a spot where you feed regularly. The frogs will soon gather there at dinner time. 
Excess powder is not going to hurt anything and will end up in your substrate which is fine.


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## chris00144 (Oct 17, 2012)

can't climb glass well especially if you shake the Bowl a little shake flys into glass bowl with powder first transfer to other glass bowl through strainer no powder wasted in cage and can flick anywhere in cage whole set up is like 4$ lol worked for years


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

chris00144 said:


> View attachment 193882
> can't climb glass well especially if you shake the Bowl a little shake flys into glass bowl with powder first transfer to other glass bowl through strainer no powder wasted in cage and can flick anywhere in cage whole set up is like 4$ lol worked for years


Send kinda wasteful though. Look at all that powder 

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## Holdway (Jan 26, 2015)

I tap the cup at a angle to get the flies to the top of the powder and then use a plastic spoon to get the flies out of the cup. It's very easy to put the flies exactly where you want them also.


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## chris00144 (Oct 17, 2012)

DragonSpirit1185 said:


> Send kinda wasteful though. Look at all that powder
> 
> Sent from my Samsung Galaxy SIII using tapatalk



Not much wasted i have about 8 tanks to feed so might seem like a lot at bottom but it's not I take w.e bowl empty and put it on top of the other keeps it fresh for a while too


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## chris00144 (Oct 17, 2012)

https://vimeo.com/141992863 quick video to judge my technique lol


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

chris00144 said:


> https://vimeo.com/141992863 quick video to judge my technique lol


That's a lot of powder though. Doesn't the calcium degrade rapidly while outside if the container?

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## SwampMan (Jun 26, 2015)

4 tanks I use petri dishes and one tank I use a broken piece of cork round. The cork round is overgrown and matted in by pilea, but I still dump there because that's where the e. Anthonyis wait (smart little frogs). The pilea isn't bothered by the dust, and the cork round is always clean by the next feeding.


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## DragonSpirit1185 (Dec 6, 2010)

I've just been watching my dusting and so far it's working out well. 
I dump on the leaf litter


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## Drewbacca (Apr 5, 2014)

I like to feed my frogs FF's using an elongated container. I just add the powder, then the flies, and then I tilt the container just enough until the flies walk towards the edge. When they reach the edge, I then just gently tap the container with my finger to knock the flies down inside of the vivarium. They are so dumb, that they'll even jump off of the edge into the vivarium. I never have an issue with unsightly amounts of additional powder on the plants. However, as Philsuma had stated, the microfauna do appreciate the extra calcium that sometimes gets knocked into the viv. Please see the attached photo.
Take care,
-Drew


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