# Fatten frogs and travel



## Guest (Dec 10, 2004)

First I want to thank Randy of Fruit Fly Specialties for the idea of feeding fly larval out of these cups.

I was thinking about how I was going to feed my frogs when I leave for a trip. After using mason jars with a mesh lid for previous trips and seeing Randy's cup I combined the two ideas. Here are a few pics:








This is just the normal cup. I use it to make a small fly culture and cut a hole in the lid to add a foam plug.
















After about 10 days larva are crawling all over, and trying to climb through the foam. I remove the foam plug and snap a mesh into the lid.
This allows fly and larva to crawl out, and stops the frogs from getting into the media. 








Because I have a mister, I set the cup on it's side and place a cocohut over the hole thing. I have larval crawling out and onto the coco hut so fast even my azureus pair can't keep up. I think this will be the first time I leave on a trip and the frogs gain weight, lol


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## Jordan B (Oct 8, 2004)

That's a great idea! How do you make the mesh top? How else do you guys take care of your frogs while on vacation? Thanks,
Jordan


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## geckguy (Mar 8, 2004)

I would trace the shape of the lid on the mesh, and use a good pair of scissors to cut it out.


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## Michelle (Sep 13, 2004)

WOW good idea! I was thinking about how I was going to feed them wile I was away for a few days for Christmas too!! this will work great......
thanks
Michelle


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## Guest (Dec 10, 2004)

But if u put it on the side wont media leak out?


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## Guest (Dec 11, 2004)

For the mesh I traced the inside dia. of the cup itself. This size snaps right into the lid. Because the lid in still on and only has a whole in the center, the media won't spill out of the cup.
As for the foam plugs, I am using the one's from Ed's and cut them in half.


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## Randy (Mar 18, 2004)

Look good, Ben! I'm going to have to whip up a couple dozen of those cultures myself in the next week or so.


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Very cool!


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2004)

WOW !!!
I am going to set a few of them up and see how my frogs like them.It will beat trying to dig out tiny waxworms for my thumbnails.
Mark W.


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## RSines (Feb 15, 2004)

Ben,

Where did you get the mesh or what do you make it out of? Very cool idea, I plan to borrow it  

-Richard


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## Guest (Dec 23, 2004)

I made one and have it producing larve.I put it in with my bicolors and one of the females seems to sit by it and wait them out.
Since yesterday(when I put it in) she has fed quite alot judging from her fat belly :wink: 
Richard, What it is is plastic canvas. you can find it at stores that specialize in crafts like Micheal's, Hobby Lobby,etc.There are different sizes so you will want #7.
Mark W


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## Arklier (Mar 1, 2004)

tuthelimit said:


> Ben,
> 
> Where did you get the mesh or what do you make it out of? Very cool idea, I plan to borrow it
> 
> -Richard


It's called Plastic Canvas and is made for needlepoint. I use it in my FF cultures in place of excelsior. It can be washed and reused over and over again (though I'd recommend throwing it away if the culture develops mold). Nice thing about it is that it's cheap. You can buy it at Michael's or other craft stores for about $0.30 a sheet. The sheets are 10 1/2" by 13 1/2", so you can cut enough for a half a dozen cultures out of one sheet. It comes in many different counts (number of little square holes per inch) and sizes, but I'd recommend just getting the cheapest. The flies don't seem to care much. Here's a pic:


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2005)

Just wanted to add that these cultures worked great for my trip.
Everyone was fat and healthy, and most even laid new clutches.


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## SLEDDER23 (Mar 17, 2005)

Summer is almost here, and it's vacation time! I found this pretty to be pretty helpful and thought others might as well, so: Bump.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

I really miss having Ben Green contributing here. He is one of the good ones.

s


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Scott said:


> I really miss having Ben Green contributing here. He is one of the good ones.
> 
> s


Yep, me too...


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## Dendro Dude (Jun 15, 2008)

bump :wink:


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Remember, he got married. 8) Since then, I haven't heard from him.


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## tItAnIuMhOpPeR (Jun 14, 2008)

Dendro Dude said:


> bump :wink:


I just noticed that this got bumped two years after the last post. To the day. That is all, back to the frogs.


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## rulzunivrs (Nov 15, 2014)

I'm going on a little trip and was searching the threads for just this idea. However this thread is so old the pics don't work. Does anyone have an updated version or could post something?


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## Alan (Jan 12, 2005)

rulzunivrs said:


> I'm going on a little trip and was searching the threads for just this idea. However this thread is so old the pics don't work. Does anyone have an updated version or could post something?



Just make vacation cultures in advance - timed to produce while you are away.


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## rulzunivrs (Nov 15, 2014)

thanks Alan. Do you just remove the top or punch some holes in it when you're ready to use?


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## Alan (Jan 12, 2005)

rulzunivrs said:


> thanks Alan. Do you just remove the top or punch some holes in it when you're ready to use?



I punch a hole in the smaller vials - and have drilled holes in the caps of the larger cups.

A moist viv (obviously there is a span of degrees here) will soak coffee filter caps after a few days. So I adjust my approach based on how I keep my vivs.

Also - I don't want frogs getting into mischief trying to get into a vial/cup chasing flies.


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## Alan (Jan 12, 2005)

Alan said:


> I punch a hole in the smaller vials - and have drilled holes in the caps of the larger cups.
> 
> A moist viv (obviously there is a span of degrees here) will soak coffee filter caps after a few days. So I adjust my approach based on how I keep my vivs.
> 
> Also - I don't want frogs getting into mischief trying to get into a vial/cup chasing flies.



ETA: I store developing cultures with vented (coffee filter) caps. I change the large cups to plastic lids (with a hole) when they go in the viv.


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## ResidentAlien (1 mo ago)

Sorry to revive a necro thread ... but does anyone still have a copy of the photos on this idea or any examples of what something like this looks like?


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