# dusting flies



## SNAKEMANVET (Dec 14, 2011)

I have ordered the repashy calcium plus, super pig and supervite.My question is how often do you dust the flies.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

I dust the flies every time I feed.


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## SNAKEMANVET (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks Gnarly,That is more than what I thought it would be.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

No problem. 

If you watch carefully when you feed the fruit flies will clean the powder off of themselves pretty quickly after I shake them into the tank, so I wonder how much of the supplement a frog really gets when they get around to eating all their flies.


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

according to Ed, it takes 12 hours for the flies to fully clean themselves off.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

goof901 said:


> according to Ed, it takes 12 hours for the flies to fully clean themselves off.


Very interesting. Thanks for the info!


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## dfrmav (Feb 22, 2011)

Just as a technique for dusting, what I do is I have an empty fruit fly culture cup next to my actual fly cultures, and inside of it is a tiny bit of the dusting media. I pop open my actual fly cultures, squeeze the rim so it goes into an oval, and tap the flies out of my culture into the cup with the dust. When I'm done, I swirl the flies around in the dusting cup, and then I take an empty great stuff lid and tap the flies from the dusting cup into the lid. This prevents me from dumping the extra dust into the frog tanks. Not only is it a waste, but I think it looks dumb to see the dust on the leaf litter and/or plants. Inevitably, some gets in there, but I try to minimize it.


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## SNAKEMANVET (Dec 14, 2011)

Thanks guys,do you ever reuse any dust that is left after dumping the flies.or just toss it.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

I just toss the excess. From what I understand the potency of the supplement is greatly reduced once it hits the air. 
It has a short shelf life any way and I never make it all the way through the container before its tone to replace them, so I don't see the need in reusing leftovers.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Gnarly said:


> I just toss the excess. From what I understand the potency of the supplement is greatly reduced once it hits the air.
> It has a short shelf life any way and I never make it all the way through the container before its tone to replace them, so I don't see the need in reusing leftovers.


 
It also has issues with the moisture from the flies as that will increase oxidation. I should also point out that the moisture and what sticks to the flies alters the particle size of the dust which means further dusting with the preused material can alter the proportions of what sticks to the flies. 

Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

goof901 said:


> according to Ed, it takes 12 hours for the flies to fully clean themselves off.


Actually not according to me... According to Dr. Susan Donoghue who is a specialist in herp nutrition (see the Chapters on Nutrition in both editions of Reptile Medicine and Surgery). 

Ed


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## goof901 (Jan 9, 2012)

oh well i read it from your post so according to Ed according to Dr. Susan Donoghue


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