# Easy to make fruit-fly incubator.



## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

This is so easy to set-up and very effective in keeping ff cultures warm.

I use a plastic clear sterilite type container with a lid. Make sure you use a shallow one. (4 inches tall or so). I fill it with water about 2/3 full. I then add a submersible heater set at about 78F. I then put on the lid, and use the top of the container to set my ff cultures on. It keeps the ff cultures in my 66F basement at 74-76F. Also allows them to vent to the outside air, so they don't get too wet for the ff's inside. I keep my 20 cultures on a shallow 41 quart container. It would allow me a total of 22+ containers I think. As long as the containers are touching the top of the lid of heated water filled sterlite container, they stay at a steady temp. If your ff room is colder, just turn up the submersible heater. I have a reptile point and shoot temp gun, so can tell at a glance what the temps are. 

I have a neighbor that almost gave up on keeping dart frogs because of temp problems (to cold) with her ff cultures. Her house is kept at 60F. She could keep her frogs warm enough, but not her ff's. I gave her a 3.5 gallon sterilite container w/ 25 watt submersible heater. She filled the container with water and set the heater at 78F. It is big enough to set 3-4 ff cultures on top the lid. Enough to supply her 2 dart frogs with food.

Another reason I think this works is because it is wet heat vs (light bulb) dry heat. A light bulb used for heat quickly dries out the ff medium. This does not require any air circulation either. Just contact with the bottom of each ff culture. Simple but works well for me.

Thought I would share a way to keep your ff cultures going in this cold weather.

Marc


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## Omead (Mar 21, 2009)

I'm going to try this out this weekend. Thanks Marc!


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## crw.dft (Oct 14, 2008)

Great idea! My cultures are really slow to produce right now because of the cold so I just put them on the lights of the tank. Looks tacky, but it got them going! I might have to do something like this in the stand the tank is on if I can find any room.


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## siples (Aug 14, 2004)

I have tried this method before, the only problem I had was cold spots in the water. I had thought about using a small powerhead set on low to keep the temperature stable throughout the whole container.
Kieth


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## dendroderek (Dec 3, 2009)

A little pump and a 6" airstone would be cheaper and probably just as effective. This is just speculation though. I would think this would also help keep the water from getting stagnent.

Derek


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Nice thread with some good ideas gentlemen. You could also use a small submersible water pump to circulate the water. 

Another way that I've done this is with large heating pads made for heated pet beds. In fact this was the basis for a heating cabinet I put together some time ago. 

Temp control, for frogs and feeders, is one of the first hurdles in this hobby.


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Hi,

just to clarify. I like to keep things simple. It is called the kiss principle. (keep it simple stupid). A teacher taught this to my class in 7th grade. The less moving parts something has, the easier it is to maintain. 

This idea came to me after setting up a similar incubator for my tadpoles. I keep my darts in the basement. Temps are always coolish, but constant (66F in winter to 70F summer. I can keep my dart frogs warm enough, but not my fruitflies. 

I set this up after realizing I could not maintain my ff's at a warm enough temp. I do not use any pump to help mix the water from the heater. The water is pretty evenly heated without movement. Hot air rises, so the warm air collects in the upper 1/3 of the incubator. The temps range on one side 80F to the other side of 81F. So no real issue with cold spots. The container is set on the floor on top of a couple of pieces of cardboard for insulation. The medium of each of the ff cultures sitting on top of the incubator, temp guns out at 74-76F. Which for me is perfect for my producing ff's. This has been set up for almost 2 years. No smells and no stagnant water. I have only had to add about a quart of water to it one time, about 3 months ago. 

It is just a simple, cheap way for me to keep producing ff cultures in a coolish basement. My neighbor has been using her setup for about 2 months now and is having excellent results also. Only issue I have with it is, it can slosh water over the sides if moved, as it gaps from the lid due to the force of the water sloshing around in it.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

Sounds like a great idea Marc. Could you post a pic?


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## waterbed fred (Jan 10, 2010)

that's a great idea! too bad i live in Vegas and will never get the chance to use it. thanks.


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## Sharkdude (Nov 9, 2009)

no need to immerse the cultures in the heated water?
maybe cut out holes in the plastic tub lid to set the deli cups through to contact the water?


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Sharkdude said:


> no need to immerse the cultures in the heated water?
> maybe cut out holes in the plastic tub lid to set the deli cups through to contact the water?


No need to put the ff cultures into the water. 

Just put the lid on the top of water filled sterilite container and set the cultures on top of lid. The ff cultures will stay warm just from the contact with the lid. Just remember...heat rises. Anything on top will be in contact with the rising heat. The lid itself will be warm (mine is 80F) and the ff cultures in contact with the lid will conduct the heat into each one of them. 

Your way would work, but why have a wet bottom, drippy cultures to deal with when feeding the frogs? This way, keeps them dry. Just pick them up off the top of the lid, dust the ff's in your culture cup and feed.

I will post a picture within a couple of days.


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

I just went over to my neighbors and heat gunned her ff incubator setup. It showed 84F in the middle and 77F on the side. That is weird I thought, so opened it up. I found out she had attached the included plastic strip with suction cups to the heater. (The piece that you snap the heater into that has suction cups, so it will suck to the wall of the aquarium). I never use these. 

Well, her using this allowed the heater to float. The suction cups don't suck to plastic at all (and eventually let go of glass too). I removed it and the heater sunk to the bottom where it should be. That should even out the temps and allow the heat to dissipate through out the water instead of "pooling" in the middle at the top.


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## davecalk (Dec 17, 2008)

Not meaning to hijack the tread (this is a cool idea), but another option for heating your cultures without having to actually use a heater is to store your cultures on the top of the refrigerator. The heat that the refrigerator removes from the inside of the box gets kicked out to the rear, rises along the back and forms a nice warm pocket at the top. 

The thermostat in my home is set at 60 degrees during the winter as a cost savings measure and keeping my frog pantry on the top of the refrigerator has a ton of advantages. Putting them up there keeps them warm by making use of the excess heat that is being produced in my home, thus I don't have to pay for or use any extra energy. The frog pantry is close at hand to where I make up my cultures, the kitchen, they are up and out of the way, and they are not taking up any valuable storage space in the kitchen or the house. 

Here's what mine looks like.











Dave


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## Sharkdude (Nov 9, 2009)

I just set one up Marc with an old small aqaurium heater and a plastic container with snap lid that holds 6 deli cup FF cultures inside. Kind of figured the FF cultures would float, but the lid holds them down. These are newly innoculated cultures, so I'll let them 'cook' for a few weeks. I only filled the plastic container halfway with water, but more than enough to submerge the heater. The lid does not feel too warm yet, but the water is a solid 78 degrees. I had to notch the top rim of the container to allow the cord from the heater to pass through and allow the lid to snap shut. Maybe the mositure will also help the cultures from drying out too.

I had an idea for a modification or your idea too. Just use a taller / larger plastic container and build a false bottom out of eggcrate. This way the deli cups are out of the heated water reservoir underneath but still in the humid plastic container ?


Nice try Dave, but no way my wife is allowing me to place fruit flies anywere near human food!


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Sharkdude,

I don't actually put my cultures inside the water filled container. I close the lid and put them on top of this container. The water filled container acts as a heating unit. The cultures sit on top of the entire unit. Not inside down in the water. Perhaps you were modifying my idea and I would be curious of your results, though I think this would make the cultures to humid and kill the emerging fruitflies. I will try to get a picture posted, as that is the best way to explain this.


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## Sharkdude (Nov 9, 2009)

do you have to fill the container full to get it to heat the lid?


I did not consider that too much humidity would be a problem for the cultures.


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Sharkdude,

I fill the water filled container 1/2 to 2/3 full of water. The heat collects in the top "airspace" between the water and the lid inside the container. 

As far as humidity killing the fruit flies. Here in Portland, your setup would, especially with no air circulation inside your container. We get a fair amount of rain 9 months of the year and it is almost always moist here. If this was the desert and dry maybe the way you setup the ff containers would work. Different climates could require different setups I would think.

Pictures have been taken of my setup. I will get them posted within the next couple of days

Take care and good luck.

Marc

.


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

I will add a couple more comments about this setup. What I like about it is, you have almost complete temp control. With a submersible heater you can set the temp to what works for you. I find I like my cultures to start producing around day 11 or 12. I find the temp for that is around 74F. For me to achieve that temp requires the water inside the container to be set at 78F. The cultures are cooler than the heated container water as the cooler room temp "bleeds" off heat. 

Also another note. My basement stays at 66-70F winter to 70-71F summer. This means I need to use this set up year round. Now if during the summer your house heats up to 80+F all summer you would not need to use this and it might cause problems with your ff cultures if used during the summer. So in that case you would only want to use this during the winter.

The other problem with heating something, is the possibility of fire. Using a light bulb to heat if someone is not careful, could cause a fire. Say if the lightbulb touches the plastic ff containers. In this case if the heater fails, no issues with fire. So I like the safety of this idea.

I feel the biggest headache and maybe the main reason people get out of the dart frog hobby, is failure to master raising this most important food source. (I know there are others food sources, but this tends to be the main staple for most of us). This was a source of frustration until I figured out this system.

Marc


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## Sharkdude (Nov 9, 2009)

you were right on Marc. one night of testing, even with the lid slighlty open, produced way too much humidity and the lids of the ff deli cups are soaked.

have them out on a desk top drying out now.

I'll try filling my water container fuller and placing the cultures on top.



> I feel the biggest headache and maybe the main reason people get out of the dart frog hobby, is failure to master raising this most important food source. (I know there are others food sources, but this tends to be the main staple for most of us). This was a source of frustration until I figured out this system.


I agree. For something that seems so simple and starightforward, I am having difficulty getting consistent and steady production of FF's


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Here is my fruit fly incubator, both open to show the submersible heater, and then closed with my cultures on top. Note, since it is in the basement and the floor is concrete I have insulated it from the concrete by placing Styrofoam under it.

I will add with this small amount of water you can use a 25 watt heater. For heating an aquarium, you usually want 5 watts per gallon of water. I think this is a 75 watt heater so it is over kill. It is what I had at the time. I could of added more water if I wanted, but for me with this big of a incubator, adding more water would of made it to heavy to move around. So in short, fill it up close to the top if you like, but be aware it will slosh over the sides if moved. Also the heater has to be covered entirely with water, or it will overheat and crack the glass tube of the heater.

Good luck all.


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## Marc (Feb 3, 2008)

Still using this set up and having great results. I am now feeding over 150 frogs now!


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