# How many cultures per frog?



## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

Just wondering how many cultures you all keep per frog. I am hoping to keep a healthy ratio for my 0.0.5 adults. Please chime in!

Noah


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

What kindsa frogs, what kindsa flies?


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## chinoanoah (Mar 9, 2009)

Auratus, and Melano FF


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Make like 2-3 a week, that way there's always some blooming (also depends on how much/often you feed)


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## Marinarawr (Jan 14, 2009)

I have 3 frogs and I only keep 1-2 cultures of melanogaster and 1 culture of hydei at a time. As it is a lot of the little buggers die off .

*EDIT* Those are how many I have producing. I've always got one "brewing" while the others get fed out. I also keep 2 small and 2 large cultures of springtails, and at least one culture of isopods.


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## ChrisK (Oct 28, 2008)

Yeah I think there's too much of a danger of a crash or the occasional culture not producing with only 1 or two going


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## qwertkb2d (Aug 14, 2007)

For five I'd recomment having 2 melanogaster and 1 heidi always ready, but maintain a spare culture or two of both in case of a crash. Start new cultures every 3 to 4 weeks and you should be fine as long as you monitor the bloom periods of your cultures. My cultures are slower in the winter cuz I keep em in the basement so I need to have more on hand.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

21 frogs

5 melos each wk
1 hydei each wk
1 rice flour beetle
1 bean beetle
3 large spring cultures

at all times

james

soon to get some isopods etc.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

Hi Noah

I think it would depend on if you have access to cultures in case of a crash. I do not have easy access, so I make more than I need.

2/week if access to cultures is easy.

4/week if access to cultures is a problem.


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## Terribillis (Sep 9, 2006)

james67 said:


> 21 frogs
> 
> 5 melos each wk
> 1 hydei each wk
> ...


where did you get your bean beetles? I have never heard of those cultures.


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## DCreptiles (Jan 26, 2009)

I got about 40 to 50 frogs I make about 5 cultures a week 4 Melos and 1 hydei. To feed all my adults and the the froglets I use 2 to 3 booming cultures per feeding I don't toss them out because they still produce more. If always kept a few going even when I had 5 frogs I just made 2 every 2 weeks ect... You have to calculate on average how well your culture produces vs how many times you feed your frogs and just hope it's enough. What ever you total add one or two more. Some cultures crash or don't produce or cat h nights or even a local frogged may be in need. Always good to have extra.


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## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

DCreptiles said:


> I got about 40 to 50 frogs I make about 5 cultures a week 4 Melos and 1 hydei. To feed all my adults and the the froglets I use 2 to 3 booming cultures per feeding I don't toss them out because they still produce more. If always kept a few going even when I had 5 frogs I just made 2 every 2 weeks ect... You have to calculate on average how well your culture produces vs how many times you feed your frogs and just hope it's enough. What ever you total add one or two more. Some cultures crash or don't produce or cat h nights or even a local frogged may be in need. Always good to have extra.


I'm a bit north of Derek's frogs count and quite a bit north of his culture count. Having just recovered from a fruitfly shortage since September (change in season, mold outbreak and MARS show) where I couldn't feed all my frogs on the same day, I would STRONGLY recommend making plenty more than you think...whether you need them or not. My ff production has returned and is now booming again; my spoiled and overfed frogs got an attitude adjustment during those lean months!
Scott


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## georgiekittie (Jan 27, 2009)

I have two tincs and I make one culture of melano every 7-10 days. That way there's always one brewing and 1-2 to feed. Also, I do have easy access to fruit flies and pinheads in case of a crash, so I don't worry about making any extra.


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## ggazonas (May 11, 2008)

I have about 160 frogs and i'm making around 20 cultures a week and increasing.

I make about

5 Hydei
6-8 turkish gliders
6-8 melanos

I usually also have 8-10 bean beetles cultures going.


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## ggazonas (May 11, 2008)

SMenigoz said:


> I'm a bit north of Derek's frogs count and quite a bit north of his culture count. Having just recovered from a fruitfly shortage since September (change in season, mold outbreak and MARS show) where I couldn't feed all my frogs on the same day, I would STRONGLY recommend making plenty more than you think...whether you need them or not. My ff production has returned and is now booming again; my spoiled and overfed frogs got an attitude adjustment during those lean months!
> Scott


Scott

I had a similar situation in June/July. I now make sure to make plenty of cultures regardless how well my current cultures are going sicne you never know when they just stop producing and die off.

Many of my spoiled frogs got a little annoyed at me when they didn't get fed on schedule. Its difinitly not good thing to have worry about.


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## myersboy6 (Aug 23, 2010)

So i am new to this also and plant to get my first 2 frogs here soon. How many cultures would you guys recommend for 2 frogs. I plan on getting a couple Auratus frogs if that helps. also are there ppl on here that i can buy a culture starter kit.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

myersboy6 said:


> So i am new to this also and plant to get my first 2 frogs here soon. How many cultures would you guys recommend for 2 frogs. I plan on getting a couple Auratus frogs if that helps. also are there ppl on here that i can buy a culture starter kit.


Hi Carter and welcome to the hobby.

Great first choice of frogs by the way.

First......locate either a pet store or some fellow hobbyists that have steady supplies of FF just in case you make errors in production.

then the fun / experimentation begins! All FF cultures are very different due to media compostion, time of year, geographic region - temperature and humidity...think how difficult it is to bake bread in Taos NM for instance.

Read up on all the different FF media recipes. There are a bunch on this forum and soon you will lock onto one. All ingrediants can be purchased ready made from a sponser - mail order or at a local show. I would advise against trying to make your own media until you get more proficient and knowledgable with culturing. It only takes some time, practice and confidence. Pretty easy when you get there and look back on it.

Back to your question. IMO, I would buy the starter culture - at least one, perhaps two and plan on making 2 cultures from that every 2 weeks. Easy to remember. 2, 2 and 2. I make all mine every sunday and try to keep to that exact day. The regularity helps, believe me.

Again....find the pet stores or local guys that have FF as well....just in case of emergency. Like Scott M said above....ya never know what can happen. I had a crash due to several factors and if wasn't for my buddies Matt (Melas) recently...and Scott M a while ago....I would have been in serious trouble.


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## jpstod (Sep 8, 2005)

I Have 1 Frog

8+ Cultures going any given time


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

jpstod said:


> I Have 1 Frog
> 
> 8+ Cultures going any given time


I'm sure thats more than you need but it is better to have more than not enough.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

I think one of the big mistakes folks make (and one I made regularly in the begining) is to not have a regular day of the week to make new cultures. Sometimes it can seem that you are overwhelmed with flies, so stop making new cultures. This always leads to future disasters.

I have a pretty large collection now, so I make-up 12 cultures every morning as I'm making my quadruple espresso (I love coffee almost as much as my frogs!). I really like to feed my frogs a lot and I am rewarded with great breeding from my "fat" frogs.

Good luck, Richard.


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## Ulisesfrb (Dec 8, 2008)

I have 10 frogs and I have 3 at the end of cycle and 3 about to hatch at all times. As soon as those hatch I make 3 new ones and keep the 3 end of cycle ones for a couple of more days. I also have 3 springtail cultures and 1 dwarf woodlice culture going at the same time.


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## jdooley195 (Oct 19, 2009)

im with frog freak....when i had 6 frogs i kept 2-4 on hand and made two about every other week, but i live close to LLL.


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## azure89 (Jan 5, 2009)

so I make-up 12 cultures every morning 



12 every morning  
how many frogs do you have?


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## Brien (Aug 27, 2009)

Noah just make as many as you can everyday.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

I know it sounds like a lot, but I have about 300 frogs now (including large numbers of froglets/juveniles that have to be fed twice a day), so it's not really that extreme. Tinctorius can eat a huge amount of food!

Richard.



azure89 said:


> so I make-up 12 cultures every morning
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## DougP (Feb 9, 2010)

I am a noob but I make one culture every Sunday afternoon. I have four galact sub-adults. I have a lot of extra flies but that's better than not having enough. When I make my new culture I throw the oldest one out and keep them for 4 weeks, so I always have four cultures on hand with 2 or 3 producing.

Doug


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

Woodsman said:


> Tinctorius can eat a huge amount of food!
> 
> Richard.


LOL

I still can't believe how much a 8 week old Tinc can pack away.


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## nburns (May 3, 2005)

My "conditions" are a lot closer to James'. I'd play it safe but if you find that you have tons of flies left over all the time I'd cut back a little. My experience tells me that if set up correctly culture failures aren't too common.


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## JimO (May 14, 2010)

I have four tincs and two auratus adults, plus four froglets. I also have 4 Imis and a pair of pumilio. I make two new cultures a week, which give me about four producing at any given time. I also have four springtail cultures that I use to keep the six vivs seeded and have ordered isopods and more springtails species. When the 10 tads I have morph out, I'm sure I'll go to three ff cultures a week.


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## Tony (Oct 13, 2008)

I have 20 darts and make 9-12 cultures at a time.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Regularity and a good schedule is key.

If you do not have a set "culture day" and stick to it.....at some point.....you're gonna be hosed and have to make some phone calls.

It's so easy to say....eh...I'm tired and don't feel like making the cultures. Then something comes up the next day and before you know it, your off track and the FF production, or lack thereof, will manifest itself at some point down that road.


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## Tony (Oct 13, 2008)

Philsuma said:


> Regularity and a good schedule is key.
> 
> If you do not have a set "culture day" and stick to it.....at some point.....you're gonna be hosed and have to make some phone calls.
> 
> It's so easy to say....eh...I'm tired and don't feel like making the cultures. Then something comes up the next day and before you know it, your off track and the FF production, or lack thereof, will manifest itself at some point down that road.


Yep, I have done it to myself a couple of times. Luckily I was able to shake enough out of my old cultures to get some fresh ones started, but it was tight for a week or two.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

yep....I go down to SoFl for a couple weeks and leave the GF in charge of EVERYTHING. She is decent about feeding - even dusting, so I cannot complain, but makin cultures......she's not up to that yet.

so

Long story short...I come home to 12 new pumilo froglets (no FF here...mainly springs) and @ 35 Tinc and Leuc froglets losing their tails ect.

Culture neglect for 2 weeks coupled with new froglets....

Emergency sitch e ation.......

Call the boyz.

and quick.


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## alex111683 (Sep 11, 2010)

I'm a week away from getting my first frogs, auratus, and I am about to start my fourth culture tonight. Does anyone on here sell bean beetles and are they able to ship them state lines? I live in Ca.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

No...BB are not legal to ship....you'll have to get them at local meets or reptile shows.


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