# How do you Calcium Dust Fruit Flies?



## that Frog Guy (May 13, 2012)

I am wondering how you Calcium Dust Fruit Flies?

I mean I am used to doing it for my Bearded Dragons with big crickets buy shaking them in a bag of Calcium and dumping it into their Terrarium but Fruit Flies are almost Microscopic.

What is the Best way to go about doing it with Flies?


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## Pacblu202 (May 8, 2012)

The exact same way. I toss some dust in a container ( I use mason jars but lot of people use bags) and then shake it and boom


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## Darts15 (Jun 5, 2011)

Deli cups are also good. But yeah just put a good amount of calcium in the container and tap your flies in there and shake 'em around. Make sure not to add an exess of powder though becuae you don't want it all over your tank.


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## Finchfrogs15 (Apr 28, 2011)

yeah i just put a little scoop of powder in a solo cup, then tap out some ffs into the solo and then swirl them around and vuah-la


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## efroggies (Jul 13, 2012)

The great thing is that with the dust the flies do all run for the top edge of the cup. Figured that out after the first time feeding the frogs with the supplements.


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## dynekevin (May 24, 2011)

like the others said, i put a little powder in a cup. Tap some fruit flies into the cup. Shake it a bit.

Then i pore the flies onto a paper plate a blow them into the viv. They cover the tank lol!

I support hunting in my tanks =)


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

Remember not to re-use the dust, though. Once it mixes with the moisture on the flies and sits out in the air it changes and isn't worth reusing. On the flip side, the dust is only good for 6 months or so (if it's kept refrigerated, maybe less if not) so you won't use it all before it goes bad anyway.


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## purplezephead (Aug 26, 2011)

The key is tapping the flies out. I use a cup w/dust, hit the container holding the flies on a counter or table (causes them to fall down away from the lid) and quickly open the lid; hold the cup and the fly container at angles toward each other and tap the fly container against the edge of the cup (keeps flies from swarming all around and out the opening, while it shakes off their grasp and causes them to fall into the cup); once you have the amount you want quickly tap the fly container on the table again to get them to fall back down and put the lid on; then swirl them around in the cup to coat them in dust. I make sure that while I'm feeding I tap my fingers on the side of the cup to keep them from climbing up the edge. When feeding a tank I just tap out some flies, keeping an eye out that I'm not tapping dust into the tank, if I am then I hold the cup up right and let everything fall to the bottom of the cup then repeat.


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## Finchfrogs15 (Apr 28, 2011)

purplezephead said:


> The key is tapping the flies out. I use a cup w/dust, hit the container holding the flies on a counter or table (causes them to fall down away from the lid) and quickly open the lid; hold the cup and the fly container at angles toward each other and tap the fly container against the edge of the cup (keeps flies from swarming all around and out the opening, while it shakes off their grasp and causes them to fall into the cup); once you have the amount you want quickly tap the fly container on the table again to get them to fall back down and put the lid on; then swirl them around in the cup to coat them in dust. I make sure that while I'm feeding I tap my fingers on the side of the cup to keep them from climbing up the edge. When feeding a tank I just tap out some flies, keeping an eye out that I'm not tapping dust into the tank, if I am then I hold the cup up right and let everything fall to the bottom of the cup then repeat.


Perfect description right there, exactly what I do.


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## Shinosuke (Aug 10, 2011)

That's really close to what I do, too. The main difference is that after I coat the flies in a cup I pour them into a different cup, the "feeder" cup, and do my best to get no dust in the feeder cup.

I do that so that I don't have to worry about whether or not I'm getting dust into the tank during feeding. It's enough work feeding while keeping the frogs in the tank without having to keep an eye on whether the dust is getting everywhere, too.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

For a simpler method, go into the auto department or an auto parts store and get a new wide mouthed funnel (make sure it is much wider than the collection cup). Go home, wash and dry funnel and get out an empty collection cup. Place the funnel into the cup and see if the small end is too long for a tight fit. Make sure to keep it at least an inch off the bottom. I place the funnel and the cup in an empty sink in the kitchen, and dust the inside of the funnel making sure some falls into the bottom of the cup. Take fly culture and tap sharply to knock down the feeders and remove top of culture. If you are using the plastic culture containers hold the culture above the level of the media and squeeze the cup to prevent media from falling out and tilt the culture over the funnnel, and use other hand to tap the flies into the funnel from where they will fall into the collecting container. Replace lid, and if there are flies that escaped via gliding or jumping (or bad aim on the part of the tapper), quickly rinse them down into the drain. Repeat until all of the flies you need have been collected lift up container (with funnel still in it) and tap sharply to knock down any climbers and remove funnel and swirl to coat in dust. Run hot water for a minute or two (it has to be hot) as this will kill any escapees in the sink and drain. Feed out flies. 

Occasionally if you use too wet of a media mix or don't squeeze the cup, you can have the whole lump of media fall out. Don't panic. Simply tap down the collection cup, to coat the already collected flies and lift funnel and invert it back into culture cup, cover and wipe down with a paper towel and redust the funnel to feed out. 

If you don't have a lot of frogs to feed at one time, get a couple of the small culture tubes the flies are sold in by various suppliers (search fruit fly culture tube via your favorite search engine), and run the end of the funnel into that and sit the whole thing into a culture cup to provide stability in the sink). Then follow the instructions above. The funnel will need to be washed periodically or the dust will form little clumps enabling the flies to get a grip on the funnel (another reason for using the sink). 

Some comments

Ed


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