# Very serious mistake, need assistance



## Kimberly (Mar 13, 2014)

Ok heres the deal I'm typing fast because I'm worried... I was making fly cultures and I had my new ones made up and ready to put some flies in, but I wasn't sure how to get some in there without some escaping. so brilliant kim (very much sarcasm) decided to do it inside the frogs cage in case some got out, he would just eat them when he liked. I HIGHLY underestimated the speed and sheer number of those dang things, and after I had my cultures in (they were escaping out of that one too, it was awful) they were practically FLOWING out of my original culture container, and I didn't even open it the full way! just a little corner to dump some in the other containers!! I did my best to knock them off back into their cup and shut it fast, but when I looked, there has to be at LEAST 200 flies in my poor frogs cage! I don't want to stress him out! I'm freaking out... at least 70 escaped because I haven't replaced my plexiglass top yet and they were getting out of the slightly curled corners, but theres still so many flies.. my frog is running around eating them, and on top of stress I don't want him to over eat! when they crawl up on his toes he flicks them off, and again, the stress factor is making MY stress factor sky rocket... long story short HELP!!! -.-


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Put some fruit in there and the flies will go to it. Banana works well. Maybe also a small container of water. They will drown themselves in it.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

What Kris said (good to see you online Kris) and you may want to make a ff trap outside of the tank for the 70+ escapees.Take a small jar with apple cider vinegar and water with a drop or 2 of dish soap.They will be attracted to the vinegar and the soap will break the water tension between the fly and the vinegar.They will sink like a rock.


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## Kimberly (Mar 13, 2014)

is there nothing the flies cant crawl out of? they can climb glass and plastic for sure, but how in the world do all of you do it? do you lose flies too, or do you have a special way of moving them to another container? on top of putting the water cup in there, I vacuumed up the ones off the glass, the lid, and the tips of plants to help the process.... I hope that's okay... I also sucked up the escapees, since none of them seem to fly they were all still sitting on the lid and sides of the tank on the outside.


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## JPccusa (Mar 10, 2009)

Look at some Youtube videos and practice. 
It is important to slam the culture cups on the counter before opening the lids so the flies fall to the bottom and take longer to reach the top. That gives you more time to work. Keep slamming the cups every time they are close to the top, or simply tilt the cup at a 45 degree angle and constantly tap the sides of the cup... flies will roll out in a somewhat orderly manner. The first few times are scary (hundreds of flies rushing up really fast) but you will get better at it. 
You will have some escapees, specially with the flightless flies. Wingless are easier to deal with, just not as prolific. 
Like Lou said, keep traps outside your vivs to attract and kill escapees.
Last tip, go to PepBoys or Autozone and get a wide funnel, the kind used to do oil changes, etc. Every time you need to move flies out of their cultures (feeding, seeding new cultures, etc.) use that. Sprinkling vitamins on the funnel prevents flies from holding on to the plastic, so they just fall right through it.


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## Gnarly (Mar 3, 2011)

Tap the culture a few times to knock the flies off the sides and top of the container, you will have a lot less escapees.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

First off, if he is still eating them, he's probably not too stressed yet. If you feel he's stressing and you can't control the problem fast enough, you can just pull him for a while, and deal with the problem. If you don't have a holding tank http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/63743-temporary-frog-storage-home.html, you can just put him in a clean fruit fly cup with some sphagnum or a damp, unbleached paper towel. In a jamb, you are looking at a tank full of moist material. Scoop some substrate or moss out of your tank for the deli container. You just need something to keep it moist and humid in his cup.

Now if you just need to get them out of the viv, and worry about capture later, simply take off the top and put/hold a bright light over the viv. Fruit flies like to climb towards the light. You can clear out hundreds in a minute or two. 
Walla! Plop your frog back in his stress free home and start figuring out how you will deal with YOUR stress. I think you'll find that spastically twitching your toes is not going to be enough. Sooner or later you'll have to start thrashing whole limbs about.  
(That one was just for you Kris! It's good to see you.)


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

You'll get the hang of it.I tap the lid a couple of times before I open the lid,this will send the flies to the bottom.Then I have another ff cup with the supplements already in it set aside and waiting.After you open the ff cup the will bolt to the top, tap the ff cup into the feeder cup so the flies have no choice but to fall into the cup because of the vibration.Then lift the ff cup to it's normal upright position and tap it against the wall or tank to drop the ffs to the bottom of the cup and cover,while at the same time swirling the feeder ff cup to get the ffs coated with supplements.This will ground them so to say.They will be too busy trying to clean themselves and can't walk up the cup when they are coated.Repeat as necessary. I hope this helps.


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## Kimberly (Mar 13, 2014)

Thank you so much everyone, I appreciate the speedy responses and great help! flailing my arms was much more effective than pulling my hair out, or the impending heart attack, so a special thanks to you, Doug!


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## EverettC (Mar 9, 2004)

Beer is a great way to capture escaped FFs. Put a glass out in your frog room with a little bit of (fragrant) beer in the bottom and they'll drown in it.


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## Dlanigan (Nov 13, 2013)

You will get the hang of it. Don't worry. The first time I opened a booming culture I'm pretty sure I said "oh @&$" out loud. After a few months it becomes second nature. I like to use a larger cup as the transfer cup with powder in it to give me more time before they crawl out. I first tried with a smaller deli cup and it virtually impossible to do easily.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk


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## Jeremy M (Oct 19, 2012)

I'm sure that not everyone will want to replicate my methods, but I find that introducing web-building spiders into my house to be an extremely efficient and much less messy method of capturing FF escapees. They like to build their webs behind bookcases, shelves etc, as well as in the top corners of walls, ceilings and windows. It's ridiculous how many flies will be caught by the web, and on species that build webs where the individual strands are separate (the best fly-hunters usually don't build these webs; they'll make either black widow-style or grass spider-style webs) you can clearly see the strands of webs from all the FF carcasses; for the other type of webs it's just a battlefield of carnage with the entire web absolutely full of little exoskeletons sucked dry. Every few weeks I go and take down the old webs so the spiders can build new ones. I'm pretty positive that the old webs are useless at catching any new flies since they're so full of old ones.

Not a method for all the arachnophobes out there, but it works fantastic, you don't have to deal with stinky old cups of sour-smelling liquid with rotting bodies in them, and a bite from one of these is unfathomably improbable. Even if they did bite, you would hardly notice (and most can't puncture human skin; I've tried to encourage them to bite, and they've never been able to get through mine)


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## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

That's a great idea!!!


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## Judy S (Aug 29, 2010)

and do it in the sink! Any escapees will be doing a backstroke when you turn the water on.....


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

EverettC said:


> Beer is a great way to capture escaped FFs. Put a glass out in your frog room with a little bit of (fragrant) beer in the bottom and they'll drown in it.


Put a glass of fragrant beer in the middle of a frog room, and you may capture more than just flies. Got a guest room?


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## ngeno626 (Nov 14, 2013)

EverettC said:


> Beer is a great way to capture escaped FFs. Put a glass out in your frog room with a little bit of (fragrant) beer in the bottom and they'll drown in it.


How dare you waste beer on ff...oj and dish soap like stated previously


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## EverettC (Mar 9, 2004)

ngeno626 said:


> How dare you waste beer on ff...oj and dish soap like stated previously


I'll have to try this one, I usually find a dead soldier (mostly-consumed beer) or two after a party and use that. Let nothing go to waste!


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## Kimberly (Mar 13, 2014)

another issue I've come across is mold... How in the world do I keep from getting so much mold? I know sprigtails and isopods, but the isopods I have are from my back yard, and my springtails are very young.... I only have 2 small cultures of them.


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