2 dusted Fruit Flies questions

[tmkuroda]

Two questions:

1. when feeding the frogs I get the powder in the Viv. Is this ok ?

2. If I dust too many FF, can I toss the powdered ones back in the FF culture container ?

[Rad3Dad]

I always get some powder in the viv when feeding. You can see where this happens, cause the live moss is dead in that area :? There are ways to avoid having excess amounts of powder falling in when you feed, but I'm too lazy to go through the additional steps involved. I don't have a bunch of loose powder fall in, it's mostly from when the flies land, they will cause a cloud of dust when they hit.

I've never put dusted flies back in a culture, so I'm not real sure, but I don't think there would be a problem with it.

[Cindy Dicken]

Tina,
you can place a small lid, bowl, or even a leaf, in the vivarium, and sprinkle the flys in it. This will contain the powder and can be removed later. The calcium seems to be the main culprit in killing moss. If you should happen to spill powder, it is easy to wash it into the substrate with a good stream of water from a hand held mister.
As for placing dusted flys back in the container, it shouldn't be a problem. If you will notice, the flys start cleaning theirselves as soon as possible after you dump them in the vivarium, and they will do the same when you place them back in the culture. I would be carefull about dumping any excess vitamin / calcium powder in the culture however.

[tmkuroda]

One more question about feeding. One of my Patrica's wipes the dust off their tongue after catching a FF. I was reading that I may be dusting them too much. How much is to much ? Do I dust every day ? I have been dusting every day so far.

[40zDicTator]

When feeding out, I often use multiple FF cultures, dump them in a single dusting cup container, swirl and then feed out. If your doing this method too, then I would NOT dump the flies back into any culture because mixing fly types or any different flies, results in fliers.

[Philsuma]

Good thread.

If you are using a Rapashy dusting supplement, their powder is so fine, that a lot sticks to the flies. Keep that in mind when you feed out. If your flies look like little snowmen....you may wanna back it own to every other feeding to dust.