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Dart Den

Serving the Dart Frog Community Since 2004...

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Do you clean /reuse your ff cups ?
#1
Quick question - is it ok to clean your ff cup after the culture is done and if you can, what is best to use, soap and water, bleach ?
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#2
I actually just decided to begin doing this recently. After talking to a couple of other hobbyist at our recent Florida meet and hearing how simple the process is, I decided to give it a shot. Once the culture reached the point at which I usually toss it out, I tied it up in a plastic grocery bag (so the girlfriend wouldn't notice), and placed it in the freezer. The next day I took it out of the freezer, removed the frozen culture from the bag, and just like everyone said I would be able to do...popped all the media and everything out with ease. I then rinsed the cup out in the sink using hot water and for the lid, i scrubbed it with a bit of mild detergent and rinsed it well. The cup and lid both look brand new! I only wish I had started doing this earlier.
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#3
Yes...VERY easy and 'green' to re-use plastic culture cups and lids. I have both that are over 6 years old and have been power-washed in my kitchen sink with hot water.

Freezing and pulling out the 'frozen hockey puck"...I've done it, but it's a bit more effort and a little weird stickin' the cups in the freezer. Especially when you have 20-30.

Just soak in hot water for 2-3 mins and drain off the excess water and then turn the cup upside down and smack it into a bag so that the media and excelsior falls out. Then spray wash in hot water and wipe down.

No need for soap or bleach.
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#4
I soak the cups and lids in a mild bleach solution, then run them through a cycle in the dishwasher without any detergent...look brand new when they come out. That may be over-doing it, but I'm happy with the results.
-Field Smith
Some frogs...
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#5
I don't know why you would not clean them thanks everyone
You guys are very helpful
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#6
In the past I used to always re-use my ff's cups and lids. These days, my cups aren't the same quality and the lids are simply not re-usable. On top of that, I really don't have the time to spend hour(s) cleaning ff cups. I could wash them as I go I guess, but I am pretty sure that 25-50% of my cups would break, so I just don't think it would be worth it. Couple that with my hectic schedule and the realtively low-cost of replacement and that is why someone might not re-use.
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#7
I re-use my cups using the frozen puck method. I wash and then let the cup set in a Clorox dilution for a few days, but am finding that I am having problems with some of the cultures. I think in the future I will avoid using bleach. It does leave a film on the plastic and in the lid material, which I attribute to the clorox. New cup cultures are not failing. Ed
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#8
OMG!!!! I just cleaned out about 20 ff cups to reuse.
Now I've smelled my share of smelly things in my life. Back in the days when I was surveying I had a rodman who thought it was funny to set a traverse point next to some road kill in the middle of summer. I've dissected animals in the lab. I've field dressed many animals while hunting. I've cleaned fish. I've even changed my fair share of baby diapers, including the atomic green ones. Nothing prepared me for the odor that was released upon dumping out the old ff cups. Phil was this some kind of joke to see who was sucker enough to try this? I actually threw up in my mouth. This was by far the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled and the worst thing chore I've had to do while keeping frogs. I almost wanted to go suck water out of a false bottom just to get the taste out of my mouth. Screw being green. I love mother earth...but not that much. I will fill up a landfill with old ff cups before I ever try that again.


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Jon
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#9
That's some funny shit right there!!!



If you let them dry out in the garage before you clean them, very little to no smell, and much easier to clean!
What some see as death, others see as beauty.


Casper
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#10
I'm not sure that garages in Chicago have that 450 degree "broil" setting that Texas garages seem to have :mrgreen:
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#11
This past week it has..hotter up there today!

It would just need a few more days to dry with their normal temps.
What some see as death, others see as beauty.


Casper
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#12
Rusty_Shackleford Wrote:OMG!!!! I just cleaned out about 20 ff cups to reuse. ... Phil was this some kind of joke to see who was sucker enough to try this? I actually threw up in my mouth. This was by far the most disgusting thing I've ever smelled and the worst thing chore I've had to do while keeping frogs. I almost wanted to go suck water out of a false bottom just to get the taste out of my mouth. Screw being green. I love mother earth...but not that much. I will fill up a landfill with old ff cups before I ever try that again.

Now that had me cracking up! I was thinking about washing my two cups a week, but now I'm convinced it ain't worth the 90 cents Wink
Jim from Austin | https://www.oneillscrossing.com/dart-frogs/
fantastica nominant | summersi | reticulata | A barbotini
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#13
Uh-hum. Not just about the 90 cents. There are environmental ramifications in needlessly tossing away plastic. Remember those hopping little victims!
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#14
Let the used cups dessicate and get all hockey puck-like. I'll admit , the liquidy, nasty, sitting around cultures can get ripe and smell like some Indian food that's passed thru the digestive track of a sick old women with IBS....but let em dry up out in the garage and no problem.

Really....whatever smells and stuff come from the hobby...I must be immune to it. Doesn't phase me at all. But then again, I eat stray FF that get in my drinks too.

Meh...
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#15
Just freeze the cups before you empty and clean them. You can buy a decent size freezer just for FF cups for about the price of a good misting system. Does not completely eliminate the smell, but certainly minimizes it. AND, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T USE CLOROX TO CLEAN THEM LIKE THIS DUMMY DID!
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#16
Most of the cups were dried up. But there were a couple that were newer and still had nasty media on the bottom. I should have waited with those. I will say though that at least I took them outside to my garden table to pour the hot water in them, the ones that were newer and smelled like dog crap attracted hundreds of blue and green bottle flies. I should have collected them for free food. Glad you guys got a laugh at least.


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Jon
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#17
ems1016 Wrote:WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T USE CLOROX TO CLEAN THEM LIKE THIS DUMMY DID!

Why's that, Ed?

Funny shit, Jon!!
Glenn
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#18
As I previously mentioned, I don't reuse containers anymore due to low-quality containers that often break, the unusable lids, and the amount of time isn't worth it to me. But this thread had me thinking, when I RECYCLE my used ff cups, are they actually getting recycled despite the mess? Even though I dont re-use, I still let the containers dry out so they can be recylced more easily (I think), but this is an interesting read on recycling plastic.

http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/ ... -recycling
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#19
At 50 cents per cup, I have no interest in recycling them.

But I have used canning jars with the out ring screwed on over a coffee filter and those I reused. But cleaning stuff is no fun, so I just throw plastic ones away now.
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#20
The paper / fabric deli cup lids clean up REALLY well and are WAY stronger than they seem.

I have fabric holed lids 6 years old...and cleaned with hot water sink sprayer dozens of times.
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"Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana".
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