New obsession, a little slice of the rain forest

I'm in the process of starting to make a dart habitat out of a 20 tall. Just bought some Mopani wood last night.

John-I'd be possibly interested in some of those from Knoxville and splitting shipping with you. Do you have a link that has a species listing that he has available?

Thanks,
Justin
 
those are some nice frogs in knoxville. I was at Emerald Bay last tuesday and they had some darts for $45. I think they was black/yellow? I couldn't find em in the tank though. I ended up gettin' my nephew some cheap fire bellied toads for the 10 gal. I set up. His reed frog died from unknown reasons. So, not sure on the expensive frogs now. These fire belly toads are pretty cool though and good enough for him really.

Steve

Steve
 
i saw those darts last time i was there as well steve....and i couldnt find them either...they much have been really tiny

steve, what other animals do you have?
 
Hey all,
I am working on my tank. The Critter is out of the cans of black foam they use for the backgrounds and they dont know when they will get anymore in. Anyone have a can laying around or any extra? Thanks
 
The ones in the tank for $45 are the aratus like I have. They were all under he logs. I think there are still a couple there. They are actually some of the bigger ones that they have.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13355218#post13355218 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by gsusfreak
i saw those darts last time i was there as well steve....and i couldnt find them either...they much have been really tiny

steve, what other animals do you have?

I have...

Female Dumerils Boa around 6.5 ft

Male (Amel) corn snake a little over 3ft

Female (pastel motley) corn snake around 2.5 ft.

2 baby corn snakes (hypo and charcol, from above corns)

Female western hognose, a little over a year old

Female Rose Hair Tarantula

80 gal reef

20 gal reef

29 FW tank

and temporary 10 gal. vivarium with 2 fire belly toads.

2 cages for crickets (you have to keep them fed and clean their cages too)

I stay pretty busy, but it's fun.

Steve
 
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wow!!!....let me say that again...WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

atleast now i can direct my girlfriend and family back to this post when they complain about my 3 tanks WITH NO CRICKETS (i hope i dont get killed for my fruitflies)...lol
 
Anyone have any tips for fruit fly supplies? Seems like blackjungle or somewhere online is the best way to go. The Critter had ziplock size baggies of culture media for 25 bucks, seemed like a rip off to me. Does Petco or anywhere else sell the media? I'm hoping to get everything else needed at Walmart except for maybe the excelsior (sp?)

And Turtle77- I spoke with the appropriate people at the Critter today and they'll be getting some foam in later this week.
 
Normal Amount
1 cup of powdered sugar
4 teaspoons Methyl paraben
8 cups potato flakes
1/2 - 1 cup of brewers yeast.
Large Batch
Makes approx. 30 1/3 cup cultures.
3 cups of powdered sugar
1/4 cup Methyl paraben
6 quarts cups potato flakes
1.5 - 3 cups of brewers yeast.
Makes approx. 2 gallons of media (approx 100 1/3 cup cultures).




Sift the powdered sugar and the Methyl paraben into a gallon or larger ziplock bag or container.
Shake well.



Add brewer yeast and shake again.


Add the potato flakes and brewers yeast to the ziplock bag and shake well.

I normally use 1/3 to 1/2 cups of media mixed with equal amounts of hot water in a quart jar. This is the media I most frequently use.

1 cup banana (about 2 bananas)
1 cup apple sauce
1/8 cup vinegar (or 2 tablespoons or 15 ml)
2 cups oatmeal
a few granules of baker's yeast

Put banana and apple sauce in blender or bowl and mix until the banana is liquified. Heat in the microwave for approximately 2 min. or until hot enough to kill off any wild fruit fly eggs that were in the bananas, and to reduce mold. Add the vinegar and mix in oatmeal until it becomes firm, but still moist. Put the mixture in wide mouth quart canning jars and allow to cool. Once cooled, add the yeast and flies. Any unused media can be frozen until needed.

Makes approx. 6 quart jar cultures


I have been using a mixture of potato flakes, sugar, and Fleischman's activated yeast for years now. But, after adding a lot of mouths to feed to my collection, I had decided I was going to have to find something that made a lot more flies per jar. With input from a lot of different sources (Dave and Erin, Tracy Hicks, Jutti,) etc , I have composed a mush that has QUADRUPLED
my fly production. I have had very little problem with mold, and the cultures seem to last for at least a month or longer.

In a pot bring the following to a boil.
2 cups water
2 cups vinegar
1/8th cup Dark molasses
1/2 can of grape juice concentrate
2-3 overripe mushed up bananas

After bringing this mixture to a boil, add the dry material

1/2 cup malt of meal
2/3 cup potato flakes
1/3 cup Brewers Yeast (the key ingredient)

Place about 2 inches of medium in each qt size jar, and sprinkle maybe an 1/8th teaspoon of activated yeast on the top. A day later, 20-30 flies are added. I have tried this medium with my hydei and melanogaster and I can't believe how many larvae are swarming the sided of the jar, I literally can't see through the glass jar, they cover every square inch of glass. For the first 10 days, I keep the cultures in cardboard boxes which are kept closed, after that, I keep them on a large shelf to help the larvae dry out.
 
Well the first clutch of eggs seems to b about 6 days old. They are starting to look like tadpoles. There are about 12 tads. The new development is that I have another clutch of eggs. Looks like about 7 eggs and appear to be fertilized.
 
that's great, sounds really really cool! I've got 2 tens that are just sitting empty, I was thinking about getting something bigger, but since these are relatively cheap to put together, I think I'll build a ten and then when I want to go bigger, just move it to my office!
 
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