Fruit Flies!

We have a cool tank of frogs. They're awesome. The kids LOVE watching them (ok, so do I..) We quickly discovered that they get hungry and have to eat but are can't eat regular size crickets yet. Upon some research, flightless fruit flies are what these cute little froggies eat. We get some. THAT is fun to watch!

Now, most people figure out how to provide food for their new pets before they start down that path, but not us. So we have this big tank of an entire gaggle, herd, marsh.. (whatever) of frogs and have to figure out how to feed them a regular, steady diet of flightless fruit flies. Enter the jars of flies:

Each of these 5 containers has fruit flies and maggots. No, they can't get out - that would be gross. There is a food medium on the bottom and the sprout stuff is a filler so they have more room to climb about in the tub.

So, over the past few weeks we've been working on the life cycle of fruit flies. Because honestly, how many people study that? We do butterflies, frogs, and other pretty things. But flies? They're nasty little things, but have an interesting life cycle that is very, very similar to that of a butterfly. Well if you count *maggot* the same as caterpillar.  

If you look super duper close you should see tiny little specks. Those little specks are the fruit flies. They are surprisingly hard to photograph.

This was our first trial vial of fruit flies. They are just hatching out of their little cocoons from maggot to flies. Soon they will all be snack-a-doos for frogs.  And yes, it does sort of look like I have a few extra fingers, but I don't. It's just the awkward way I'm holding the vial so I don't drop it.