I’ve been tinkering away at a new design for fruit fly culture lids, and I’m excited to share version 4 with you all. This one has been built with dart frog keepers in mind, especially those of us who want feeding to be a little less chaotic!
The idea is simple: the lid screws straight onto a standard mason jar, has built-in ventilation, and includes a little airlock system. That means you can open it just enough to let the flies walk up into the feeding vial, then close things off again so you don’t end up with escapees everywhere. Best part? You can close both the mason jar and the vial independently, then just unscrew the vial and take it straight to your frogs.
It’s been working well so far, but I’d love some feedback before I finalise the design. A couple of questions I’m still working through:
- Should the ventilation be fabric-based, or would fewer holes be better?
- Is the independent close-off system something you’d find useful day to day?
- Anything else you’d like to see added or improved?
I’ve popped a video below so you can see the system in action. If you’ve ever had fruit flies scatter across your frog room, you’ll know why I think this might be a game-changer!
What do you think – is version 4 close to being “the one,” or should I keep iterating? I’d really appreciate your thoughts in the comments.
