Aphids are from 1-5mm long with a soft body, long legs and antennae, and usually a prominent pair of tube-like structures at the end of the abdomen. Aphids come in a selection of colours, with more than 500 species in Europe. They exist in both winged and wingless forms. They are weak fliers, but can travel a long way on air currents - even hundreds of miles!

Many aphids have more than one host plant, and will over winter on a different plant from the one they cause damage to. Life cycles are generally complex and many generations are produced each year. They usually survive the winter in the egg stage, although in mild weather the adults can survive and remain active. In spring, female aphids are able to give birth to live young, resulting in a rapid rate of reproduction as the temperature increases. 

Temperature Range:

Keep the culture in warm place between 70° - 86°F (21° - 30°C)

METHOD 1
Jan Stenika – BDG Newsletter

This METHOD makes use of two colonies in a manor that you can get a handful of aphids approximately every four days. 

What you need:
eight squat jam jars (approx. 500ml each)
spruce (Picea) sawdust
beans (not common green bean from your kitchen)
2 insect cages (wood or metal frames coated with a fine textile-like gauze or muslin) and a laboratory starter culture

What you'll do:

1. Fill four of the bottles ¾ full with sawdust, add a handful of beans and cover them with another 2cm of sawdust
2. Water each bottle with 200-250ml of lukewarm water and cover with a piece of glass.
3. Put them inside the insect-box near the window but out of full sun.
4. After 6 days add 100ml water in the morning, take off the glass lid and add aphids to the small bean plants in the afternoon.
5. After a further four days water each bottle with 100ml and after another 4 days you can collect aphids for your frogs.

Housekeeping:

It is useful to make small record labels for each culture.

E.G., you might include:
Tuesday - water with 200-250ml
Monday - water with 100ml in the morning; add aphids in the afternoon; start with four new bottles
Friday - water with 100ml
Tuesday - collect aphids.

METHOD 2

What you'll need:
An enclosure for breeding (usually a 10-15 gallon tank with a glass top works well)
fava bean seeds
small flower pots and potting soil or peat pellets
strip light to place over the tank as the plants' light source
starter culture

What you'll do:

1. 4-6 days before obtaining your starter aphid cultures, plant about 3-5 seeds of fava beans (the amount can be adjusted depending on the amount of frogs you have). If you use the peat pellets, soak them in water to rehydrate them and push a fava bean per peat pellet. You won't need any potting soil if you use peat pellets.
2. Place the seeds in the tank and make sure that the temperature is between 65-80 degrees, the warmer side is best.
3. Once you have a sprouted plant that's about 3 inches tall, you can introduce the aphids.
4. Make sure to plant new fava beans every 4-6 days to have a continuous food source for your aphids
5. Each plant normally lasts from 10-14 days before the aphids suck the life out of them.
6. The strip light must be kept on for about 12-14 hours a day for adequate plant growth.

To Feed:

Once you see a large infestation of aphids along the stalk of the fava plant, the aphids can be fed to the frogs. When the frogs finish eating the aphids, place the plant back in the breeding enclosure for reinfestation.