| “Meadow plankton” is the term used
to describe the small insects that live in the grass or other areas of your yard, during the warmer months of the year. There are a number of ways to collect these feeder insects, thus enabling to feed a varied insect diet to your animals. The methods that are listed below are of the easiest to put into use on a regular basis.
TOP |
|
Leaf Litter
Sieving:
What you'll need:
plastic shoebox
large gauge flour sieve
What you'll do:
Find a pile of dry leaf litter (make sure it contains no insecticides or herbicides), fill the sieve with a handful of litter.
Hold the sieve over the plastic container and agitate.
Small insect such as, arachnids, centipedes, millipedes and springtails will collect in the container.
TOP |
|
Netting:
What you'll need:
fine material net
What you'll do:
Use a fine material net to collect meadow plankton. To collect meadow plankton, find an area where there are no insecticides or herbicides are in use and the grass is about 6 inches tall.
Move the net along the grass in a sweeping motion.
Once you have made several passes, whip the net back and forth to move all the insects to the bottom of the net.
Grasp the net just above the bottom to seal in the insects.
Transfer the insects to a container with small holes in the lid so that only the proper size insects can escape out into the vivarium.
It is best if the container has tape, paper or another material on the outside, so the frog cannot see inside the container.
TOP |
|
Making a Net:
What you'll need:
#6 gauge copper wire
dowel rod
hose clamps
some fine mesh material
What you'll do:
Use the wire to form a circle that is 12" to 18" in diameter.
Where the ends come together, bend about 4 inches of the 2 ends out perpendicular to the circle.
Take the material and cut it so that you have a cone that is the same diameter of the wire circle and about 2 feet long.
Double over the area that will go around the circle of wire and sew it, to allow an area to feed the wire through. Now, sew the rest of the cone, but do not make the cone too pointed because it is hard to get the insects out. Thread the wire though the cone, and then attach the wire to the dowel rod with the hose clamps.
TOP |
|
Aspirator/Pooter:
An aspirator or pooter is used to manually suck smaller insects into a small vial, when these insects are too small or difficult that they cannot be collected successfully by other methods. If you do not want to disturb too much of the natural surroundings or habitat then an aspirator is excellent way to collect feeder insects e.g. aphids on a rose bush or a termites from a termite mound.
What you'll need:
Aspirator or pooter
What you'll do:
Hold the Aspirator vial in one hand and put the shorter tube in your mouth, the one that has the gauze on the end, the gauze will prevent you accidentally sucking any insects into your mouth.
Use your other hand; hold the end of the longer tube; this is then placed near to an insect.
A short sharp suck on the mouth tube will result in the insect being deposited into the vial.
When you have collect several insects the stopper can be remove and the insects transferred to a holding container.
TOP |
|
Making
an Aspirator:
What you'll need:
any small vial
tight fitting cap or stopper
two plastic straws or stiff plastic tubing
a length of flexible plastic or rubber tubing
fine netting or gauze
What you'll do:
Drill two holes in the cap; these should be the same diameter as the straws.
Insert one straw through the cap until it is about 10mm from the bottom of the vial.
Now insert the second straw until only about 20-25mm extends into the vial.
Cut the second straw so that you are left with about 10-15mm above the cap.
Cover the inside of the short straw with a piece of fine netting
Attach the flexible tubing the short straw.
TOP |
ASPIRATOR
TOP |
