Stopping Fruit Flies From Climbing Up Cage

Hi, I'm new to this forum and this my 2nd post of the day, I recent caught a Batrachoseps attenuatus (California Slender Salamander) and have had luck feeding it fruit flies but my problem is is that she is not very quick and will only eat them if they crawl near her face. The flies usually get away and i have to sit there with a stick to prod them over to her and they end up just crawling up the side of the cage. I tried to seal the top by putting paper towel over it then closing the top but i think they still manage to squeeze out. This is probably a dumb question but is there any way to keep the flies from climbing up the side (its plastic cage)? She is just not quick enough.

it easy.. kill the flies wit your hand, and feed them in front of their mouth, surely they eat it.... i do it for shrimp...

I do not think that it is really morally right to take animals from the wild. In the US there are many captive bred species of newt/salamanders, maybe you should return this salamander and join us in this hobby with a captive bred species.

Small mesh, could be an option to stop them climbing out completely. However I don't think you'll be able to stop them climbing up the cage completely. Something that dart frog keepers often do, is to put fruit in the enclosure with the flies, then the fruit flies will tend to stay around that area of the enclosure.

Some of the apterous fruit flies don't climb as much. Recently I was given some Drosophila buzzati. buzzati have a longer life cycle but are not supposed to move around as much or climb a lot.

I assume you have the slender salamander in a terrerium type set up....so you may try having a few hide spots such as loose bark and small cave areas.The fruitflies may go there.Make sure you have a tight screen or hood on the aquarium so that the fruitflies and salamander can't escape.I wouldn't worry to much,eventually they should stop climbing the sides.I used to see slender sals alot when I was in CA.They are very abundant and not illegal to collect as long as you keep within the limit of 5 I believe.I kept a few and didn't find them too interesting....others might.Good luck with it.

In terrestrial setups where I want to use fruit flies, I keep a layer of cloth between the tub and lid. This has the added benefit of keeping out fungus gnats (as long as the soil is heated before use to pre-kill the gnats and their eggs). The cloth is porous enough that it does not interfere with normal ventilation. The cloth is just a piece cut out from worn-out sheets, pillow cases, or dress shirts. In some cases, I've sewn a hem around the perimeter so it looks less raggedy, but this is not necessary. When it gets dirty, it can be laundered and re-used.

This barrier does not prevent the FF from climbing up the inside of the container. But it does keep them inside, so the animal has more encounters with the flies. It is normal for salamanders to just "wait around" for the food to walk by. Over a period of many hours, this works just fine (there will be many encounters) as long as the food stays inside the setup.

To answer the question you asked:

Something I've done has been to purchase a shallow but long and wide plastic storage bin or tub, fill it partly with water, and then place the terrarium in the center(the terrarium should be able to keep out the water, provided there are no holes or cracks). Something approx 30-40 larger all around than the container you are using to feed the fruit flies in. Any fly's that managed to escape would simply drown in the "moat' I created around the terrarium. This is not practical long term(unless you don't mind the extra space the moat takes up), but works in a pinch.

Alternatively, if you have some pantyhose, and a LOT of patience... and tape.. you could seal off the lid with pantyhose to allow the terratium to vent while still keeping the buggers in. I had mixed results with this, as with the lid I was using, the clips would wear out the hose and eventually put holes there... well guess where the flys got out....

If you just have a drop on lid however, this might work well.

Good luck.

thanks for all the responses. Jennewt this is exactly what I'm doing right now hah! Also, i do not plan to keep any more than this one. I found her under a cheap plastic planting pot and that's usually where she stays the couple times Ive seen her before, there are numerous others in the yard as well.