PhilinYuma
Well-known member
Kova
Here's a device which I have just tried and found extremely useful and efficient, but which nobody will make themselves, so I won't say, "next you..." but "next I."
Purpose: Chuck mentions that one way to harvest flies from an enclosure is with a mechanic (not oral!) suction device. I keep my flies in a 12" cube like a lot of people , and rely on the flies' attraction to light to harvest them in a pot. It's a nuisance at best though, especially when you're running low on flies, so I made a mechanical suction device.
Required. A vacuum cleaner and a "dead"vacuum cleaner (see what I mean) I used two uprights and the tubing and odds and ends from the dead one.
The largest of Katt's white topped hexagonal jars -- they have thick, rigid plastic.
A pair of panty hose (of course!) and a rubber band that will fit around the jar.
A large, round, wide mouthed plastic jar that used to contain 6.5 lbs of milk bones. In this case the ID of the mouth of the jar was 4.25"
Method: I connected the live vacuum cleaner's air hose to a narrow thing that housewives clean dust out of unimaginable places. Connected narrow thing to the hose from the working vacuum and inserted it into a hole cut in the side of the big jar close to the bottom. Remember that all of the cuts I made were for exact fitting. If the fit is not exact, you will lose vacuum.
I bored a hole of apropriate size with a hole saw into the middle of the bottom of Katt's jar. "Apropriate size" means that whatever round thing you have attached to the hose cut from the dead vacuum cleaner fits into it snuggly, it will not be glued. In my case it was 1.75" A vial or round medication container with a radius that allows it to fit into the hole in Katt's jar. Remove the lid from the hex jar and replace it with a single thickness of panty hose secured by a rubber band around the jar. There, I'm done!
Operation: I trundled the vacuum cleaner into the bug room and placed the large jar on the floor close to the HF net cage. I fitted the hex jar head first into the big jar, it should be a tight fit with the panty host acting as a gasket. I inserted the round thing attached to the "dead" hose into the bottom of the hex jar.
When I harvest flies, I usually place an old sweater over the zippable side of the cage so that I can work through the arm and lose very few flies. I threaded the free end of the dead hose through the sleeve and through a small area unzipped in the cube and turned on the vacuum cleaner. Bingo! About fifty flies in the jar in a few seconds. Remove hose and zip shut the cube. I now remove the hex jar from the large jar. The flies are a little traumatized by their trip (though the panty hose softens their landing) and it is easy to remove the round thing from the bottom of the hex jar and plug the hole with the medication container (in this case, Wallgreen's Stay Awake for those long weekend parties!), without any escaping.
I now have fifty flies in one jar ready for the fridge after a few seconds of "vacuuming" and I could as easily have harvested half or twice as many. No flies escaped during the process.
I did a small victory dance to celebrate my success.
Here's a device which I have just tried and found extremely useful and efficient, but which nobody will make themselves, so I won't say, "next you..." but "next I."
Purpose: Chuck mentions that one way to harvest flies from an enclosure is with a mechanic (not oral!) suction device. I keep my flies in a 12" cube like a lot of people , and rely on the flies' attraction to light to harvest them in a pot. It's a nuisance at best though, especially when you're running low on flies, so I made a mechanical suction device.
Required. A vacuum cleaner and a "dead"vacuum cleaner (see what I mean) I used two uprights and the tubing and odds and ends from the dead one.
The largest of Katt's white topped hexagonal jars -- they have thick, rigid plastic.
A pair of panty hose (of course!) and a rubber band that will fit around the jar.
A large, round, wide mouthed plastic jar that used to contain 6.5 lbs of milk bones. In this case the ID of the mouth of the jar was 4.25"
Method: I connected the live vacuum cleaner's air hose to a narrow thing that housewives clean dust out of unimaginable places. Connected narrow thing to the hose from the working vacuum and inserted it into a hole cut in the side of the big jar close to the bottom. Remember that all of the cuts I made were for exact fitting. If the fit is not exact, you will lose vacuum.
I bored a hole of apropriate size with a hole saw into the middle of the bottom of Katt's jar. "Apropriate size" means that whatever round thing you have attached to the hose cut from the dead vacuum cleaner fits into it snuggly, it will not be glued. In my case it was 1.75" A vial or round medication container with a radius that allows it to fit into the hole in Katt's jar. Remove the lid from the hex jar and replace it with a single thickness of panty hose secured by a rubber band around the jar. There, I'm done!
Operation: I trundled the vacuum cleaner into the bug room and placed the large jar on the floor close to the HF net cage. I fitted the hex jar head first into the big jar, it should be a tight fit with the panty host acting as a gasket. I inserted the round thing attached to the "dead" hose into the bottom of the hex jar.
When I harvest flies, I usually place an old sweater over the zippable side of the cage so that I can work through the arm and lose very few flies. I threaded the free end of the dead hose through the sleeve and through a small area unzipped in the cube and turned on the vacuum cleaner. Bingo! About fifty flies in the jar in a few seconds. Remove hose and zip shut the cube. I now remove the hex jar from the large jar. The flies are a little traumatized by their trip (though the panty hose softens their landing) and it is easy to remove the round thing from the bottom of the hex jar and plug the hole with the medication container (in this case, Wallgreen's Stay Awake for those long weekend parties!), without any escaping.
I now have fifty flies in one jar ready for the fridge after a few seconds of "vacuuming" and I could as easily have harvested half or twice as many. No flies escaped during the process.
I did a small victory dance to celebrate my success.
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