www.JoshsFrogs.com

Im very disapointed as I orderd a Fruitfly culture kit without the flys, mite spray, Hygro/thermometer and I received all except the FRUIT FLY MEDIA....

I had to pay 37.80 for taxes and customs fees ect too... and 17.-18 dollars for shipping.... Now I need that fruit fly media and If he does send back i would probly have to pay for shipping and customs and taxes all over again.

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how can you NOT INCLUDE THE FLY MEDIA ... if thats the MAIN thing i orderd... he gave me cups, cofee filters, mite spray... but no media.. this is b.s if you tell me :angry:

insectguy said:

Im very disapointed as I orderd a Fruitfly culture kit without the flys, mite spray, Hygro/thermometer and I received all except the FRUIT FLY MEDIA.... I had to pay 37.80 for taxes and customs fees ect too... and 17.-18 dollars for shipping.... Now I need that fruit fly media and If he does send back i would probly have to pay for shipping and customs and taxes all over again.

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how can you NOT INCLUDE THE FLY MEDIA ... if thats the MAIN thing i orderd... he gave me cups, cofee filters, mite spray... but no media.. this is b.s if you tell me :angry:

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It sounds to me like a straightforward packing error. He provides an 800 hotline number. I suggest that you call him and have him complete the order. You should not have to pay any more postage, since it was his error. Tell us what happens!

I think they have to pay taxes and the sort on what they receive there Phil, that is what makes him upset. They don't get it free like we do.

PhilinYuma said:

It sounds to me like a straightforward packing error. He provides an 800 hotline number. I suggest that you call him and have him complete the order. You should not have to pay any more postage, since it was his error. Tell us what happens!

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They sent me what i was suppost to get and they ended up paying for the shipping ect and fees. So Imnot so upset anymore.. but still.. HOW CAN YOU FORGET THE MAIN THING I ORDERD LOL... =S

Ordered some supplies last week and got them as expected.

Ordered some flies today just to test them out.

EDIT/UPDATE:

Got the flies and other supplies yesterday. 3 cultures arrived in good condition. I like that they have started cultures with maggots for relatively low cost compared to their reasonably priced producing cultures.

A subsciption service for scheduled deliveries is also available for flies.

I just started with these guys and recently got packets of "general", "mel" and "hydei" ff culture medium. They are a little less expensive than my last supplier and don't charge "tax." I also got a bag of paraben so that I can restart my housefly cultures without them being swallowed by mold.

Their medium appears to be oatmeal, rather than potato flake based, and I think that in addition to Paraben, it contains brewer's yeast which gives the prepared mix a pleasant smell, which lasts as the mess matures, reminiscent of the private bar in an English pub. So now I can sit back with a bottle of Johnny Walker red, sniff the pleasant boozy smell from the culture pots,

and

slowly

nod

off.

Brought both types of fruit flies a couple weeks ago, (the last ones i ordered from someone was full of mites so I had to throw them out). Now ordered 3 of each, and one hydei container had no flies or maggots in it, I wrote Josh and he sent a new one, nothing wrong with that, but to my dismay I discovered the empty fly culture had huge mites in it, never seen anything like it before. The longer I kept it, the bigger they got, finally I thru it out, (kept it cause I was going to put flies in it.) now I notice they all have mites, just none as big as those. I would of or could of wrote this earlier, but I was fighting with myself over it.

Placed an order with Josh recently for a couple of fruit fly cultures. USPS "misplaced" the package (it ended up in Hawaii of all places). Josh was quick to reply to my inquiry and to fix the situation, and shipped me out a replacement order. I did finally receive the initial order, and even though it was several days late both cultures arrived in excellent condition, exactly as described on the website.

Although a bit pricey when it comes to shipping, I would happily order from JoshsFrogs again in the future.

well I ordered some fruitflys and culture kit on THURSDAY. paid overnight shipping, and even paid the extra $5 for morning delivery. also ordered some extra producing FFs as you know things can go wrong with them.

I didn't expect them to be mailed until monday, so that's not the problem. but when I come home late from work to find out that it wasn't even shipped by 9pm on monday night, I was deaply upset.

he called me up the next day as asked and was so sad about this mix up. it turns out that a truck with his potato flakes (to make the media) didn't arive on time and will be sent out right away...a day late. he stated that he cringed when he realised that I was a first time customer and that this is not normal.

promissed a cupon in my box to help with my next order.

all arived on wedsday. the 4 producing cultures were not producing. well, one of the hydeis were a little, but the mels were vacant.

no cupon in box...no suprise. looked and looked. nothing.

I'm sorry Josh, but I can't do another trasaction with you.

anyone with some common sence would know that if a person is going to spend $50.20 for overnight shipping, THAT PERSON NEEDS HIS FLYS THE NEXT DAY. so what about the media? you send it out when it's ready the next day. you take the hit, NOT YOUR CUSTOMER. you then don't make empty promesses and not include a cupon of some sort. AND BY ALL MEANS, YOU MAKE SURE YOU SEND ME SO MANY FLYS THAT MY HEAD IS GOING TO SPIN. not some cups that take 2 days before I see some suff in there. (and hydis producing a day earlyer then the mels?)

I'm in the service industry. you showed me just how NOT to treat a first time customer in spades. thanks for the lesson.

Harry

Love the website and the points that you earn. I need to use them actually. BUT your Hydei cultures are mite-ridden! Twice now I have gotten hydei cultures and they have had mites. Not just some, but alot. They are clearly visible. I get it your a frog site and sell alot of FF cultures to people who keep dart frogs and thumbnails and the frogs will eagerly eat the mites if some were in front of them, but still it just looks unprofessional.

Thank goodness I've never gotten his flies! Mine all seem to be pretty fat, healthy and mite-free.

I have ordered water crystals from Josh's, and unfortunately, there was a lot of "dust" in them (making it VERY slimy when mixed up). I have to sift it out before I mix it up, otherwise it's a big, snot-like mess!

Josh, however, is a pretty decent guy to talk to, so I'm sure it's just an issue of quality-control. They need to address it because everything else about their business is spot-on! (With the exception that some people have pointed out that they sometimes do not ship in a timely fashion...I haven't had that problem, but I only ordered once!)

Out of desperation and despite the rumors, I ordered Hydei cultures from Josh (hey, I tried my friends on here, and no one had any to spare!) because I knew I wouldn't have enough flies in the old ones for all the little mouths I have to feed now, and my new ones weren't due to take off for another week.

Guess what...Josh's cultures had HUGE MITES! Surprise, surprise. <_< I pretty much expected this, after reading the reviews, but figured that, if I couldn't make new cultures because of the mites (and I WON'T!), at least I can use the flies for feeders, which is what I really NEED.

I suppose, if you need tiny feeders for, say, Sinomantis denticulata nymphs, Josh's MITE cultures would be the way to go! But, for us average folks who just want Hydei...they stink! (Literally, too!)

I plan to make a complaint to Josh, because, I didn't pay to have mite-infested cultures, and I find it rather ironic that in his "how-to" videos, he mentions that if you have mites in your culture, best to THROW IT AWAY & not make new ones from it... Hmm... <_< Does that mean he puts them in there intentionally so that you have to keep buying cultures?? Glad I'm keeping my own nice cultures WELL AWAY from these new ones. I feel dirty just touching them. Eww. inch:

So, if you want a laugh, watch Josh's video on how to make ff cultures...and notice how much he mentions mites & mite prevention! I think he knows he has a problem, but either he is unwilling to correct it, or just doesn't know what to do. (You said it yourself, Josh.."Throw them out!")

I ordered the same thing from Joshs and I just noticed yesterday that my culture also has mites! EEEEW!

Next time I will be ordering elsewhere...

Leeann said:

I ordered the same thing from Joshs and I just noticed yesterday that my culture also has mites! EEEEW!

Next time I will be ordering elsewhere...

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Leeann, my REGULAR ff cultures (not these that I ordered from Josh, which I am keeping WELL AWAY from mine!) don't have mites and I have a lot of them "brewing" right now, so just let me know next time you need them! I plan to make a good amount every few days so that I have them in various stages going at once. You live, you learn!

I contacted Josh about the problem and he promptly offered a refund, and said that these are "harmless to my animals"... Okay...but, he talks about predatory mites an awful lot! So I question further and he says that predatory mites are brown, and these are not (funny, I didn't MENTION what color they were in the complaint!)...so...he knows about the mite problem and is completely unconcerned. When he first offered the refund, I said I would gladly just accept some MITE-FREE cultures to replace them. He says the only place I will find mite-free cultures is from a laboratory supply place and they will be expensive. :blink: Okay, Josh...whatever! He again offered a refund, so this time I accepted. Let's see how long that takes...

I think Josh is an okay person to do business with, BUT...order cultures at your own risk and with full acceptance that they WILL have mites!

You all must of gotten bad fruit fly batches because mine have had no mites in them and been getting many cultures from joshsfrogs and I may be either lucky or just been spared the mites!

Ordered some springtails about 3 weeks ago. came quickly and alive and no complaints. First time ever ordering from them.

i got some about three week ago and i dont have mites i just have mold

massaman said:

You all must of gotten bad fruit fly batches because mine have had no mites in them and been getting many cultures from joshsfrogs and I may be either lucky or just been spared the mites!

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Or you have bad eyes, my friend!

I find it impossible to believe that he has any cultures that DO NOT have mites, at this point. Of course, the age of the culture may play into whether you see them or not, too. If you are getting fresh cultures and using them up before the 3-week mark, it may very well be that you won't see them...but they are there!

On the subject of my last purchase: Josh was true to his word and promptly refunded my money...ALL of my money, shipping too! :blink: I hadn't expected that!

I will probably purchase things like methylparaben & such from him in the future, but nothing that could potentially be contaminated with mites (cultures or media).

I ordered some ff's from Josh about a month ago. I thankfully didn't notice any mites, although as soon as I opened the box I saw mold in the center of the culture. I attempted to raise and maintain the humidity level as suggested on his website. Unfortunately after a couple of weeks all I had was a rather large deli cup of mold.

I'm willing to give Josh the benefit of the doubt that it was a fluke, but I'll probably being trying a few other suppliers first before I give him a second chance.