Today in the frog room

[Rhino1]

I haven't been on the boards in ages so a bit of an update on my wtf's, so far, so good everything seems healthy, the little tree frogs aren't so little anymore they are green eating machines lol, the pothos is huge and doing it's thing and the isopods are flourishing but I think they have been getting underneath and damaging my moss?
I have noticed some quite big, dark coloured springtails in the enclosure recently too, not sure if these grew from the little white ones I put in there.
Anyways here's some updated pics of of my Kung Fu frogs.
Cheers for looking

 

[pannaking22]

Dude, get some springtail cultures going and keep adding them on a regular basis at times like this when you can see you need it, how's the drainage under your balls, do you have a drain tap on the enclosure?

I've got a few cultures set and have been adding some every couple weeks, but I'm wondering if I'd started off with too few so they had been having to play catchup. I'm going to try adding batches weekly so they have a better chance to really take off. Now whenever I look in the tank I can usually find a few running around on the surface or in the substrate. Been slowly adding more and more dwarf white isopods as well, but the frogs really seem to enjoy hunting those. It doesn't seem to be spreading much more, so hopefully I've turned the corner here. Plants and frogs still look happy, so I figure if that's the case I haven't screwed up too badly (fingers crossed). The balls looks good, almost all the mold has disappeared. I don't have a drain tap (the main "oh crap" moment I had after I finished the tank), but there's rarely any standing water at the bottom.

 

[moricollins]

Ranitomeya uakarii with tadpole in its back. Says there should be more eggs somewhere in the tank but I don't see them. These guys don't take care of their young so I'll need to search through and find the eggs.

 

[Frogdaddy]

Do you have deposit sites in their viv?

 

[moricollins]

Do you have deposit sites in their viv?

Yep. A couple of them. The male doesn't use them much in my experience.

 

[Frogdaddy]

Yep. A couple of them. The male doesn't use them much in my experience.

I've only kept one species of Ranitomeya. R. ventrimaculatus, but I let them deposit tads in film canisters filled halfway with water and then just collected the tads out of the canisters. Sucked them up with a turkey baster, then right into tad cups.
Why year through the viv looking for eggs was my thought.

 

[moricollins]

I've only kept one species of Ranitomeya. R. ventrimaculatus, but I let them deposit tads in film canisters filled halfway with water and then just collected the tads out of the canisters. Sucked them up with a turkey baster, then right into tad cups.

My ranitomeya sirensis will deposit them into cups but last time my uakarii just dropped them somewhere I couldn't find and the tadpole didn't morph out

 

[mickiem]

My Ranitomeya sirensis tank (36x18x24") View attachment 361825

Gorgeous! Lucky Ranitomya!

 

[moricollins]

Found my three Adelphobates galactonatus nestled in a sleeping nook behind the cork background this morning.

Tight quarters but they seem comfortable ...

 

[moricollins]

Ranitomeya uakarii getting started on their day.
http://instagr.am/p/CGztSBUMgQQ/
Edit: not sure why this didn't embed properly...

 

[moricollins]

Another froglet out of the temporary grow out and into the froglet tank.

 

[Thekla]

Hi guys! Long time no see... sorry. I'd like to say I was extremely busy but the truth is, I wasn't really in the mood to get online. And I'm still not sure if I'll be able to keep up with things, guess I'm less addicted than I thought.

Anyway, I'm here to get some advice concerning my R. variabilis southern. If you remember, I have four of them (1:3) and they seem to be doing really good so far except for one girl. I mean, she's still fine as well but alas, she's also extremely chubby, probably even quite obese. Whether she is just hoggish or it's something else, I don't know. She's active just not as much as the others, and she resides mostly in the upper parts of the viv. So, for a couple of weeks, I've planned to get her out to monitor her better and put her on a diet. I had set up a temporary tank (a shoebox with sphagnum moss, leaf litter and some pothos) and today, I finally had the opportunity to get her out without a fuss. But now, I'm not really sure how to proceed...



How much do I feed her? How often should I feed her? And how long does it usually take until I can put her back to the others (if it's just a matter of too much food)?

The others look normal though... this is the male:



The other two females are a bit wider (which should be normal) but not as near as fat (sorry, girl) as "Chubby".
I usually feed them about 30-40 D. melanogaster/3 times a week. Each feeding I use either Repashy Cal+ or Repashy Vit A (about 2-3 times a month).


The other issue I have are the eggs of this bunch. Since July they're laying clutch after clutch, about 3-5/month, but none of the eggs seems to develop further.
On approx. day 4 or 5 they look like this and then they go bad.



What is wrong? I thought maybe it's the temperature. It gets down to 70F at night and up to about 74-75F in the day. Is that not warm or constant enough? I mean I can't imagine it being a problem with the vitamins as they surely get enough, right?
I also get new vitamins every 6 months and discard the remaining powder. It's also kept in the fridge. Do you have any idea why the eggs won't develop?

Thanks a lot in advance, guys!!!

 

[moricollins]

Hey thekla, welcome back.

For the overweight frog: I, personally, wouldn't really do anything about it. Your can try feeding it less, but if it's in a smaller container it has less room to move and get exercise to use the calories it gets from its food. So maybe it might not help?

For the eggs: I really have no idea what to offer here. Everything looks good and sounds right to me. Maybe they just need more time to get themselves going properly.

@Frogdaddy @Dandrobates thoughts?

 

[Dandrobates]

Hmmm. Well firstly. welcome back we missed you! I’ve been busy with my podcast so I haven’t been on here much either. I don’t have too much experience with ranitomeya but I will say that there is normal variation between individuals so it’s possible she is just a husky girl. As long as she is not out competing her tank mates I wouldn’t worry per se. It would be interesting though to see if she does lose weight on a diet but since ranitomeya are so small I’d rather have a fat frog than a skinny frog. As far as the dud clutches go welcome to the club. It happens to us all and it could be for any number of reasons. Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be. Just be patient. I wish I had a better answer but I’ve gone through the same thing. You could try raising the temps up for a bit or increase the misting. It’s anyone’s guess.

 

[Frogdaddy]

@Thekla I have some questions just to get a better picture.
Fat female: You mentioned she hangs out in the upper parts of the tank, where is she in the hierarchy of the female frogs? Where do you feed them, on the floor or in an elevated spot? Is she breeding?

Bad eggs: How old are the frogs? How long have they been breeding? Is this their first egg laying cycle? Are the eggs incubating in their enclosure or are you incubating them artificially? Are all the females laying?
It sounds like your supplement rotation is working fine. Just a few times a month with the Repashy Vit A.

 

[Thekla]

First of all, thanks a lot for the warm welcome back! And while I can't promise I'm back for good I'll try my best.

Hey thekla, welcome back.

For the overweight frog: I, personally, wouldn't really do anything about it. Your can try feeding it less, but if it's in a smaller container it has less room to move and get exercise to use the calories it gets from its food. So maybe it might not help?

For the eggs: I really have no idea what to offer here. Everything looks good and sounds right to me. Maybe they just need more time to get themselves going properly.

@Frogdaddy @Dandrobates thoughts?

I'm just worried because I hear so much about obese frogs and how it might be dangerous for them. So, by pulling her out I thought it's the only option I have to actually feed her less than the others... I mean I don't want to starve them all.
As for the eggs... maybe I really have to be more patient.

Hmmm. Well firstly. welcome back we missed you! I’ve been busy with my podcast so I haven’t been on here much either. I don’t have too much experience with ranitomeya but I will say that there is normal variation between individuals so it’s possible she is just a husky girl. As long as she is not out competing her tank mates I wouldn’t worry per se. It would be interesting though to see if she does lose weight on a diet but since ranitomeya are so small I’d rather have a fat frog than a skinny frog. As far as the dud clutches go welcome to the club. It happens to us all and it could be for any number of reasons. Sometimes it just isn’t meant to be. Just be patient. I wish I had a better answer but I’ve gone through the same thing. You could try raising the temps up for a bit or increase the misting. It’s anyone’s guess.

Maybe you're right, maybe I worry too much and she's just that, a chubby girl. I don't see her competing with the others.
It's a relief to hear I'm not the only one when it comes to bad clutches. It's just frustrating.

@Thekla I have some questions just to get a better picture.
Fat female: You mentioned she hangs out in the upper parts of the tank, where is she in the hierarchy of the female frogs? Where do you feed them, on the floor or in an elevated spot? Is she breeding?

I haven't seen any hierarchy at all but I can't be certain as I'm still new to frogs and I might not know what to look for. I can only say that I don't see any obvious quarrels between them. As for the feeding, I sprinkle most of the flies across the ground and a few in the upper parts onto leaves and such. I'm almost certain my little Casanova is breeding with all his ladies.

Bad eggs: How old are the frogs? How long have they been breeding? Is this their first egg laying cycle? Are the eggs incubating in their enclosure or are you incubating them artificially? Are all the females laying?
It sounds like your supplement rotation is working fine. Just a few times a month with the Repashy Vit A.

They should be about 12-14 months oow. I got them in April at about 6-7 months and they're breeding since July, so, I'd assume it's their first cycle, right? I tried leaving the eggs for a week in the viv and then pull them but also pulling them out the next day, but it makes no difference. I'm kinda reluctant to leave them in completely as I'm worried I won't find the tads after he deposits them. They have three different film canisters they use as egg-laying sites, so, I was always thinking one site for each of his ladies. So, yes, I believe they're all breeding. It's sometimes hard to see which of his girls is in there with him.

Does this help?

@all Thanks a lot for chiming in.

 

[Thekla]

Look at what arrived this morning!!!



I managed to free some space, and you know what that means... new frogs! YAY!
It's a 24x18x18" Exo Terra that hopefully will work well for a pair of D. tinctorius azureus. And now, the planning starts. So many possibilities...

By the way, I decided to put my chubby girl back to the others. I felt sorry for her and as you said it might just her disposition of her being a chubby one. I mean, she's fine otherwise, she's active and she eats and she breeds (right after me putting her back, I guess, my little Casanova missed her, too ).

 

[Thekla]

Finally! Two eggs of the last clutch of my R. variabilis seem to develop nicely so far. They are about 6-7 days old. But as you can see the others are going bad again. I'm not sure I'd be able to separate them... should I??? Or just leave them like they are? @moricollins @Frogdaddy @Dandrobates

 

[moricollins]

I've never tried separating eggs, so I don't have any advice for you.

Looks to me like the male isn't actually fertilizing all the eggs, he may still be "getting the hang of it" ....

 

[Frogdaddy]

Have you tried spraying the eggs with a dilute solution of methyl blue? It's an old timers aquarium medication for treating ich. It's also great for keeping eggs from developing fungus.
I mixed some in a spare spray bottle and just mist the eggs lightly every couple of days. Separating the eggs is harder than you realize since they all stick together but it can be done.