Dart Frog husbandry advances - last few years

[Philsuma]

In the last 6-7 years...I personally have seen the following excellent trends skyrocketing among newer / entry level hobbyists :

1. Substrates of layers of Leaf litter replacing green moss beds (VERY good).

2. Isopods and Bean beetles use as supplemental feeders.

3. Clay and Organic backgrounds instead of Great Stuff / expanding foam and cocofiber.

There's a lot more,.....what else have you seen ?

[ChrisK]

Vitamin A supplementation, more testing and treating for bad parasites, clay substrate

[RichFrye]

****#1.....Quarantine on a level that no longer is based on simply watching your frogs eat for a few weeks. Although this is unfortunately still the norm for some. ****

No backgrounds. When I view a tank to check for eggs, health of frogs, froglets, or whatever, it's impossible to view 360 degrees with a background. No background allows for better (not prettier) viewing.

As a percentage, less mixing and asking of such. Probably because of banners, years and hundreds of posts against it, and Darwinism. The stupid are dying off. Or have left the hobby , since they got in as an impulse buyer to begin with ...hmmm.

I hope the less light thing kicks in with the newer froggers. It has advanced my breeding projects greatly.

Proving that if our darts are fed great (in every sense of the word) varieties of food , supplementation becomes MUCH less of a concern. In some cases almost non-existent. I'm not sure if that is new or recent, but I think more is coming out all the time to prove this. I'm not even sure it ever needed to be proven , but the fact that getting nutrients from a dust vs. actual prey is not optimum still needs to be voiced , often. Especially when none of us (including 'pros' ) know exactly what doses of what vitamins are optimal. And quite most likely , never will.

Better, still not great , import practises. Much due to the understanding that watching a froggy eat does not a healthy froggy make (go back to #1 advance) .

Better networking . Started by the interweb, although the interweb has caused as many problems as it has solved in the dart world. Maybe more. We never had rats the way we do now ten years ago. Never. Take note .

Rich

[Philsuma]

I think your #3 above is dead-on, Rich.

Al said something in another post that is EXTREMELY telling IMO and bears repeating:

If it wasn't for long, detailed passionate postings on "inflammatory" subjects, then a lot of people would have glossed over the issue, moved on and no education / information would have been relayed at all ! We should all engender a heated discussion or argument once in a while. Gets people thinking.

Occasionally there are whisperings...."So and so thinks he knows everything". "He writes things like he's an expert" blah blah......yeah, that can be applied to 98.99% of any posts I've ever read, ANYWHERE. I consider no one an expert - not even Ed K. Certainly not myself. What I DO know is that posting is important. Like Rich said, we are judged on our Body of work. Our longevity. Our staying power, Our commitment to the hobby. How much we go out of our way to help others. The information that we pass along in all it's forms. Two vendors side by side selling frogs....I'm going with the one that exceeds the other in all of the above comments.

Post.

Post often.

Even if your post is only a short discussion about your observations and theories on why your frog blinks it's eye sometimes, when it eats.

How valuable is Kim's photodocumentation on the Imitator metamorphosis, for instance ? You tell me.

[JJuchems]

A few more improvements:

Availability of commercial, front opening terrariums.
Better and more supplement options.

Vast improvements in digital cameras SLR, SLR LIke, and Point and Shoot provide a secondary hobby and better opportunity to capture the beauty of frogs and set-ups.

[RichFrye]

Vast improvements in digital cameras SLR, SLR LIke, and Point and Shoot provide a secondary hobby and better opportunity to capture the beauty of frogs and set-ups.

Yes, absolutely. And the ability to post the digital pics on line with ease.


Rich

[JJuchems]

In the last 6-7 years...I personally have seen the following excellent trends skyrocketing among newer / entry level hobbyists :

2. Isopods and Bean beetles use as supplemental feeders.

As alternative food sources are good for the hobby, I have the fear that irresponsible hobbyist are just as irresponsible with their feeders leading agricultural pest will be released and illegally transported to areas of the country where they are banned. This could lead to nationwide bans. Bean beetles are great size feeder and easy to culture for our hobby, but are major agricultural pests in parts of our country.

[Michael Lawrence]

Definitely the advancement and use of all micro fauna. I would also throw in the advancement in plant knowledge for most hobbyists as ten yrs ago most of what I saw was vivs with a layer of sphagnum with a piece of wood and some pothos. The advancement of the vivs in the way of a drain has been a huge help as well.

Michael

[dynekevin]

Any chance someone could direct me to a good clay method tutorial?

[Philsuma]

Any chance someone could direct me to a good clay method tutorial?

Michael (D3monic) has a bit of a tut post in one of his threads....gotta try to find it.

hmmmm....on second thought. Can I get someone to post a really "big" clay thread and I'll sticky it.

We need it....