"Golden" Dendrobates auratus - Sean Stewart's Frog Barn

[Natures Gems]

those are very nice looking auratus.thanks for sharing the photos.

tom

[Philsuma]

Dendrobates auratus 'Golden' - a 'real' population or 'Morph" kept and bred by Sean S. of Herpetologic in MD USA. I've seen them in person and they look pretty accurate to the photos above - kinda washed out and lemon-y. Not all at all bright or gold. The hobbyists breeding them are mainly from....wait for it....you guessed it....Germany.

[RichFrye]

Not always easy to quantify, but those are my very least favorite phenotype, for sure . Auratus have some spectacular colors and patterns , and those ain't them.
We all know why they are drooled after. Same reason people cherry pick for crazy attributes revolving around rarer colors.

[Philsuma]

Everyone wants a 'Golden' frog just like they want a 'Red' frog.

[RichFrye]

Everyone wants a 'Golden' frog just like they want a 'Red' frog.

...or a blue frog, or ANY frog which is not closest to the mean phenotype for any given breeding population.
Which is pretty funny because mean group phenotype breeding is really in most cases the best and most healthy breeding management. Frogs from far ends of spectrum's generally don't do as well as those where drift has settled the main population.

[Philsuma]

gallery/album.php?album_id=72

[pafrogguy]

The coolest part of those frogs are the bellies. I did not care for them at all until I seen the lavender spots all over the belly, then I thought they were nice. But a $250 auratus is not for me lol

[Philsuma]

Well, rumor has it that Sean either pared his collection way back or even sold most stuff. Wonder about the Goldies...

[pafrogguy]

I have heard that from several folks too. I asked them directly but never got a reply, so who knows. The goldens are out in the hobby now. He has been selling them for some time and I have seen a few folks bred them. DFC has been working with them for some time now too, so I imagine we will see them more regularly at some point. Sean had plenty of them though so they must not be too difficult to breed.

[RichFrye]

Imagine that, auratus not difficult to breed, lol.
From what I heard, initially a lot of his went over seas. Expensive frog that's easy to breed.

[Hayden]

I'm glad this thread was resurrected as I've been wondering about the fate of the "Golden" Auratus since I got back into the hobby earlier this year. You would think that they are an illegal frog the way they seem to "fly under the radar".

[Philsuma]

I heard they were actually hard to breed, as auratus go.

"under the radar'? These frogs were advertised on Sean's website. How do you think there was anything under the radar with them?

[goods]

I think he meant that they are not often talked about on the boards or elsewhere. If you take a look around, there are very few threads showing them off or providing much info on them.

[Hayden]

I think he meant that they are not often talked about on the boards or elsewhere. If you take a look around, there are very few threads showing them off or providing much info on them.

Yeah, that's exactly what I meant. I know Sean has them on his website, but who is actually buying these frogs from him (or anyone else for that matter)? Board members usually like to show off their (legal) new frogs, especially something rare, but that just hasn't been the case with the Golden Auratus. What gives?

[ecichlid]

Because it's not a geographical morph, it a albino of some sort, probably a xanthic morph or similar. A friend of mine who is a serious frogger in The Netherlands tells me that he and his friends have no interest in the "golden" auratus, as it is genetically a weak frog and there is no wild population of them. I agree, although I will admit I have no other evidence other than just looking at pictures.

If it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck...