Stu & Shaz's Dart Frog Room

[Philsuma]

F'ing superb !

I just may cork panel a few vivs, seeing how nice and easy they look.

"No Dot" Citronellas.....very nice.

[Stu&Shaz]

oh here's a top shot of one of the vivs,i thought i had covered this but anyway...in an effort to utilise uvb but not overdose the frogs i have taken this route,the back bit of glass is optiwhite,which lets uvb through,the front bit is normal. So basically the frogs can chose if they want to sunbathe or if its too much can go towards the front of the viv hunting without getting any rays.It is my intention to build all our vivs in this way from now on,where we are using LED's we will have a second uvb bulb in place towards the back.Maybe only on for some of the day,my hope is observation will tell me what to do.Where we haven't fitted optiwhite on top we will amend the doors and use a suplimentary bulb in front.

we have also amended our rainwater supply filtration,the top pot contains a pillow case to remove unwanted debris,the second pot a 3 layer filter,activated charcoal in the center,not quite there yet on this but good results so far,the drainpipe is easily removed so one can let the first rain be moved elsewhere,and then comence harvest,with the system flushed,now all we need is more rain,we are in the middle of the dryest spring for yonks here,but i had this wired just before the first rain for 2or 3 months here

take care all
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

F'ing superb !

I just may cork panel a few vivs, seeing how nice and easy they look.

"No Dot" Citronellas.....very nice.

ha made me smile,thanks kiddo,Phil I'm sure you know this,but its worth saying even if only for others, there are apparantly 2 types of cork tile,one uses glue the other uses heat and its own resins to stick the bits of cork together,its the LATTER we need to use for our vivs. plants seem to like the cork too mate once its got wet which takes a while,and i think they are getting some nutrition from it..but how i dont know,i have a fern here that puts out runners which freely root into it.
Got that old froghighway sorted i hope mate 8)
and the frogs
lol these are smudge dot citronella,seriously Phil,they do have a smudge where the dot would be,I've been told dots can produce nodots and visaversa,is this correct and they all come from Kassikima(spelling?) not 2 morphs,also is this correct! ha off again and does this also apply to blue and black legged citrons ie: still one morph,and one set of parent colours produce either or?

[boombotty]

I love the pum viv, lots of little "highways" for them to travel on. I'm really digging the rack also, looks really nice.

[dendroworks]

All looking really good Stu! Love the rainwater filters.

Regards
Marcus

[Stu&Shaz]

I love the pum viv, lots of little "highways" for them to travel on. I'm really digging the rack also, looks really nice.

thankyou,they are along way off yet the pums, that is,but its good to have this one up and running for a good while i think,more to do yet though,but want to think on it for a little while.
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

All looking really good Stu! Love the rainwater filters.

Regards
Marcus

Cheers Marcus,still a work in progress,but it functions.And mate thankyou for the constant guidance and "science " you chuck at us i would add the inspiration for the optiwhite viv tops comes totally from your reserch,goodonya mate,
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Well today almost exactly 2 years since we said we ARE going to build a dartfrog room and gonna breed darts this happened,ha and it had to be the frogs that have travelled here from over there(well ok nearly over there) actually i want to go and jump about outside like a 4 year old i'm so chuffed,I know they're only auratus and probably won't be fertile yet...young frogs an all but,its been a tough couple of weeks for us so this is huge,especially after all that graft,y'know we might just be on our way
may i present Zorro our super blue male and his first lot of POTENTIAL kids


we are pretty sure mum is actually the one frog that we never see as Shaz caught her in this very film canaster only yesterday,this was the only time we have seen her other than when we have lamped them in the dead of night just to see where they are(great tip Phil it stopped us worrying),funny old life
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Wonderful news ,our auratus male is fertile and already doing whats needed with the eggs,we found a group of 5 eggs yesterday,with well developed tads in they still have a slight curved appearance which leads me to believe they are not quite ready to hatch(but are moving almost with a swimming motion),they straighten don't they just before hatch? Second question do a darts first eggs ever not have embryos in? we found a third clutch that is quite dirty and appears like this. I am really going to have to get a move on sorting something out for them,first time in this adventure we have been caught on the back foot :roll: guys if we put glass jars in the vivs for the male to relocate the tads to ,how big should they be,and how much water should they contain? Trouble is i have no incubator to pull them to and am concerned that the room temp is a bit cooler than the viv,dropping to around 69F at lowest in the night.thanks in advance for any tips and answers.

regards.....a slightly panicked :lol:
Stu

[Philsuma]

I've lost a few clutches in an incubator - a little too hot. Room temp can work as long as it's even and no drops of 10-15 degrees.

[dendroworks]

A temp of 69f min overnight shouldn't be a problem - I'd pull them now and keep them at room temp - I do with most of my tads. They do take longer to morph but usually emerge larger which means feeding is easier.

Regards
Marcus

[Stu&Shaz]

I've lost a few clutches in an incubator - a little too hot. Room temp can work as long as it's even and no drops of 10-15 degrees.

cheers Phil,yup i've read about that,lol i've read everything i can in the last couple of days, the room has always been stable,we monitored it for months before embarking on this,just use an oil fired rad to pull the temp up a few degrees,as its always cold in there.Thanks mate
Ha oak leaves are soaking for some tad tea gonna pop em in little glasses for the mo.,once they have got to room temp in a tupperware,am wary of plastics slightly,so will make a rearing system from glass but this will take time,which i don't think i have.Phil I'm so chuffed its kind of a vindication that all this graft is in the right direction....WICKED
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

A temp of 69f min overnight shouldn't be a problem - I'd pull them now and keep them at room temp - I do with most of my tads. They do take longer to morph but usually emerge larger which means feeding is easier.

Regards
Marcus

Thanks Marcus,am going to do just that,ahh mate its like being a kid again rearing all those temporia tads that i used to 30 plus years ago, so i could stock all the local garden ponds with premorph froglets,ha but i was always prepared back then,doh.
your last point is intreguing though,very interesting.Well we'll see what happens i guess,just wish the time scale wasn't so short
thankyou sir
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Here ya go,a little one for you guys as you don't get to see this,so i thought you might like.
this is our male Domino in his viv for the second day,i missed the best shot but still this is kinda nice,and this beginner reckons we might have more on the cards soon.,he has a film can sorted up top, but the female appears to fat to make the climb,er and fell off,very funny...

and on the subject of humour why didn't Aero just jump,this had us in stiches he was properly stuck like this for a while :roll: :lol:

take care all
Stu

[blocker institute]

Our Highland bronze auratus took a couple attempts to gets it right and you're certainly gonna loose many before they begin to take. Clutch size began to increase as well. We just left them in a small dish in room temp water and so far so good. It's nice to hear someone else going through this at the same time!

As most all sentiments have already said, fantastic job on the build and care for your amphibians. It's always reassuring to see this level of care given and passion shown....thank you.

Jason

[Stu&Shaz]

Our Highland bronze auratus took a couple attempts to gets it right and you're certainly gonna loose many before they begin to take. Clutch size began to increase as well. We just left them in a small dish in room temp water and so far so good. It's nice to hear someone else going through this at the same time!

As most all sentiments have already said, fantastic job on the build and care for your amphibians. It's always reassuring to see this level of care given and passion shown....thank you.

Jason

Hi Jason,firstlythank YOU for the kind words,yeah passion for our amimals we have,and with all the help and our own homework,i really hope we can give them the care the deserve,our, meaning,belonging to all of us, amphibians are a very special part of nature's eco system,so we truely treasure them,especially in these times of hardship for them.
I have got to say i am amazed that our auratus eggs have been fertile from the second clutch,as you so rightly say our hatch rate is poor but given time i am sure it will greatly improve,the procession,of eggs are continuing,we have another clutch just laid and one about 8/9 days in with 4 out of 7 looking real good. ha and one solitary tad in the water,growing extremely well,taking live food so fingers crossed he gets past meta. without us seeing the dreaded sls. Time will tell!
I am trying to build a daily photographic record from the day they are pulled up to morph i will post the results later on here,so other novices have some form of reference,ha if i can just get 'em to hatch :lol:
thanks again
Stu

[Convertible]

Frankly, this has to be me favorite thread so far on the forums. For me, as a complete newb, those step-by-step pictures are very handy. Thank you for posting!

[Convertible]

I must admit, tho, I'm having a hard time reading what Stu is writing, but that's probably because of my english.

[Stu&Shaz]

Frankly, this has to be me favorite thread so far on the forums. For me, as a complete newb, those step-by-step pictures are very handy. Thank you for posting!

Thankyou,Convertable as a beginner i have had great advice here: Phil and the guys have helped us alot,so its very cool for us to be able to put a bit back in to the forum,especially for a novice.
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

I must admit, tho, I'm having a hard time reading what Stu is writing, but that's probably because of my english.

Well i think your doing well,comming from Budapest! Mate I struggle with English myself always have and We LIVE in England :roll: :lol:
Stu