Dendrobates azureus courting and Egg Developement - Pics

[Philsuma]

Where da leaf litter ?

[joneill809]

Looking good. You're going to have some happy froglets in that decked out grow out.

Thanks Casper! This was fun putting this together. I appreciate the tip on Turface. Interesting stuff. I'm curious to see how this turns out with the springtail population.

[Ghostvivs]

The springtails will love it!

Looking good. You're going to have some happy froglets in that decked out grow out.

Thanks Casper! This was fun putting this together. I appreciate the tip on Turface. Interesting stuff. I'm curious to see how this turns out with the springtail population.

[joneill809]

Where da leaf litter ?

Shipment is on the way. I should have it tomorrow!

Tempted to go out back and pull some live oak leaves but not with all the locals spraying for mosquitoes this year. So I wait

[Philsuma]

I'm with you there. I always buy 'hobby leaves' picked by people who know exactly what they have going on, rather than for me to try to save a couple $$ and fish around for leaves in my area.

Scott M brought some awesome hand picked and cleaned, tiny live oak - about 10 gallons worth for only 3-5 per gallon I think. Dried Leaves are so important for Dart Frog husbandry.

[joneill809]

Here are more photos of my oldest tad - July 31 deposit. The coloration is coming in on its legs:[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Here's a nicer dorsal shot:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Feet on the cup wall:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Fuzzy close up of its mouth:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[joneill809]

Here's our second tad that sprung all 4 legs - from an 8/6 clutch. This one is plumper than the 7/31 tad.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Close up of face - sorry for the fuzziness - the cup walls are not great for macro photography...
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[joneill809]

I started a new daily photo log for a clutch from 10/17. Here's the first week of development images in summary format.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Hopefully this log will proceed farther - the clutches are doing better over time - this batch has 4 out of 5 deposited eggs developing. The one from last week has 5/6. Initially I was getting 1 to 2 per clutch of 4 to 8.

[joneill809]

First froglet came out of the water today!
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
It's been taking the hard way out, climbing up the floor of the cup. Here's the sequence of the second trip out:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[Philsuma]

Great pics Jim !

[joneill809]

Thanks Phil! Heh everyone is probably getting tired of the tad/froglet photos I peeked in the tank a few hours after these photos were taken and the tail was nearly gone. It will probably be completely gone by the morning. Amazing. Here are the full size images from the sequence I posted previously. They are a little dark and hard to see in the thumbnails:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
I have the cup on its side in the grow out viv. I figured I would let the froglet come out on it's own. I thought removing it by hand from the cup would stress it. Let me know if you guys think I should try to force it out of the cup, otherwise I'll just leave it be to hop out on its own...
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
I threw in another BIG batch of springtails tonight. My cultures using avocado rinds are doing phenomenally well - the rice based cultures, not so much. I dropped most over on the left side of the tank near a pod that is molding over nicely. I placed a few hundred on the sheet moss right out in front of the cups. My leaf litter is STILL in transit - going on 7 days since shipped...agonizing.

[Philsuma]

You can easily pick them out by hand and place them into the grow-out. I used to do that all the time almost as soon as they pop fronts...tail and all.

You didn't order the leaf litter thru Black Jungle did you ?

[joneill809]

That sounds ominous...Josh's for this batch. I did order some live oak from BJ but that will arrive next week. Is their an issue with BJs supply?

[Philsuma]

yeah...you could say that. I'll refer you to the Vendor Feedback section here.

[joneill809]

The two froglets are hiding in the leaf litter - not much activity - in fact, you can find them under the same leaf all the time (7/31 tad is in focus, the 8/7 tad is the blue blur in the foreground).
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Not sure they are eating - there are lots of springtails in the area, and I released about 12 melanogaster that have been wandering around the tank. A third froglet is toying with the idea of coming out of the pond, spending time on the edge then returning to the water. I placed a tadpole with two legs in the pond area today so we could watch it grow out in the vivarium.

Here's a shot of the leaf litter - froglets are hiding out in the pile on the right, next to the pond area:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

[DianeCarter]

Jim, I have enjoyed this thread so much, thanks for the great pix! My imitator tad has all 4 legs popped out, and is thinking of coming out of his cannister. I can't decide between leaving him with the parents or putting him in a grow out. Phil has said he leaves his with the mom and dad for quite a while, so I think either way is fine. Just can't decide. Next on my to-do list is to figure out how to use my camera to post my own pics on here! Have never learned how to do that, but my frogs might just give me the incentive to learn.
Thanks again for your great thread!

[joneill809]

Thanks Diane! It's interesting looking back at the progression of the thread. We've been pulling all eggs so far, though once we are overrun with froglets I may start seeing how the parents do with rearing on their own. Obviously (for me) it was much easier to get better photos by pulling the eggs. I'm still struggling with varied lighting conditions for many shots, but my macro photography is improving.

I'm curious how the changing temps and humidity will effect their breeding - we are nearing their first winter where the temps and humidity will drop (data logger is still running ) so they should cease their production if I cycle correctly. I've got to start paying attention to the egg log again - that will be an interesting data graph comparing egg production to temp/humidity conditions ...

Get that camera out! Can't wait to see your photos!

[joneill809]

The leaf litter is working exceptionally well...both froglets are hunkered down under 2 inches of leaves. I checked on them the past two days by gently lifting some of the litter. They look ok, but I have not observed any feeding. I'm just going to keep the springtails coming and hope for the best, so probably no froglet pics in the near future. Speaking of springtails, I setup another three cultures tonight for a total of eight. Been using 5 screw top quart jars; the three with avocado rind are booming, so I switched all 5 over to avocado and setup three more - I should have no shortage of springtails

The development of the 10/17 clutch is progressing nicely. Three tads are hatched and doing well, so I hope this daily journal will progress through the full morph. Here is the first two week summary:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]

Full clickable images are on our website here:
http://www.oneillscrossing.com/2012/07/14/laying-eggs/

[joneill809]

Leave it to a froglet to prove me wrong. I was walking by the viv last night and I spotted this well fed little guy in a brom out and about:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Here's a closer view showing its "rotundness":
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Subtle change in angle, but I liked this shot the best:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
The springtail population is going strong. They are easily visible in the viv, and given how chunky this guy looks I think he's getting enough to eat. I've also dumped a few (2 to 6) melanogaster in each morning - figured I'd give them something else to hunt. Here's a close up of some of the springtails climbing on the front glass:
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
That's Live Oak litter behind the springtails and Turface below for scale. The black is charcoal remnants from my cultures that made it through the rinse cycle during the seeding process...

[joneill809]

First froglet is doing well. It's out and about quite often, today it was scaling one of the broms in the rear of the tank.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]
Also have a third out of the water today. It hunkered down in the rear corner of the viv for a few hours, then headed off into the leaf litter.
[ATTACHMENT NOT FOUND]