Dart Den

Stu, that looks great!! I don't know whether I'm more jealous of the lens or the frog! :mrgreen:

(actually, more jealous of the the frog -- but that's a great shot!!)

Chuck Lawson Wrote:Stu, that looks great!! I don't know whether I'm more jealous of the lens or the frog! :mrgreen:

(actually, more jealous of the the frog -- but that's a great shot!!)

Thanks Chuck,ha he is a little frog to be jealous of that's for sure. Every now and then a little frog comes along that is just special.Chuck i know he's a cracking looking little chap ,but he's just such a character,stomping about shouting his little heart out all day,by far our noisiest frog.not only that but already has fathered kids here,first i thought we had one,then 3 now at least 4 are growing well,I'm more than a little taken by him.

This has all happen in their QT tub in that gizmo i cobbled up for them,the bit of wood ,we took a hole saw to. Meanwhile i'm carefully putting together their viv,its insitu now almost ready to plant.i'm just washing it all through and taking my time.Moving them is going to be really tricky,when the viv is ready ,
thanks again

Stu

Sounds like quite a character -- "shouty frog" :-)

As always, it's a darn shame we don't all live without a customs inspector between here and there...

Chuck Lawson Wrote:Sounds like quite a character -- "shouty frog" :-)

As always, it's a darn shame we don't all live without a customs inspector between here and there...

It is the single hardest thing for me Chuck,that you're all so far away. shouty frog he is and his kids although just tads seem to be doing great ,so mum must be doing her part too.

We have problems getting female pums here it seems a good while back Shaz and i got some red frog beach,finally they are all together out of QT tubs,they may well get split up again,but after thinking for a few hours that we had all males because of the agression showed to all others by a tiny male,Shaz and I got to witness proper pum courtship and the prelude to eggs,laid right at the front of the viv. I managed to sneak a few pics before leaving them alone,here's dad,hmm he is meant to be a female hock:

mum and dad in their laying spot just prior to eggs very cool watching him clean up the leaf and call her back after I stuck the camera in there and scared her off(idiot)



I'm not yet sure of anything ,ie whether they are fertile etc,but having a girl that is laying is one hell of a good start
oh for some fun a few picture of some of our kids
normal panama special auratus followed by a genetic anaomoly that shouldn't be happening and is,probably a testiment to a small gene pool,nice and strong like all of them ,but not really what one desires.what is interesting i guess,is you'll see pics in a mo. of how,their colour changes as they get older



same again normal and....



Mystie watching Shaz about to feed,yup they have worked out those big faces bring grub and look/watch us ,even if it means nearly falling over,clever they are!!!!


couple of attachibakka kids





take care ya'll

Stu

Very nice, Stu! Are those pics with your new lens?

Chuck Lawson Wrote:Very nice, Stu! Are those pics with your new lens?

All i think Chuck, taken when i got it i've not used one as fast/wide open as this,so i treated myself to an hour of downtime messing with depth of field today,by no means mastered mate,a work in progress.But the lens is fabulous,especially considering what I paid,the weak link as always is me ! Ain't that the way of it ,but good tools inspire one to be better,to full fill the latent potential ,work to be done my friend....work to be done!!

Stu

Stu&Shaz Wrote:All i think Chuck, taken when i got it i've not used one as fast/wide open as this,so i treated myself to an hour of downtime messing with depth of field today,by no means mastered mate,a work in progress.But the lens is fabulous,especially considering what I paid,the weak link as always is me ! Ain't that the way of it ,but good tools inspire one to be better,to full fill the latent potential ,work to be done my friend....work to be done!!

I think we're laboring in the same trench, Stu :-) Between trying to get better with the gear, and trying to get better with Lightroom, it's been seriously cutting into my sitting around doing nothing time :mrgreen:

You probably already have this (or have it down cold already), but somebody passed me a link to this depth of field calculator the other day, and it was a big help for me; I wasn't realizing the extent to which DoF narrowed as the distance to the object narrowed, and was puzzling over a shot where the effective DoF was about 3mm, even stopped down quite a ways.

Hiya Chuck,
no I haven't got all this down,i've spent a bit of time playing again today.thanks for the DoF calculator,great link. for close up work of our frogs with said lens(100mm usm macro) it seems very much like i might need to use a flash to get the required amount of light ,either that or bang the ISO right up. Buddy ,ha ha,with just about anything, don't ever think you are patronising me or stating the obvious,just t ell me mate,there is always something that I miss . I'll be a beginner on everything for ever and i'm cool with that.
Both labouring the same trench is cool mate,two spades will get the job done quicker
Bloody digital is so big,so all encompassing , what i'm really starting to notice because i know alittle on colour from paint is that i'm starting to see way more intensity of colour as I go through this:i could probably manipulate images with photo shop or such like,but that is not really my quest,I want 'em right at the start.
Totally appreciate the help and thoughts
thanks man!!!
best

Stu

Stu&Shaz Wrote:Hiya Chuck,
no I haven't got all this down,i've spent a bit of time playing again today.thanks for the DoF calculator,great link. for close up work of our frogs with said lens(100mm usm macro) it seems very much like i might need to use a flash to get the required amount of light ,either that or bang the ISO right up.

I'm there with you again; I got the bright idea of shooting a few portait shots of my boys and their wives/girlfriends to send to their grandfather for xmas, and ended up fighting my underpowered standard flash; if I diffuse it for decent lighting, the ISO climbs up to where the noise is annoying. Shooting closeup stuff is just that much worse; I've added researching doing some wireless remote flash to my "need to learn this real soon" pile.

Stu&Shaz Wrote:i could probably manipulate images with photo shop or such like,but that is not really my quest,I want 'em right at the start.

I hear what you're saying, but I have to say don't be be hesitant to add post-processing to your toolkit. I abhor seeing obviously manipulated images (the reef hobby used to be a real hotbed of this), but the right touch with the right tool can be astonishingly useful.

Shooting at the botanical garden last weekend it was dull, overcast, and no matter what I did in camera, the unprocessed shots were terrible and lifeless. I pulled the camera raw files into Lightroom though, adjusted the white balance, tweaked the contrast a bit, and you would never believe they were the same images -- they didn't look filtered and over-processed, they just looked (finally) like what I was trying to get. If you're shooting camera raw, about the only things that can't be improved substantially are focus problems and overexposure.

I'm just starting to learn Lightroom, but tools like it and Aperture are really capable of producing subtle quality results that don't look like they were run through a bunch of instagram filters... They're not a substitute for getting it in camera, but they can be way useful for those times when what you want is just out of the camera's reach...

Chuck thanks again for a great enlightening post, it is very cool to be thinking this through with someone else. What I've been messing with is pulling the shutter speed right back and working off a tripod,its slow and cumbersome,but slowly i think it might be yielding results.I have had no time for anything other than work these last few days,apologies for the slow response.
I grabbed this earlier today,my mate Tiger was happy to pose for me,which is very cool ,because he's not really been my mate for a while since I swabbed him for Rv and chytrid(got a chance from a guy here and took it) anyway things are back to normal and I'm forgiven it appears. Chuck i used a little led torch rather than a flash just to lift the black, which didn't bother my mate





Happy christmas to all at the Den thanks for your help time and encouragement 8)

Stu

Very nice, Stu! Tiger looks like a natural model :-)

Happy Christmas to you and yours!

To all while the night is still young enough, :roll: Happy new year ya'll

Just THANKS guys
Shaz and Stu

We are gathered today to show pics of..........
Bloody pums :roll:
RFB hmm well these are meant to be two females can't knock it though eggs are fertile and have disappeared





so we now have 2 different females breeding and i can't find a tad for love nor money,but the parents look fab and i'll sure we'll be ok
cem basti kids nearly there







all reared in the gizmo and now pulled as not happy trying to rear them in parental QT tub
first ootw a few days back

2nd ootw yesterday(now 3 out 4th in a couple of days i guess)





first ootw yesterday


cem basti viv planted and growing,look at all those film cans :lol: (ok the new cem basti viv,well I can't help that we didn't think they would ever arrive and then they did can i)




in the rack


another viv on the way



A rack slowly but surely being filled...quick am I not :roll:


Who knows how the pums will go ,but were off to a start anyway, that's the main thing

seeya
Stu

Those are looking great, Stu! I'm sure the RFBs will pull it together soon; looks like there's no shortage of roll models on hand for them :-)

Chuck Lawson Wrote:Those are looking great, Stu! I'm sure the RFBs will pull it together soon; looks like there's no shortage of roll models on hand for them :-)

Hey Chuck,
well my friend i think they are getting it together already. I just cannot find where the tads have gone. But that doesn't really surpise me in this viv. i'm as sure as one can be whist not actually seeing them be transported that they have been. Chuck, what came here seem to have been very very male heavy,so i'm very up beat to have 2 females ,both fertile and both producing viable tads....at least to hatch point any way. I was rushing last night my apologies if i gave the wrong impression,i just always take one step at a time and never take anything for granted. The father of the tads is quite small and pretty agressive I watched him wrestle, the second female to lay. I was utterly convinced that she was a he. I couldn't believe it when i saw him cleaning a leaf up for her and she laid right in front of me. We are both stoked about this. The first female to lay is still huge,so I'm hoping that is a sign she is feeding tads somewhere.The second lass is not quite so visable,so more difficult to monitor.
Thanks for the words dude it is a cracking little start,much to learn yet
best

Stu

Cemetery Basti kids,so far so good










Native mosses here are subject to a cold spell,it is oft said that they won't thrive under the continual warmth of a dart viv and for sure some don't!!.We have always thought there might be some that will thrive,this one is 2 years in,very slow to grow and didn't think much of the dry spell,but tis a lovely thing,We've been spot watering it this time around.


We can get a dry moss mix here its called epiweb moss mix,we often sprinkle some of this into native mosses,in case they do fail,that is exactly what has happened here,and a good while on this is happening


we are also running a little trial to see if we can get a good sheet of moss from the dry mix,it is very slow,but we do have progress,I'll grab some pics shortly. We have some black jungle sheet moss on the go again in little trials,so if anyone has any info or tips on growing this well We'd appreciate any advice.
take care

Stu

Congrats on the lil-un's! Gorgeous frogs for sure. The rack is looking awesome as well, hope new year is treating y'all splendidly!

fieldsmith Wrote:Congrats on the lil-un's! Gorgeous frogs for sure. The rack is looking awesome as well, hope new year is treating y'all splendidly!

Thanks Field and great to hear from you mate.Frankly we have had better starts to a new year , but ya know what they say ya can't keep a frogger down!! So we'll end this bugger better than we have started it.
Anyway buddy I hope things are going great for you and yours,oh got a sighting of the first baby RFB a couple of days back OOORRAA can't get a good picture though yet
take care bro

Stu

Looks great Stu! Thanks for sharing, its cool to watch your collection grow. New pumilio froglets are always exciting for me.

cbreon Wrote:Looks great Stu! Thanks for sharing, its cool to watch your collection grow. New pumilio froglets are always exciting for me.

Hiya Craig,
my humble apologies for the slow response,my Dad passed recently so it's been tough of late

Anyway we won't focus on that,we'll focus on the fact that we have at least 3 little red frog beach growing in viv and going great guns so far.We might just have four as we spotted a tiny fella last night,now either growth rates are different,or the second females kids are starting to morphout. Craig as one of the folks whom have continued to help us here with pums and having an affinity for these wonderful frogs it might be interesting to note that the cem bastis were pulled just before they came ootw and are being reared away from the parents,the red frog beach,are insitu with the parental group.

The RFB are being watched like a hawk as I am breaking all the "rules keeping them this way.Putting them all together was, we both felt, the only way we could be sure of finding out the sex of the 2 frogs that hadn't called. We have twofold backup in place, into which we will split if we see any loss of condition especially in the males. I do not think this will be a long term housing,but at the moment watching the group dynamic is fascinating.the dominant male is the smallest,but we are seeing the others getting more visible especially at laying time.
My goal was to have 3pr and keep separately.I am at the stage now where both females are looking after tads/eggs, so I don't want to do anything rash,until my arm gets twisted,at some stage, twisted it will be, i'm sure of that!! But so far so good,we have kids growing,I think morphing as I write plus i know parentage of the little ones. My hopes are based around trying to not mess anything up and rear some females,that we can then pass on to some other folks here whom are stuck with males only,betwixt us then we might just get them going here.
It's all a work in progress Craig,our first feeble attempt at trying to breed a frog properly ha ha and without the much cherished site data that I long for,good init :roll:
I'll try and get some pics up shortly I need to stop for a while and just talk with our frogs life has been far to busy of late,the only ones I have so far are awful,but the little RFB kids are wise to dad(me :lol: ) clonking about they hear doors opening and my voice and little folks are becoming bolder and ever more visible
regards

Stu