Stu & Shaz's Dart Frog Room

[Stu&Shaz]

Well the long wait is nearly over,in a few days we'll know whether the one thing that is been our only dread with this hobby is going to manifest it self or not. As you all know we keep mysteriosus,i realise you guys can't,ours are captive bred here in good ol blighty. But there seems to be a problem with morphing out the early frog;ets,i can't find a sinlge person that has not had problems with sls,so mad beginner that i am i have played a hunch,that these frogs need uvb, an aquaintance that i'm privalidged to speak to recokons maybe more than any other darts i have different levels of this lighting running and early batches of tad are split betwixt them,we have also fed them alot of wild live grub,you more experianced folks will have a better idea what you are looking at than me,but it doesn't look to different to us than our superblues at this stage anyway it has 2 front legs so thats a huge start

fingers crossed for the next few days guys...scarey stuff
Stu

[phelsumaman]

Right buddy, looks good to me......

I'm not an expert though, you're gonna need to wait for that tail to recede & the transition to land to take place. If I were you I would be happy with what you have now though. Am keeping everything crossed for you chap

[RanaVenenosa]

Hi Stu
Enjoy your posts - especially keeping up with your Auratus and Mysteriousus. Hang in there, if it were easy it wouldn't be as rewarding eh? Sorry cant be of much help on those mysties, but I am cheering you on. Best of luck to you.

-Scott

[Stu&Shaz]

Right buddy, looks good to me......

I'm not an expert though, you're gonna need to wait for that tail to recede & the transition to land to take place. If I were you I would be happy with what you have now though. Am keeping everything crossed for you chap

yup well chuffed Ben, still in with a fighting chance,as you have seen the mysties are no where near as powerful leg wise as the auratus,plus there will be another in the next few days from the gizmo.I'm able to walk across the room and compare with another 3 auratus that are just in front Ben,it does look promising,but we'll know for sure once its trys to walk as you say.
We'll see me old mate
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Hi Stu
Enjoy your posts - especially keeping up with your Auratus and Mysteriousus. Hang in there, if it were easy it wouldn't be as rewarding eh? Sorry cant be of much help on those mysties, but I am cheering you on. Best of luck to you.

-Scott

Hey Scott thanks for the support mate,my hope is that we can really get these going,and then find some project to help out there wild brethren,and chuck some of the proceeds back,they are endearing little frogs,extrodinarily bold,courship is wonderful,the call abit like a comb rasp.Ours do circuits of the viv him calling and often more than one lass following,stroking him,inspecting all the film cans off the ground,untill they decide where they will lay.Eggs tads are very small ,especially tads,compared to auratus and they develope so slow,in comparison. They seem less inclined to nail mossi larvea,but are cool with bloodworms live once they get a bit bigger. It will be a massive thing if these early ones come goodfor us at such an early stage in our dart breeding escapades,much to learn yet,but for a few months of keeping and living these frogs,its bewildering to see what has happened here,thanks again for your kindness,much appreciated
Stu

[RanaVenenosa]

I saw pics of some of the known habitat for Mysties... No doubt this may not be what it looked like a 100 yrs ago, but sure makes it challenging to determine best husbandry practices. Has anyone from dendrobates.org done any long term observation? I am just thinking since they visited the place they might have some inside scoop you know... I haven't had any motivation to write them, but just a thought.

-Scott

[Stu&Shaz]

I saw pics of some of the known habitat for Mysties... No doubt this may not be what it looked like a 100 yrs ago, but sure makes it challenging to determine best husbandry practices. Has anyone from dendrobates.org done any long term observation? I am just thinking since they visited the place they might have some inside scoop you know... I haven't had any motivation to write them, but just a thought.

-Scott

I'm sure their habitat has changed much,much clearing for agriculture.i don't know about what if any long term projects are going on,i'm so stretched at presant,very much taking it one step at a time,i have to get the frogs sorted first then find an application,some friends here are working on something,but i don't yet know what exactly. Another contact at one of our establishments might be able to help in time.First i have to get them ootw and then rear them,all of this is happening much faster than we novices thought would take place Scott,our plans were simply to keep them going this year, and learn how this dart keeping works. we had not really thought too hard about breeding anything. I'm trying to cut the feed back and dry them up abit because we would like to not ask too much of them but at presant they haven't heard our pleas,although the auratus do seem to be laying a bit less frequently.Wish we had more experiance of the actual frog keeping at the moment. But for sure if this little guy comes good and his kin follow suit i am gonna have to step up my game on the, consevation project side,
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

better pics of above


and back to that viv here's the rocks and those panels






and finally here is a finished panel with some detail in the later pics of how it will overlap the cork,usual method epoxy and subs for coverage



used abit of masking tape on the rock where they are close to enable me to work at speed,i would give more detail of method but no time to with epoxy wanting to dry and much to do
regards
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Off again,a wrap up of this background....
panels siliconed in place edges worked in,with subs mix (bone dry) silicone,and a bit of damp wood for shaping the silicone...no mess,


the whole thing

this is the dry run eventually only 4 rock siliconed in place,this will make for an easy strip down on a disaster,see i told ya it gave me some headaches...this was all thought about from the off,so plants? roots will add any extra stabilty,which honestly is not needed but it gives me peace of mind


and a top view which we wont ever see but it give abit more info

there is another bit of wood intregal to this well actually 2 but you'll see them later yup all wood good ol' english oak
seeya
Stu

[Philsuma]

Looks good Stu....like the tired effect. Rocks tend to break up plain old backgrounds and you pulled it off nicely. Another superb viv !

[Stu&Shaz]

Looks good Stu....like the tired effect. Rocks tend to break up plain old backgrounds and you pulled it off nicely. Another superb viv !

cheers mate,its still a bit flat at presant but the planting should,er,well bring it to life,just gotta finish the glass work now and get it in place without braking it then off again,gotta keep banging away now we have a plants space crisis of emense proportions and winter is hunting me,
keep up the great site work buddy tis much appreciated
Stu

[Stu&Shaz]

Ups and downs of dart keeping,well finally we got 3 little mysties out all good legs but unfortunately lost 2 after around a few days,life been clattering us abit of late which is why not as precise as usual,simply put i don't think they started feeding,but one is still going so we might still win i guess.This was really hard for us both,i know its livestock,have looked after animals for yrs,but so far we haven't lost anything other than baby tadpoles less than a week old, and we thought the big hurdle was getting good legs,its difficult to know whether this was just something that was meant to be or some inadequacy on my/our part,with one still going it becomes more difficult to pin down,i will say that one was a bit heavier maybe going into morph,and possibly i removed the water a bit to quick,both possiblities i have addressed with a slightly different approach to the next one which is comming through now.
Our citronella male has started calling i'm real chuffed as i thought maybe i wouldn't be able to hear it,drummer an all.
Ha slowly but surely this beginner is learning his trade,the group hug pic i posted of the leucs was a good call,2 of those 3 pictured have presented us with our first eggs ,ha and they are fertile too, stunned we have 4 that are showing promise they are wriggling now,i didn't expect a hatch,but ya never know,strange things happen here.We now have around 14 little auratus growing like little weeds,stunning colours too,and 3 more comming ootw as we speak,sorry no pics my computed packed in and lost alot of stuff,my son as given me this lapdancing thing :roll: but i prefered the old one with the clockwork AND A BIG KEYBOARD that i could see. We'll try and get the cannon softstuff into this soon and then you might get some new pics,
take care all
Stu

[fieldsmith]

Hi Stu,
So after months of jealously drooling over your pics of the Ficus pumila var. quercifolia I was finally able to get some myself. In your experience, what are the keys to success with it? Essentially, I am aiming for it to cover 3 sides of my tank which are covered in clay.
Thanks,
Field

[Stu&Shaz]

Hi Stu,
So after months of jealously drooling over your pics of the Ficus pumila var. quercifolia I was finally able to get some myself. In your experience, what are the keys to success with it? Essentially, I am aiming for it to cover 3 sides of my tank which are covered in clay.
Thanks,
Field

Great that you have some,its a fabulous plant,What form is it in a pot? if it is,then either put the whole pot in an empty viv or in a propergator,not too much light but enough to get it growing,keep the humidity up.as the plant grows under these conditions,you'll notice it will tip root,ie little white roots appear place a pot beside the first lay these stems on top,once they have rooted into it,snip them off,just cutting side of a leaf.
you now have a baby plant put this little guy right at the base of your vertcal surface into your substrate,if you plant these little fellas horizontally,they tend to put vertical shoot up but keep the first horizontal with pins so as to get maximum coverage
and you still have your original,plant uncontaminated,and producing many kids for your other projects,oh don't tell anyone this is top secret .I bought one she's still going and i have got to use a couple (understatement) in the vivs. So back to your viv,your one plant will produce several of these so one can plant many to get the coverage you desire.I just have a hunch that if they can get their roots onto a clay background they might be a superb way of stabilising it as they will knit it together and create a micro climate behind the leaves,which i guess is what you have already thought of.!!!
These are not the quickest growing plants,not like pumilla,but when they are where they like the conditions they are real doers,as you've seen.
I can just pin cuttings,with roots, to the cork and they will take but they must not dry out,
They seem quite tolerant of wet conditions but do best with a free- er draining sub.
Finally look out for the versions from Equador and Columbia,slightly different leaf shape, and very different but very similar in that all the above apply panama,the last doesn't grow "tight" to the background like the others but is still a stunning plant
my arms falling off
Stu

[fieldsmith]

Thanks so much Stu! I got two 3" pots, so I'm hoping that I will be able to have enough. The ones that I put into the clay are already popping off small new leaves so I'm feeling ok about them so far. My idea was to just do cuttings from the originals, so it sounds like that may be the best idea.
Thanks again!

[Stu&Shaz]

Field i was so wrapped in trying to answer i forgot to say thanks...cheers dude!!
first luec eggs

and one the way,stunned!! look for those little eyes,

some super blue kids




tiny tiny mystie doing the classic mystie stalk
oh and that viv in the rack with proper lighting awaiting plants

close up of that bit of wood that will act as a planter,for er a quercifolia :roll:

and the viv in the rack,

very soom i will show you our citronellas and how they like to mess with us,
take care
Stu

[frogfreak]

Looking good guys!

You've got a pile of work done this year.

[Stu&Shaz]

Looking good guys!

You've got a pile of work done this year.

Nibbling at way at it Glen,i would like to have been a bit further on by now,as far as the vivs go,but learning all the tad related skills,have slowed progress somewhat,but we wouldn't have it any other way,can't say we do much else though,work frogs work frogs,all good
thanks,hope your doing well
Stu

[frogfreak]

The same thing happened to me. I was doing great on the frog room and then the frogs decided to start breeding. Then things came to a grinding halt. I did get the new rack built over the winter, but am at a stand still right now. I'm looking after all the tads and froglets from this years breeding...

[Stu&Shaz]

The same thing happened to me. I was doing great on the frog room and then the frogs decided to start breeding. Then things came to a grinding halt. I did get the new rack built over the winter, but am at a stand still right now. I'm looking after all the tads and froglets from this years breeding...

its the one thing i really missed big style whilst doing the research Glen,i guess every novice thinks,"if i can just keep them alive for that first year,the breeding will come later,and anyway that's something that happens to experts not me,"
I'll lay a bet that there are alot of guys that come into this work hard on the homework,finally set to on their room build,get so far give in to temptation/can i really keep these charming animals ,get some frogs and then suddenly,there are lots little guys with tails swimming around,and total bewilderment sets in exactly like us,its wicked and frightening at the same time.
Glen this is my first season,how the hell does one judge how many springtail cultures one will need,etc., i'm pretty sure we're are approaching everything with massive overkill,but i just can't bare the thought of,being found wanting,,another season and i'll have some parameters to work to,ha but not yet,so many variables with each set up to figure out first.My one big result Glen is the tad gizmo,its such an easy way to rear tads,and so far utterly without a hitch,if i can figure out where i could put them i would make multiples of this unit.I wouldn't want to go bigger than this 24 tad unit,because of the potential disease risk taking out many,but damn its effortless,to manage.So far,touching wood!!! We haven't lost anything in the unit,no sls either,despite total expectation with the mysties,of loosing many to this.Every auratus that has come through is still going ,i now just have to work out why i lost 2 of the first 3 mysties that morphed. We are not far off as one is still going ,but they are much smaller and more fragile than the auratus,so of course demand more expertise,as we speak another is taking its first steps right behind it is more,gotta get this right now,it knocked the hell out of us loosing those....can't be doing with that!!
take care buddy
Stu