# Colombia trip photos



## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

As promised, here's part one of the photos from my trip to Colombia. We didn't make it to any of the national parks or the Cali Zoo, but we did get to see the Universidad de Los Andes, as well as staying in a villa in the mountains for three days. I'm waiting on more pictures from my aunt, but here's what I have right now:

Got broms?
























Random beetle larva in a brom.... the metallic bronze doesn't show well from the cell phone camera 
















































































jet black isopod








Next few pics are for the orchid peeps


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

The large tree in the top middle was like a hummingbird gas station... they were EVERYWHERE.
















spider literally the size of a spread open hand... i mean, the thing's eyes were big enough to reflect the flash.......








Weird caterpillars that came out at night and would run from the flashlight
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa98/tclipse01/Vivarium
/IMG00230-20100812-1533.jpg








I noticed the "spit" hanging next to the butterfly, and remembering my middle school field studies in bio class, I looked through it with a twig and found some tropical spittlebug








These things were cool, out of curiosity I blew on them and they stuck out a Y-shaped appendage and started dripping brown juice.


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## fleshfrombone (Jun 15, 2008)

Sweet pics! I'm particularly interested in the orchids.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Tads deposited in a small stream








Not sure what this was but it reminded me of the Thai fruit "Durien"
















It's amazing how many plants grow straight off of rocks, some of them didn't even seem like epiphytes.








This was growing out of a rock too.








Some begonia


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

fleshfrombone said:


> Sweet pics! I'm particularly interested in the orchids.


Look at those again, I added two more just a minute ago. Give me a sec and I'll upload the frog pics as well.


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## billschwinn (Dec 17, 2008)

Those caterpillars sound like they were using the snake tongue act like the Swallowtail Butterfly larvae in the US.The swallowtails also emit a nasty smell when they do their act.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Pep? 
































Found this guy on an orchid stalk, never seen one with purple leg before
























Found this in our bedroom the first night:









And as promised, the froc pics................. 
Sylvatica

































Ranitomeya "bombetes"








Lehmanni








Histrionica
























2/3's of the collection
















Part of the Andean Ranitomeya hybrid study-








Aurotenia
















Bicolor/Terribilis for the Phyllobates hybridization color study
































private collection:









I'll update when I can get ahold of my aunt's pictures, she had some really good ones. Hope you all enjoyed.


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## fleshfrombone (Jun 15, 2008)

Jesus I'm drooling. That's really awesome. Thank you for sharing this.



gtclipse01 said:


> Look at those again, I added two more just a minute ago. Give me a sec and I'll upload the frog pics as well.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

Actually the first frogs are Histo's, not Sylvaticus, looks like Bullseye and the lighter morph used to be called something (camel??)else but i can't remember (they are the most sensitive of all Histo morphs). Those chocolate Aurotaenia's are unlike anything I have ever seen before, very nice. Bombete's definately a HOLY GRAIL SPECIES.
Great pics overall, moisture and bugs sure do go together....enough to suck the life out of you.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

Very nice pic of a bullseye histo. 

Michael


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

great pics thanks for sharing, now these frogs are at a thread in their natural habitat, why spend the time purposely hybidizing animals instead of keeping them pure?


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## JeremyHuff (Apr 22, 2008)

The insect larva is a Tipulidae fly. It has a siphon at one end for capturing prey.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Thanks for the info on the sylvatica/histo mixup, that's what I thought originally but the student who showed us around said they were sylvatica so I went with it. I should have just read the label on the tank  I'd edit it if I could.



Julio said:


> great pics thanks for sharing, now these frogs are at a thread in their natural habitat, why spend the time purposely hybidizing animals instead of keeping them pure?


It was part of a color vs. hybridization study being performed by the University... most of the tanks contained pure frogs and were labelled carefully to avoid mixing things up. I'm typically against hybrids as well, but things were done carefully enough to quell any doubts I would have. I really have no issue with it being done in the scientific arena for true research purposes, as I'm sure there is an end purpose to that study in terms of currently unknown information.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

Awesome pics!! Thanks for taking the time to post and share.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

I mentioned this in a post in the original thread so I figured I'd post it when I found it... this thing would look pretty good in a vert viv eh?


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## frogandtoad (Apr 24, 2009)

Hey man thanks for posting so many awesome pics from your trip! 
I bet you had a blast there. That PDF collection is amazing!


Did you ever get those photos from the student assistant?
I'm very interested in seeing those when you get them. Cool.


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## fleshfrombone (Jun 15, 2008)

That display is intense. Unfortunately for me I'm not a fan of heat and humidity so I couldn't live in a place where that's possible. And yeah having something like that in a tank would be sweet.


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## ESweet (Apr 13, 2009)

I'm jealous. My wife won't let me go to Columbia. According to a missionary friend of ours, "They will kidnap you and send for ransom. When they find out you have no money, they will kill you." A little dramatic, though a possibility - my wife won't let me go now. Maybe for the better =P. Thanks for the beautiful pics


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## afterdark (Jan 16, 2007)

Great photos of some awesome frogs and really interesting insects.

Any chance you have more 'bombetes' photos kicking around? They are one of my all time favourites!


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

frogandtoad said:


> Hey man thanks for posting so many awesome pics from your trip!
> I bet you had a blast there. That PDF collection is amazing!
> 
> 
> ...


This is the only one he sent, Ranitomeya bombetes-









I got in contact with my aunt, she's sending her pictures over shortly so I'll have a whole bunch more to post up pretty soon.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Update- still waiting on the pics from my aunt, I haven't given up though, she had some really good ones so I'm still trying for yall. 



ESweet said:


> I'm jealous. My wife won't let me go to Columbia. According to a missionary friend of ours, "They will kidnap you and send for ransom. When they find out you have no money, they will kill you." A little dramatic, though a possibility - my wife won't let me go now. Maybe for the better =P. Thanks for the beautiful pics


Kidnappings have dropped from 3,600 10 years ago to just over 220 last year.. The FARC (biggest guerilla group in the area) has for the most part moved to Venezuela, Colombia is pretty darn safe now. 

There is still some violence in the borderlands and small mountain villages, but Bogota and the other large cities are much safer, even at night. I treat it like I do NYC.... use common sense- don't walk down dark alleys alone or flash wads of cash in sketchy parts of town. Baltimore, Detroit, and a few other US cities actually have higher violent crime rates than Colombia these days. It's worth the trip.


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## varanoid (Jan 21, 2011)

Thanks for sharing your trip. As I've delved deeper into this hobby, I am finding the plant aspect more and more interesting. I absolutely love the frogs still, but my interests have certainly expanded.


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