# Back from Peru - Photos Inside



## Devin Edmonds (Mar 2, 2004)

I got back from Understory Explorer’s first tropical frog tour earlier this week, what an awesome experience! It was all Mark said it would be and more. We saw over 30 types of dart frogs, including over 15 species (probably more), as well as a diverse assortment of other amphibians and wildlife. Some of the dart frogs encountered were species I’d never even seen photographs of before. There are many unknown and newly described frogs out there. When we keep dart frogs in captivity we become conditioned to thinking the species that are available to us are the only ones that exist, but there are many other fascinating frogs in this world than just those in captive collections. In addition to many of the lesser known species, we also located those more familiar to the hobby like Dendrobates imitator, fantasticus, ventrimaculatus, reticulatus, and Epipedobates trivittatus, to name a few.

The average day consisted of waking up early in the morning, putting on my boots, and heading out into the jungle to search for frogs. After hiking to a good location, Mark and Manuel would tell me to start looking, and we’d slow down our pace and start checking leaf axils, fallen logs, and debris on the ground for frogs. I think that finding frogs is an acquired skill. You have to know where to look, and how to catch them so that photographs can be taken. Without Mark, Manuel, or the guides I probably could have gone to the exact same forests to find frogs, but would have made it out after a day of looking with about a tenth of the finds that I had during days on this trip. 

This was Understory Explorer’s first official tour, and I was the only tourist, which meant we had the flexibility to drift from the itinerary on many days. We stayed in the town of Pongo de Cainarachi an extra day to go explore some forests nearby that Mark had never been to before, and made it back with photographs of new imitators, vents, and azureiventris. It’s incredible what’s out there. The azureiventris were one of my favorite finds, Manuel located a male about to deposit tadpoles in a depression on a fallen log, and nearby was a female too! Other highlights for me included finding variabilis, pongoensis, and duellmani, but I was blown away by it all. I strongly recommend holding back on that next group of frogs you desire, and instead saving your money to go see them in the wild. I can’t speak highly enough of Mark, Manuel, and Understory Explorer, it’s exactly what this hobby needs. Their tour really puts things in perspective.

I could write a book about this trip, but I’ll let it go now and just conclude this post with some of the many photographs taken, and a list of dart frogs encountered (I know I’m forgetting some, but it’s the best list I have in my journal). More photographs can be viewed at http://www.frognet.org/gallery/devinedmonds if you’re interested Thanks for reading,

E. bassleri - yellow
E. bassleri - orange
E. cainarachi
E. hahneli - type #1
E. hahneli - type #2
E. hahneli - type #3
E. pongoensis
E. trivittatus - green three striped
E. trivittatus - yellow three striped
E. trivittatus - green backed double striped

D. amazonicus 
D. duellmani
D. fantasticus - standard type #1
D. fantasticus - new type #2
D. fantasticus - banded type #3
D. flavovittatus
D. imitator - orange stripe San Miguel
D. imitator - yurimaguensis
D. imitator - intermedius plantation
D. imitator - intermedius banded
D. imitator - orange/green Tarapoto
D. imitator - orange near waterfall
D. reticulatus - standard
D. reticulatus - spotted
D. ventrimaculatus - orange
D. ventrimaculatus - San Miguel

A. femoralis - dark back type #1
A. femoralis - light back type #2

C. azureiventris

C. marchesianus
C. nexipus










Cryptophyllobates azureiventris carrying tadpoles









Epipedobates pongoensis









Epipedobates pongoensis









Epipedobates cainarachi









Dendrobates ventrimaculatus with thick yellow bands









One of my favorites, Dendrobates variabilis









Spotted Dendrobates reticulatus









A different vent at a new location with thin yellow bands and greener legs









Dendrobates imitator









Dendrobates imitator









Dendrobates imitator









Dendrobates imitator











Dendrobates imitator









Dendrobates flavovittatus









Dendrobates fantasticus









Colostethis nexipus









Bufo maragiriter sp.









Manuel, other Manuel, and Mark photograph cainarachi









Manuel searching for frogs









Waterfall near Tarapoto










Thanks for looking,


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## amphibianfreak (Jul 21, 2004)

Wow. I'm glad you had a great time. The pics are amazing


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## mbrutger (May 23, 2004)

Wow, fantastic pictures! Looks like an amazing trip!

Does anybody keep any of the other morphs of imitator? They are beautiful frogs, yet nobody seems to have any.


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## nburns (May 3, 2005)

Amazing pictures, thank you so much for sharing. It is so amazing to see all the different species and morphs out there. Glad you had a nice time.


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## Ryan (Feb 18, 2004)

OMG, I am gonna start saving now.... Those pics are amazing, can't imagine how much fun that must of been! I love the Colostethis nexipus , never seen anything like it!

Ryan


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2005)

OMG!!!!!!! :shock: Those pics were absolutely amazing! Epipedobates cainarachi is particularly colorful. Its like a Mantela and a Dendrobate in one!!


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2005)

I think it's really great that you took the initiative to go on this trip and to see things. I liked even more how your perspective on things must be different now. I really think everyone should at some point or another go see a Dendrobatid in the wild-- you really learn a lot and I think appreciate things more back at home. Really glad you had a great trip, and hopefully you can spark some more interest in others. Hope your frogs also made it in your absence and flourished.
j


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2005)

Awesome pics and report, Devin. I'm curious, though: has what you seen and observed at all change how you go about putting together setups to keep your forgs in?


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## dmatychuk (Apr 20, 2005)

WoW! Those are excellent pictures thanks for sharing. I love the picture of parent carrying tads. Please share some of the things you learned and what surprises you ran across.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

Great pics! I gotta go!


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## nick65 (Mar 7, 2005)

really great pics and great experience..i miss already my couple of days in the forest in costa rica/panama..i do agree entirely when you say everybody f us should try and see them in the wild!
thank you for sharing


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## Devin Edmonds (Mar 2, 2004)

Glad everyone enjoyed the photos, thanks for looking! The entire experience was just remarkable. I learned an overwhelming amount of information, it's still all only starting to sink in. I certainly have a new appreciation for thumbnails, I never really cared for them much before this trip, and always stuck to keeping the larger species. There are so many questions to still be answered about them though, and their behavior is absolutely fascinating, really was more impressed than I thought I would be.



> has what you seen and observed at all change how you go about putting together setups to keep your forgs in?


I expected to come home with tons of new ideas for my terrariums, but I only came home to realize that the terrariums I create are pretty insignificant when compared to what's out there and what these frogs generally live in. Most of the plants that were used by frogs were far to large for most tanks, and the territories that they patrolled were certainly larger than any terrarium I've ever setup. One thing that might change the way I maintain my terrariums is how dry it was. This is the dry season for the Amazon, and in some areas we went to there had been no rain for over two weeks. The leaves crunched when you stepped, and the ground cracked in certain areas, but we were still able to locate frogs. I've always kept my dart frog terrariums soggy year round, but I might seasonally vary the conditions in certain terrariums more now that I have a better understanding of what some species experience in the wild.


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## Nuggular (Apr 8, 2005)

Thats interesting. I too was wondering about how it was in the wild for seasonal changes, and what could I do to mimick them. A dry season sounds like a good idea. I was thinking of only having my cool mist humidifier run only like once a day for 1-2 min. That is about 1/4 of how often its on now. And I could just keep the little pond shallow for the frogs to soak in if needed.

Those pics are just awesome devin. You got to experience something many of us may never get too. Your pictures are all some of us will ever get to see of the rainforest in Peru. Thx so much for sharing them. Great shots by the way, what kind of camera were you using.


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## bradadams (Jun 3, 2004)

Great pics Devin. That vent pic looks alot like a lamasi. I just added it too my wish list and it probably isn't even being kept in captivity. Anyway great pics.


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## Jordan B (Oct 8, 2004)

Thanks you so much for sharing, that sounds like an awesome trip.

Jordan


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## Uncle Sal (May 7, 2004)

Nice shots. wow. If you dont mind me asking, what do you think you spent on the entire vacation? Also what camera did you take with you? Your so lucky!!

Regards
Sal


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## Devin Edmonds (Mar 2, 2004)

Hi Sal,

I think I probably spent around $3100 total for the trip. The tour itself was $2000 plus airfare, which ended up running around $1000. If I had looked around a bit more I would have been able to find it for under $700. There were also some supplies that I needed to buy, like good socks, a new memory card for my camera, etc. which I probably spent $100 on. 

I was able to pay for the trip by not buying new frogs for six months, and by saving the money that came in from offspring I sold this spring (all the golden mantellas I produced last year) instead of immediately buying new supplies, plants, or frogs with it. I like to say that I traded frogs for a trip to Peru, which is basically what I did. I would encourage others to try the same. Put all the money that you bring in from selling frogs into a savings acount this winter instead of buying new frogs with it, and then next summer go see them in the wild!

The camera I use is just a lower end Olympus. I think it's an Olympus D545 (?), so it certainly isn't the best camera in the world, but it has a nice macro mode which is what counts when you're photographing frogs. Thanks for taking the time to look, talk to you later,


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## Christian (Mar 8, 2004)

*One day*

Hi Devond,

I was in Iquitos the day before you arrive and I sould have taken the trip with Mark and Manuel. I am really glad you have a really good jungle trip because mind with a local guide was really painful...

Why, go read my trip in Canadart:

http://www.canadart.org/phpBB2/viewtopi ... highlight=

People: if you go to Peru to see frog: go with Mark...


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## gturmindright (Mar 15, 2006)

Epipedobates cainarachi...do we have these here in the states? BEAUTIFUL. I want one.


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## biocmp (Mar 7, 2006)

look at inibico


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## schegini14 (May 17, 2006)

Whats Inibico?


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## biocmp (Mar 7, 2006)

Go to herpetologic.com or .net and read the part about frogs and what he is busy setting up. They've got a really good thing going on there, and if you were wanting cainarachi (I hope you have some experience) then that would be the best place to purchase them.


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## sirfugu (Sep 7, 2004)

Awesome shots. The diversity is just amazing.


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2006)

sometime i do not understand how prices are set up.
over here a D. pumilio "Cayo de aqua" sells for 110/120 euros (price in a store in Paris that sells them with Cites) ... and when i see them being sold at 250 dollars on herpetologic.com ... i just dont understand it!
it is twice the price they sell them in a Parisain store :shock: :shock: :shock: 
any logical explanations for this? :?

thx


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Simple explanation... availability. I think it's fair to say that most, if not all frogs are more available in Europe than they are here in the US. Look at the Vanzolini and Vincenti you just bought... can't really get em here. It's justlike gasoline, when theres a small supply, the price is higher (like over here) and when there is more (like over there) it is less. I guess I should also mention that you can get Cayos for cheaper than that, but as a general rule Seans frogs are a bit more pricey in most cases.


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## Guest (Aug 8, 2006)

thank you for your answer.
the Cayo i was talking about were just shipped into EU and thus not captive bred ... that's why i just dont get it :?


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## sbreland (May 4, 2006)

Ahh, most likely then what you saw were wild caught or farm raised Cayos. Farm raised or WC are always much cheaper then captive bred, thus the price difference. Just to give you an idea, most people here sell Bastimentos for $100-125 each unless your talkin ggooldust then it may be $150-200 depending on who you get them from. I recently went through an importer and got red Bastis for $65 and gold dust for $80 or 85... can't remember.


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## Greenstar (Feb 28, 2004)

Simple economics, he sets the price and we (the hobbyist) can choose to pay no matter how rediculous it is. I bought my pair for 300, it's just some people are willing to pay top dollar rather than wait for a deal.

Danny


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