# First Luec Egg Clutch



## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

I can't say with any certainty that this is their first egg clutch, just the first eggs I have recovered. Since it's a large group 3.2.0 it has been suggested that past eggs might have been eaten.

The frogs are mixed ages approx 1.5 - 2 years old. The males have been calling for a long time but it wasn't until last Saturday that I finally witnessed courting and breeding.

I'm very excited but I'm not expecting the eggs to even be fertile and even less to actually hatch and develop into tadpoles.

I'm posting here as a sort of digital log to look back on

Dendrobates Luecomelas Eggs recovered Sunday 6.26.16 @ 1:30 pm










I immediately trimmed the leaf litter and put them in a sanitary petri dish.

I put this inside a ziplock container on top of egg crate and a 1/4" of water to help maintain humidity.

Misted the eggs with peat and Indian almond leaf tannin enriched RO water


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Day 2










The eggs have gone from a half dark / white color to full dark.

Does the top right one appear to be bad?


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Today is day 4

The eggs appear to be good!

At least from my understanding the spine(?) is beginning to form.


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## Andrew Lee (Jan 21, 2014)

Pretty cool! I hope your eggs do well!


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Looking good to me!


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

Woo hoo! First clutch is exciting and nerve racking!
Good luck.
Mike


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Encyclia said:


> Looking good to me!


Thanks!  Could not have done it without you Mark!

I've wanted to keep these frogs since I was a kid! Never thought I'd breed them tho.

Looking at them this morning (pics later today) all but one is confirmed.

This is most definitely nerve racking and I'm trying to stay cautiously optimistic. I'm hoping for success, but not going to be too disappointed with failure.


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Pretty dramatic changes over the last 24 hours 

Only one bad or unfertilized egg

Very promising!

Day 5


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## Inkjitsu (May 8, 2016)

Get that bad one out lol 


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Inkjitsu said:


> Get that bad one out lol
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


I read that it's not always worth the risk unless they start spreading mold 

I'm honestly afraid I might mutilate them! Dammit Jim, I'm a Doctor not a Surgeon!


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## PhytoFrogs (Jul 1, 2016)

My experience with bad eggs is that they usually don't affect the others (that's not to say it's impossible). After about two years of breeding leucs, I still consider myself novice, so there may be better ways to do it, but I've separated all the eggs into individual petri dishes before without any notable harm coming to the eggs. 

This is the latest clutch of 6. Just wait till yours metamorph; they're so cute!


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## Inkjitsu (May 8, 2016)

can't wait to see. I had a clutch laid the day before (25th) and I'm watching the thread here for comparison lol. I separated mine into individual cups and all I can say is that the eggs are much more durable than I expected. Separating them was kind of time consuming considering the 22 egg clutch (e.anthonyi) lol but they all stayed intact. Here's my first egg of the clutch to turn "tadish" lol


















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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Inkjitsu said:


> can't wait to see. I had a clutch laid the day before (25th) and I'm watching the thread here for comparison lol. I separated mine into individual cups and all I can say is that the eggs are much more durable than I expected. Separating them was kind of time consuming considering the 22 egg clutch (e.anthonyi) lol but they all stayed intact. Here's my first egg of the clutch to turn "tadish" lol


Awesome! 22 eggs  is that a normal clutch size?

TBH I'm afraid to touch them. I know they are tough, they have to be considering what they can survive in the wild. I'm sure on the next clutch I'll be more willing to experiment.

Can't wait to see your progress!


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

PhytoFrogs said:


> My experience with bad eggs is that they usually don't affect the others (that's not to say it's impossible). After about two years of breeding leucs, I still consider myself novice, so there may be better ways to do it, but I've separated all the eggs into individual petri dishes before without any notable harm coming to the eggs.
> 
> This is the latest clutch of 6. Just wait till yours metamorph; they're so cute!


Thanks! I can't wait to see them morph!


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

The little guys are moving around already.

Very fun to watch!

Day 7


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

These guys move a lot! Getting pretty big too.

Day 10


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Just another update

I don't want to take a pic because I'm trying to avoid disturbing them too much

It's day 15, or day 16 if you include the time the eggs were in the vivarium

From what I have researched 12-14 days is normal time frame for leucs to hatch(?)

They're all still curled up and only one of the tadpoles is moving

They haven't turned white or changed color

Avg temp is typically 74F fluctuates +/- 1 - 2 degrees

I'm probably overreacting but should I be worried?

I can deal with whatever may happen. My wife will be pretty upset if they don't make it  

I will not intervene in order to avoid introducing problematic or unhealthy frogs into our hobby, as much as it sucks to say that...


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

The first one hatched last night! Appears to be healthy.

Day 18


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## 55105 (Jan 27, 2015)

Just another update 

The hatch was painfully long... I think I will start plans for a incubator.

All but one has hatched and the last one I'm not too sure about. It's still alive so there is hope.

I have 8 in the water and they're all doing great!


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