# Malayan leaf frogs, ?'s



## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

ive got a friend who is interested in these guys and wants to know everything he can about them. care, living conditions ect. he hasent gotten any yet but they have peaked his interest. so anyone familiar with them, doesnt seem to be a whole lot of info on them out there from what i can see.


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## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

try emailing Sean Stewart I think he has them, they are very cool frogs very cool indeed. LOL I think they may be my next non-dart frog hehe


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## EDs Fly Meat (Apr 29, 2004)

Patrick Nabors has these Solomon Island Leaf frogs. They are a yellow orange, captive bred. Very interesting frogs. I have been debating picking up a few. Check em out on his site.
Dave


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## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

whoops Sorry thats who i meant aswell


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

I believe that the Malaysian leaf frog is much bigger (especially the female) than the Solomon Island leaf frogs that Patrick has. The pictures that I have seen of them make them out to be almost bullfrog size.


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

I've kept the solomon island eyelash frogs, and while still being a decent sized frog (3+"), they are dwarfed by an adult female malayan leaf frog (M. nasuta).

2 completely different frogs. A cool thing about the solomon island's is that they lay eggs underground and they hatch out as froglets, with no tadpole stage. The M. nasuta's tads have very large mouths and float on the surface with their mouths turned upward to intake as much food as possible.


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## Guest (Jan 16, 2006)

*Malayan Leaf Frogs*

I keep them and have for a while now. I got a lot of information from a friend of mine over in Asia. If you have questions, you can e-mail me directly and I'll give you as much info as I possibley can. 
Chad
[email protected]


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

Chad,

We would all love to hear about them, especially about their captive husbandry, max size, appropriately sized enclosures, appropriate temps etc, etc. If you have the time, please tell us about your experiences with them and show us pictures.


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2006)

Hi Guys, 

I didn't want to type them up this morning, but after the request to do so, I decided that I would do my best. So here are some numbered points on how to keep the malayan leaf frogs. This is what I was told by a few friends of mine from Asia who keep them and it's worked very well so far. 

1. Enclosure - Let me just tell you this, although the frog is not particularly active or aggressive to each other (as long as they are of similar size - like don't keep full grown males with full grown females for a long time) they require large enclosures. I would only keep three in a 55 gallon.

2. They require large water areas (a third of the tank) and the water should be moving. 

3. The substrate should be a mix of coco fiber bedding, filtration charcoal (this is really important because it helps to keep the substrate clean), and leaf litter mixed together about 6-7 inches deep. On top of the bedding, pile leafs in places, put terra cotta pots on their sides and fill with leafs too. This will provide them with lots of places to hide and sabotage their food items.

4. Plant pothos plant in the substrate and it will grow quickly and take over. This also provides a lot of shelter. This is important because they do not like light - it stresses them out.

5. Keep them at room temperature and they do really well. You don't want them to drop below 60 at night, but they will do just fine if you keep them consistently between 60-75. Anything over 80 is stressfull!

6. The males seem to max out at about 3.5 inches snout to vent, and the females that I have are about 6 inches snout to vent. I understand they can get bigger. One of my friends has one that is almost 8 inches from snout to vent. 

7. Feed them a variety of foods. I feed mine red worms, lots of crickets, snails and slugs, mice, and fish. Be careful with the fish because ick can be passed onto herps and it ends up looking much like ick in fish, but quickly turns into a nasty resperatory infection. I breed my own guppies (VERY EASY) and feed the babies to the frogs. Oh, and I find that only live feeders work with these guys. They will not attack food off of tongs that I have seen :/. 

8. You can see some pics of my frogs on my yahoo page...if you click the link you can see them, my dwarf malaysian leafs, and some of my other froggies.  http://photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Hope this was helpful. 
Chad


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## JOHNNY (Nov 30, 2004)

I bred these a few years ago, I set them up basicly like you would dart frogs in a 125 gal with water fall and lagoon. Heavy leaf litter on the floor (magnolia or Live Oak works best) . I found it best to keep several males with the (much larger) females. I fed them dusted large crickets and earth worms, for some reason the females took to the worms more readily than the males. Be prepared for the most blood curdling frog call I've ever heard. They sound like a cross between a cat meowing and a baby crying ! They will wake you up, keep them far away from the bed room. As long as you give them a short cool/dry cycling period they should breed well for you when you start to soak them. I raised my tads in big rubbermade containers in highly acidic water at about 72 - 76 degrees. The tads ate fish flake & live black worms. They're really cool frogs and worth the little bit of extra effort. 

Johnny


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## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought these guys by-passed tad stage and develope fully in eggs?


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

MJ you are thinking of the Solomon Island Eyelash Frogs.


Chad and Johnny,

Thanks, that was very helpful.


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## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

Thanks Chris


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2006)

*Blood Curdling is right! *

The first night I had mine I was awaken froma nice peaceful sleep! lol It was the most horrifying noise I had heard, so I promptly moved them to my living room the next morning after a fitful sleep on the couch. 
Chad


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## Ridge (Jun 7, 2004)

My granddaughter kept hearing "Monsters" at night - we finally figured out it was these guys!


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2006)

*The Monsters on my shelf!*

I love that story. The smaller dwarf variety calls differently and I love their call. It sounds like someone is having a hyperventalation episode. It's quite humorous. Anyhow, great frogs, a bit difficult, but worth the work. 
Chad


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## Ridge (Jun 7, 2004)

...one more picture for you...


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## Guest (Jan 17, 2006)

*What a great mug!*

I have a few pictures of my frogs from a distance, but none will let me take their pics close up! 
Chad


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## JOHNNY (Nov 30, 2004)

They do sound like the Boogey Man come to life, like I said "blood curdling"

Johnny


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## Grassypeak (Jun 14, 2005)

A few questions;
1.) What is the difference between the normal and dwarf forms? Are they separate species? If so are they related?
2.) Do they look different? 
3.) How big do the dwarfs get?
3.) Are the Solomon Island eyelash frogs related?


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

i think the dwarf variety is Megophrys montana and the "normal" is Megophrys nasuta.

have you successfully bred yours Chad?

blood curdling call huh? oh the wife is going to love these guys alright :shock: cant wait to get some


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

Megophrys nasuta http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/anura/megophryidae/megophrys/nasuta/

Megophrys montana http://www.livingunderworld.org/gallery/photos/anura/megophryidae/megophrys/montana/


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

Solomons island is classified as a "true frog" where the malays arent atleast according to what ive found


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## JOHNNY (Nov 30, 2004)

Malaysian leaf frogs are actually most closely related to spade foot toads if you can believe that. There are actually many different varieties of Megophrys, M.n.carinata actually being the largest (I think, it's been a while since I've done anything but darts). The Solomon Island "eyelashes" are not related to them at all, another really cool species though.

Johnny


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## Guest (Jan 18, 2006)

*I have those too*

the Solomon Eyelash frogs are a great frog too, also very loud and picky, but a lot of fun!  I think they are all really great frogs - I just love anything that is stout looking - chubbies, malaysians, tomatos, eyelash, scaphyophrine, etc. I just love them  Anyhow, the montana look a lot like the nasuta, but they are slightly different in their proportionality and thier horns aren't quite as pronounced. I am currently trying to procure some Leishon Mustache toads. They are a relative and a very cool frog.  

PS - Haven't had breeding success yet, but it's iminant


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## MJ (Jun 16, 2005)

The Mustache toads are crazy looking :shock: I know of a Company here in the UK that had them a while back http://www.pollywog.co.uk


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## JOHNNY (Nov 30, 2004)

Regal Reptiles here in New England had those "moustache" toads last spring, but I believe that they were some sort of Leptobrachium species. As far as Megophrys go ,in addition to M.n.nasuta and it's subspecies you should also ceck out M.edwardinae, M. baluensis, and M.dringi. They're all smaller mostly montane species with somewhat limited natural ranges. 

Johnny


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## Guest (Jan 19, 2006)

*I'd love to get some of the other Megophrys*

Does anyone know any places that sell the other types of Megophrys? I'd love to get the short nosed horned frogs. They are pretty intersting animals. 
Chad


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## JOHNNY (Nov 30, 2004)

Check out the big wholesalers (unfortunately) they do get them in from time to time. Regal, Xtreme, Strictly, Reptile Depot...

Johnny


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2006)

*Megophrys species*

Thanks for the information on the megophrys Johnny. I always feel guilty purchasing frogs as I know that any adult specimens will be imported. I do however think that if they are brought into the country they are better off with me than with someone else. 
Chad


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

snip "fish because ick can be passed onto herps and it ends up looking much like ick in fish, but quickly turns into a nasty resperatory infection."

As far as I know from the literature, "ick" causes skin lesions (and there is some disagreement as to whether it is the same parasite that infects fish) in amphibians but does not directly cause respitory infections. The respitory infections may be due to secondary infections of the lesions by an agent like Mycobacterium.. 

Ed


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2006)

Ed said:


> snip "fish because ick can be passed onto herps and it ends up looking much like ick in fish, but quickly turns into a nasty resperatory infection."
> 
> As far as I know from the literature, "ick" causes skin lesions (and there is some disagreement as to whether it is the same parasite that infects fish) in amphibians but does not directly cause respitory infections. The respitory infections may be due to secondary infections of the lesions by an agent like Mycobacterium..
> 
> Ed


From what I know of Ich it is an infestation that starts in the gills and is usually only seen later on the exterior of the body. This is why it is imperative it be treated once seen. Although Ill admit I have no knowledge of any Mycobacterium.

Matt


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## Guest (Jan 28, 2006)

Well, regardless if it's caused directly from the ick or from a different microbaterium, they seem to go hand in hand. It's very important to deal with it ASAP as it is a horrible thing to see an amphibian go through it.  I have found that if you keep the water in their enclosures a little acidic with oak leaves or something of the sort, it seems to help keep the ick from happening, however, not all frogs can tolerate any acidic water. The Malaysians can handle mildly acidic water. Just a couple of thoughts about it.
Chad


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

The infectious stage of ick is a motile stage in the water column. As the frogs lungs are not exposed to the water (unless the frog is drowning), there is not a route for the infectious stage to infect the lungs. 


Ick isn't affected by acidity, so I suspect that there is a different infectious process involved. There are a number of other possibilities that have been recorded in the literature such as Dermocystidum. In addition there is also a possibility of fungal nodules (there is a good picture in Amphibian Medicine and Captive Husbandry (plate 14.17). 

It is important to get a correct diagnosis. 

Ed


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