# Long morph time for azureus....



## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

After seeing Eric's post about morph times for imis, it reminded me that I have needed to post about my azureus tads...

What's up with these guys? I know the average time to morph for azureus is about 3 months from hatching. I've got a handful that are going on 3 months and haven't even popped there back legs! They're big and plump and are very active, but no legs yet. Are they just lazy developers or are they going to surprise me by popping back and front legs almost simultaneously?

They are raised individually in 16 oz. deli containers with aged tap water, tadpole tea, a couple of oak leaves, some duck week, and a noticeable film of agae around the container sides. I feed them fish flakes or Frog Bites every other day and change the water weekly. The temps range from about 68 (nighttime) to 76 (day).

Any ideas?

Steven


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## nyfrogs (May 1, 2005)

i am morphing 5 different species(cobalt,oyopok,leuc,azureus,powder blue) in 8 weeks! my new set up is the key. keeping temps at 75 without a drop will make a huge difference! i used to rais the tads in my bedroom out in the open and my temps were about the same as yours. it once took a cobalt 5.5 months to morph. try looking into the heated tadpole set up thread and you get some easy but good ideas


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I agree, temps are very important, 5 degrees too low can make a big difference.
There are a few threads out there on that train of thought, many (including myself) have seen tads take up to (and over) 2X the amount of time to morph at slightly cool temps.


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

Thanks for the advice. I would not have thought that a temperature swing of 5-10 degrees would have made such a difference.

I have followed the "heated tadpole setups" thread for a while now. I have considered setting one up, but there are several concerns I have.

First, is there enough light entering the semi-transparent containers everyone uses to allow algae to grow? I like "dirty" setups with plenty of forage for the tadpoles to graze on.

Second, my setups are already under t-12 lighting and reach ~76-78 degrees during the day. Should I be worried about the temperature rising above that with one of these fully contained setups, or will the pre-set heater just turn off when the internal temp. of the container reaches the set point?

Lastly, aren't there higher instances of SLS with these warmer temps?


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## nyfrogs (May 1, 2005)

tripod i have just added my set up to the heated tadpole set up thread take a look. i have no light and the top is red so absolutely no light gets to the tads. if you want to have the tads "dirty" it might be hard to ude these types of setups. i keep mine at 75-76. i also heard about SLS being more common in higher temps i have yet to see any with my froglets. also from what i have read SLS can also be caused by nutrition form the parents and nutrition as a tadpole. 





Tripod said:


> Thanks for the advice. I would not have thought that a temperature swing of 5-10 degrees would have made such a difference.
> 
> I have followed the "heated tadpole setups" thread for a while now. I have considered setting one up, but there are several concerns I have.
> 
> ...


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

I have our tads set up in our frog room. For the most part, most frogs will morph in 3-4 months time. Ocassionaly you will have one that goes a little longer. Usually, if one goes for over 6 months, it might have issues. 

Right now I have a perpetual tad which will be 2 years old in June. Yes, I did say 2 YEARS OLD. Kyle stopped by and was freeked out by it. I have watched this frog begin to develop back legs and then absorb them. His body is really huge, and he doesn't have any legs - just all body & tail.

I had someone helping me for a while and she always wanted to throw him away....I tend to keep strange stuff like that to see what will happen to them! 

Melis


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## Tripod (Jun 5, 2006)

Maybe he's just happy with a tail and gills....


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## Catfur (Oct 5, 2004)

My few cobalt tads run at about 69-70 in the day, and mid to low 60s at night, and they are (aside from cat induced losses) morphing out at about 6 months, but healthy.


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

Catfur said:


> My few cobalt tads run at about 69-70 in the day, and mid to low 60s at night, and they are (aside from cat induced losses) morphing out at about 6 months, but healthy.


Cat induced losses???


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## Catfur (Oct 5, 2004)

melissa68 said:


> Cat induced losses???


Cat thinks tadpole water is for drinking, knocks tadpole cup over, tadpole becomes tadpole fossil (or is rescued before drying out). No attempt to actually eat a tadpole has ever been observed, but the tadpoles must produce some chemical that makes their water delicious. :roll:


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## melissa68 (Feb 16, 2004)

lol, I actually leave the tadpole 'waste' bucket in the frog room with water in it for the dogs and cats. They all like to take turns with it. 

Probably has something to do with animals liking to drink out of the toilet.

I was able to stop my cat from drinking out of the containers by putting them on a shelf where they can't get in to get a drink. Don't know if that will help of not.


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