# Need some help-Terribilis eggs



## Phyllobates azureus (Aug 18, 2010)

Well, it's my birthday, and I wanted some R. imitator more than anything. After opening all my presents, I found that there were no imis. Dissapointing, but I got lots of interesting stuff. So I had a pretty good day today; I went to the Toronto Zoo and saw the African bush elephants playing, a territorial fight between some ring-tailed lemurs, and a pair of Atelopus zeteki in amplexus. So I came home and ate dinner, and while I was finishing up, I noticed something just as interesting as R. imitator: a clutch of P. terribilis eggs on the leaf of a bromeliad.

I don't know when they did it, but it must have been sometime today. There are dozens of them! There are 4 or 5 white ones, at least 12 black ones, and 15+ unfertilized ones. And the terribilis are guarding them from all angles, so I can't get to them. So...what do I do with them? I need to keep them moist, but I'm worried that spraying them directly will make them slip off of the bromeliad and fall. I know the first clutch doesn't always do well, but I still want to give these guys the best chance of survival possible. Pulling them isn't feasible- I'd need to remove the bromeliad itself, which is no easy task, especially as the big male terribilis, and, to a lesser extent, the other terribilis, won't let the eggs out of their sight. I was thinking of trying to tank-raise these eggs, but I'm not exactly sure what to do.

The eggs:


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## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

Phyllobates azureus said:


> There are 4 or 5 white ones, at least 12 black ones, and 15+ unfertilized ones. ... Pulling them isn't feasible- I'd need to remove the bromeliad itself, which is no easy task, especially as the big male terribilis, and, to a lesser extent, the other terribilis, won't let the eggs out of their sight. I was thinking of trying to tank-raise these eggs, but I'm not exactly sure what to do.
> 
> The eggs:


Congrats!

You seemed able to get a decent photo, so not sure why you say they can't be pulled? Couldn't you just sacrifice the one leaf?
The white ones appear to be flipped. If you pull them you might be able to re-orient them. In my experience they will go bad if not uprighted. The clear jelly without eggs is just that, not "unfertilized eggs".
Just some thoughts, not a recommendation as to what you should do.


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## Tinctoc (Sep 15, 2012)

Reef_Haven said:


> Congrats!
> 
> You seemed able to get a decent photo, so not sure why you say they can't be pulled? Couldn't you just sacrifice the one leaf?
> The white ones appear to be flipped. If you pull them you might be able to re-orient them. In my experience they will go bad if not uprighted. The clear jelly without eggs is just that, not "unfertilized eggs".
> Just some thoughts, not a recommendation as to what you should do.


You should be able to scoop them up with a plastic spoon if you really want to remove them and hand raise them. Otherwise, provide places for the male to deposit the tads, such as bowls of water.


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## Phyllobates azureus (Aug 18, 2010)

Reef_Haven said:


> Congrats!
> 
> You seemed able to get a decent photo, so not sure why you say they can't be pulled? Couldn't you just sacrifice the one leaf?
> The white ones appear to be flipped. If you pull them you might be able to re-orient them. In my experience they will go bad if not uprighted. The clear jelly without eggs is just that, not "unfertilized eggs".
> Just some thoughts, not a recommendation as to what you should do.


Okay, how do I re-orient them?


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## Phyllobates azureus (Aug 18, 2010)

The eggs have now been pulled.
Can someone please tell me how to turn the eggs right side up?


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## Reef_Haven (Jan 19, 2011)

I certainly don't have the experience of most on this forum. 

I posted on this before, here.
http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/breeding-eggs-tadpoles/29662-beginner-egg-question.html#post749585

I hope someone with more experience will weigh in on this, maybe PM Ed for his insight.
You would have to weigh the risk to nearby eggs in trying this, and I also don't know what the time frame is before this would not be effective.
I would definitely give it a try to the one egg on the right of your photo, I see no risk there. You'll have to use your judgement on the egg on the right. The others look like they'll be fine.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

When I pull my thumbnail eggs sometimes they get flipped, I put extra water in the petri dish so they float and they always will turn right side up. Not sure if this will work with Terribilis but at least outting some extra water in what you are holding them in will give you a chance to flip them with aid of their bouyancy, they are fairly resiliant so they should be OK


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## Tinctoc (Sep 15, 2012)

As Mark stated, just flood the dish that the eggs are in and they will re-orient themselves.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Infertile eggs or eggs that were fertile but stopped development for one reason or other either do not rotate or stop before rotation is complete. Fertile eggs developing properly will complete rotation as part of thier developement. This will occur independent of flooding or any other things you try since the embryo/egg yolk mass is not attached to the membranes so rotation occurs independent of membrane. Fertile eggs if mechanically rotated should reorient themself if they are healthy (otherwise there would be more egg mortality from the male wetting the eggs...). 

Some comments 

Ed


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