# What Do You Think Of This Guy?



## vivlover10 (Oct 10, 2010)

Found this on Youtube. hes maken fun of us because we have great setups HAHAHA!! Rich You Funny!!!


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Richard Lynch is a guy on this fourm.. His name is the "woodsman" on here. Great videos by the was Richard, I just finished the first one, I'm watching the second one right now.


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

Hey is that the same Richard that makes fun of us right here on this board too?! Haha, just kidding Richard.


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## Boondoggle (Dec 9, 2007)

Not at all how I pictured you, Richard. Isn't it funny when real life impinges on web reality?


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## vivlover10 (Oct 10, 2010)

Iwould hate all those kids walking around and screaming... So anoying right. how come you didnt put a drainage layer in? 

Wheres The Plants!?!? HAHAHA 

Nice vids


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

The horror, THE HORROR!

This was geared as an intro to darts for the local herp society and a little viv raffle to support the group. I've invited everybody back to Frog Day (which Matt has been successful in bringing back to Staten Island), where they'll be able to learn much more than I could teach them.

Thanks for the little humiliation, Vivlover! Richard.


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## vivlover10 (Oct 10, 2010)

Who got the leucs? Im sorry I coudn't resist.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Rob,

I don't use drainage layers in my vivs (they take up too much room in small tanks), and I have learned the hard way that most of the "expensive" and "exotic" plants don't perform all that well with the frogs. So, I keep my vivs very basic and use about the same 5 or 6 plants over and over (the ones that work best structurally with the frogs).

Take care, Richard.



vivlover10 said:


> Iwould hate all those kids walking around and screaming... So anoying right. how come you didnt put a drainage layer in?
> 
> Wheres The Plants!?!? HAHAHA
> 
> Nice vids


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## alex111683 (Sep 11, 2010)

Woodsman said:


> Hi Rob,
> 
> I don't use drainage layers in my vivs (they take up too much room in small tanks), and I have learned the hard way that most of the "expensive" and "exotic" plants don't perform all that well with the frogs. So, I keep my vivs very basic and use about the same 5 or 6 plants over and over (the ones that work best structurally with the frogs).
> 
> Take care, Richard.


What 5 plants are they? For me so far I have used pothos, ficus pumila, and anthurium in all. I was just wondering what 2 or 3 more plants to keep using on my horizontals a couple days ago.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Alex,

I raise almost entirely Tinctorius morphs, so I use plants that are suited for terrestrial frogs. I don't like plants that creep so much (like Ficus pumila or creeping Selaginellas, which grow way too fast and require a lot of pruning time). I have about three or four different Fittonia clones that grow relatively slowly and produce a nice "canopy" over the tincs and (I think) this makes them feel more comfortable at being visible in the tanks. Ruellias also function similarly for me. I also like all of the terrestrial jewel orchids, as they also grow slowly and leave flooor space for the frogs to move about. In the tallest vivs, I really like to have a few Alocasia, nice big-leaved plants that take up almost no floor space. My favorite fern is Microgramma nitida. I also like to have Vanilla planifolia in my vivs, as it is the easiest orchid to grow and isn't invasive.

I'm always buying and killing very expensive plants, a habit I am trying to break! These are my "cast-iron" plants in the viv.

Take care, Richard.



alex111683 said:


> What 5 plants are they? For me so far I have used pothos, ficus pumila, and anthurium in all. I was just wondering what 2 or 3 more plants to keep using on my horizontals a couple days ago.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Richard if you don't keep false bottoms how do you keep your substrate not saturated?


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

I like the chalk drawing of the bee... LOL 

what book is that?


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

When I only had a few vivs, I was often over-misting them. Now, with 80-100 of them, I only mist the tanks where the plant leaves are dry-ish or if the frogs are actively breeding (or if I am getting them into breeding shape). So, it does happen that the substrate becomes a bit saturated in some and I am often having to add another layer of leaf litter to keep up with "flooding" conditions (I use locally-collected Willow Oak, Quercus phellos, which I find is very good though not as good as Live Oak, Q. virginiana).

Occassionally I do have to get in there and siphon-off the "floods". I know that there are probably many hobbyists who have a better system than mine, which is based on limited income for set-ups and not a lot of extra, extra spare time to make vivs.

Take care, Richard.

QUOTE=heatfreakk3;555406]Richard if you don't keep false bottoms how do you keep your substrate not saturated?[/QUOTE]


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

Hey taking care of 100 vivs I'm sure takes quite a while! Same with making 12 cultures a day lol. I'm surprised you have enough time for all that. You need to post some pictures of your set ups! And all your tanks.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

Richard, What secret hybrid scientific experiments are you talking about , admitting to, and where are the scientific write ups? All real Scientific experiments writes, pics and all the collected data. Can we see them? What qualifies you to do this work and what work are you doing with F&W, ratting out other froggers?
Referring to first vid near the end.
What mixing experiments are you involved in?

Michael


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

He didn't say he does any hybrid breeding. I believe he said that some people like to for scientific reasons, and keep it on the low. I believe Richard was trying to enforce that mixing species and hybrids is frowned upon and should not be doing it.


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## Colleen53 (Jan 19, 2009)

Glad to see a face with your videos and writings!!


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Michael,

Some of the endangered plant species I work with have outstanding taxonomic issues related to them that have to be addressed before we can pursue federal isting under the ESA. One plant, Nantucket Juneberry (Amelanchier nantucketensis) was thought to be a naturally-occuring hybrid before I conducted several generations of progeny studies demonstrating that it only reproduces itself over 5 generations. The same is true with other rare taxons I work with (such as Torrey's Mountain Mint, Pycnanthemum Torrei, and a hybrid swarm of oaks, genus Quercus, that I am working with here on Staten Island).

If you feel the need to continue to refer to me as a "rat" because I don't want to see endangered smuggled frogs in the hobby, I think you are the one who really needs to confront that issue for yourslef. The folks I work with know that I am dedicated to conservation and that I don't require that acclamation of other to follow those goals.

Good luck to you, Richard.




poison beauties said:


> Richard, What secret hybrid scientific experiments are you talking about , admitting to, and where are the scientific write ups? All real Scientific experiments writes, pics and all the collected data. Can we see them? What qualifies you to do this work and what work are you doing with F&W, ratting out other froggers?
> Referring to first vid near the end.
> What mixing experiments are you involved in?
> 
> Michael


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## RMB (Nov 26, 2009)

GRRRRR..... *smack* *smack* *smack*.... SIDOWN AN SHADAP!! Stupid kids....

Anyways, good vids. Pretty basic, but it's interesting to know how you do it. I probably won't be switching to tens any time soon though.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

If only I had the room to go bigger, I would. I probably have about 20 tanks that range from 20-75 gallon (75 being the biggest I could find space for). Tens do work fine for most species if room is an issues, though.

Richard.



RMB said:


> GRRRRR..... *smack* *smack* *smack*.... SIDOWN AN SHADAP!! Stupid kids....
> 
> Anyways, good vids. Pretty basic, but it's interesting to know how you do it. I probably won't be switching to tens any time soon though.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

Richard, are you now or have you ever mixed dart locales as what you call a "scientific experiment"?

I'm not so much as calling you a rat as to asking why, Yeah I understand if your idiot neighbor is trying to breed and sell mysteriosis but if your just tipping F&W on BS or without valid claims or proof it just ads to the reasons for everyone to try and shut down this hobby. 

Michael


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

poison beauties said:


> Richard, are you now or have you ever mixed dart locales as what you call a "scientific experiment"?
> 
> I'm not so much as calling you a rat as to asking why, Yeah I understand if your idiot neighbor is trying to breed and sell mysteriosis but if your just tipping F&W on BS or without valid claims or proof it just ads to the reasons for everyone to try and shut down this hobby.
> 
> Michael


Hi Michael,

I may phrase this badly as I'm trying to stay awake at the moment.. but if someone is representing thier animals as legal and refuses to provide direct proof that it is legal or provides questionable proof as to thier legality, how can someone question that information without being labled a "rat"? The seller or thier friends could always claim it is BS and start a campaign against that person as well as fostering an attitude of not determining when a frog is or isn't legal.. This sort of attitude can readily foster an attitude that protects smuggling.... 

This isn't to protect Richard, (regardless of appearance) but I have questions about the whole effect of the attitude. 

I questioned the legality of castenoticus to USF&W.. and posted the response here (more than once) so am I a rat? 

If people have legal animals, there should be no concerns about having law enforcement check them out.. it is only those who are skirting the law or are deliberately violating it that should be a concern. Everyone of those people who ends up in trouble is what makes it harder for the rest of us...

Ed


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

Ed good to hear from you again, 
I myself am more than inviting to F&W at my place and have been since the mid 90's when we started getting heavy into other herps and then Darts in the late 90's until now. I feel pretty safe on being able to ask the questions as I have nothing to hide.

Did you personally tell F&W that Christina Hansen and Tod Kelly had Castis? There's a difference between ratting someone out with bad info vs. asking a question about a frog, not a person specifically.

But all in all I have to admit the hybrid talk is what snagged my interest and the questions weren't answered as far as Darts go, I'm on the grounds that if you don't have actual proof don't get the people involved that could kill our hobby or make it harder on us all.

Like I said I'm all about the future of our hobby's well being.

Michael


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## SmackoftheGods (Jan 28, 2009)

I think I take issue with the idea that "most" members of the dart hobby don't care about the natural status of the animals they work with. I've seen some people who genuinely don't care. But, I also seem to see things among the dart community that I don't see anywhere else (granted, I'm not too big into the rest of the herp hobby, but still...). Dart froggers generally seem to support organizations like TWI. Let's not forget about Understory and all their many supporters.... From those froggers I've met they seem to be a passionate bunch who genuinely care about frogs both in and out of the hobby.

I think I also take issue with the idea that it's wrong to work with a species just because it's endangered. Should we work with a species that is critically endangered and smuggled? No. But simply because the species is endangered doesn't necessarily make it unethical to work with it, provided that the consumer has done his/her due diligence to ensure that it's legal and captive bred or comes from a source that can be trusted to take the species as a whole into account....


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## Michael Shrom (May 20, 2004)

It is a good basic talk given by the absent minded professor. I liked the part where Richard goes for the bag of cuttings for the tank. I could find fault with parts of the talk but nothing major. It was presented in a casual manner and not presented as the ultimate or only way to do frogs. 

Their is good scientific work being done with crossbreeding dart frogs and crossbreeding salamanders. I think many hobbyists would agree that this important crossbreeding work is best kept in the lab. I don't think "Woodsman" has a secret experiment going on in his basement. I would like to go and check for it.

Personally I wouldn't talk to fish and wildlife to much. Those USFW people can be pretty unprofessional and nasty to hobbyists that do everything legal and above board too.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

A few posts have been removed.

Feel free to ask a question - do not feel free to badger anyone if your question isn't answered.

I tried to humorously/politely request this of a poster. That didn't work, so the post (and one or two others) have been removed.

Sorry for the interruption. 

Carry on.

s


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Michael,

I work with a number of the FWS field staff on our rare plant work, but don't know much about the enforcement side. I would agree that it is best to try to avoid unnecessary "whistle-blowing" (although it is clearly an issue for the hobby, one that doesn't seem to be clearly defined for our "community"). I do like to think the best of people, though (no, really, I do!)

Take care, Richard.



Michael Shrom said:


> It is a good basic talk given by the absent minded professor. I liked the part where Richard goes for the bag of cuttings for the tank. I could find fault with parts of the talk but nothing major. It was presented in a casual manner and not presented as the ultimate or only way to do frogs.
> 
> Their is good scientific work being done with crossbreeding dart frogs and crossbreeding salamanders. I think many hobbyists would agree that this important crossbreeding work is best kept in the lab. I don't think "Woodsman" has a secret experiment going on in his basement. I would like to go and check for it.
> 
> Personally I wouldn't talk to fish and wildlife to much. Those USFW people can be pretty unprofessional and nasty to hobbyists that do everything legal and above board too.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Jake,

I think if I was giving a talk to a group of froggers, I would have been able to expand on my thoughts a bit more, but this was an amateur herp group and most had not ever worked with dart frogs. I don't know if you have had the experience of trying to "explain" the hobby to a non-frogger group (over the course of an hour talk), but it isn't easy (especially as I was feeling particularly poorly that night).

I was very happy to hear through Ray that there will be a specific effort to raise money for Mantellid conservation at Frog Day. I think, though, that part of the work on conservation may be to close exports from countries that are allowing unsustainable harvest of their frogs (such as Panama and Madagascar, as identified through the IUCN/CITES process). Closing markets might make some in the hobby angry (as it would reduce access to cheap imported frogs), but (if it is the best thing to do for frog conservation) I think we should be willing to support those actions. This might also force us to work harder at learning to breed some of the more recalcitrant species.

Take care, Richard.



SmackoftheGods said:


> I think I take issue with the idea that "most" members of the dart hobby don't care about the natural status of the animals they work with. I've seen some people who genuinely don't care. But, I also seem to see things among the dart community that I don't see anywhere else (granted, I'm not too big into the rest of the herp hobby, but still...). Dart froggers generally seem to support organizations like TWI. Let's not forget about Understory and all their many supporters.... From those froggers I've met they seem to be a passionate bunch who genuinely care about frogs both in and out of the hobby.
> 
> I think I also take issue with the idea that it's wrong to work with a species just because it's endangered. Should we work with a species that is critically endangered and smuggled? No. But simply because the species is endangered doesn't necessarily make it unethical to work with it, provided that the consumer has done his/her due diligence to ensure that it's legal and captive bred or comes from a source that can be trusted to take the species as a whole into account....


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## boabab95 (Nov 5, 2009)

There's are a couple things that stood out to me in the vids, 1st of all, you never mentioned False bottoms, just that all they need is dirt, a hut, and a plant or 2 (also stating that they will never need to do cleaning, which like that, will need to be done.)

You also never mentioned microfauna... do YOU use springs and iso's? or have you skimped out on those aswell?


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## jubjub47 (Sep 9, 2008)

Woodsman said:


> I would agree that it is best to try to avoid unnecessary "whistle-blowing"


The whistle blowing that I've heard about you doing lately was more than unnecessary. I guess a personal vendetta is all that's needed to drag USF&W unnecessarily into our hobby for yet another possible black eye.

Thanks for helping the hobby Richard.


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

The earlier warning posted was ignored. Those posts have been removed as well.

Thread locked for now - we'll see about reopening it again later.

Any more Inquisition type behavior by anyone will end up with infractions. You can ask questions - you cannot badger people.

s


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