# CB Colombian Frogs



## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

Just saw this today on UE's Facebook page:

Tesoros de Colombia | Understory Enterprises

Looks like we'll be seeing legal, captive bred Colombian species in the next few years. Thanks again to Mark and the rest of the Understory staff for making this possible and helping to advance the hobby.


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Hmmm beyond the potential for obligates does this eventually mean Colombian Ranitomeya? I love to see a sustainable business model in action where cash flows back to the source. I really have to tip my hat to understory on this one.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

finally, its been a long time coming!!


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## fieldnstream (Sep 11, 2009)

Just got the email, very excited! Anyone getting any truncatus?


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

nice to see some colombian frogs, but i wish they were something other than truncs. i'll second frogparty's comment and say that i'd really like to see some ranitomeya, or minyobates, or other oophaga.

james


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## fieldnstream (Sep 11, 2009)

The email mentioned the possibility of Adinobates sp. coming in...is it too much to wish for Andinobates dorisswansonae?


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

James most of the Andinobates are what used be classified as Minyobates so they would be targeted in the years to come


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## MD_Frogger (Sep 9, 2008)

So sweet! I remember a couple years ago when Sean was trying to bring the minyobates in...I was so pumped only to be let down when it didn't happen. The wonders of what can be brought in!


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## curlykid (Jan 28, 2011)

I ordered 2 truncs! i love these frogs...lol im in heaven and will be forever if UE gets even more Colombians into the hobby. *hint*Excidobates captivus*hint*


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## frogparty (Dec 27, 2007)

Don't hold your breath homie


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## MPepper (Feb 29, 2004)

Not surprisingly much of the focus here seems to be on the what's next as opposed to the what is now. We fully expected this and it is of course understandable. However, it is somewhat dissapointing that the thought of other species is seemingly detracting from what is at hand. F1 locality specific, legally imported, captive bred Colombian truncatus. Truncatus live in a huge variety of habitats, and are extremely tough, beautiful frogs. The golden yellow colour these particular ones exhibit is difficult to capture with a lens. They are pretty unique mid sized frogs and certainly worthy of a place in any collection.

That being said, this is another monumental effort put forth by a very very small group of extremely gifted, persistent, and dedicated people. (referring here to the Tesors's team) This effort long predates our involvement, and has endured years and years of bureaucratic wheel spinning where all involved felt at times it was a completely hopeless effort in absolute frustration. The reality is from here on out much of the forward momentum and success of the project depends on the frog community. Your support of efforts such as this through purchasing our first offering, truncatus, will help ensure the continuation of work towards additional species. 

It should go without saying that everyone involved intends to be in this for the long haul. An effort such as this is not undertaken with the goal that it be a short term one. We sincerely hope to be working with Tesoros in Colombia for the next 20 years if not longer. 

Each new species, morph etc will come very slowly. Andinobates and Ranitomeya from Colombia are a few years down the road yet. If anyone is visualizing a time when large Colombian Oophagas are available in any magnitude close to that which we see with pumilio, then think again. The reproductive capacity of them simply will not permit that, and any potential availability of Oophaga will be from vivarium bred specimens. 

The goal is as stated in our news letter is to throughout the duration of this project, make as wide a selection of Colombian dendrobatids available as possible. You can expect to see the same quality you are accustomed to from UE, and you can expect our continued efforts to work towards releasing new offerings provided that the market continually supports it.

Nick, E. Captivus is a Peruvian and potentially an Ecuadorian species.

James, are you a glass half empty kind of guy? 

best wishes,
mark


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## Manuran (Aug 28, 2007)

Great response Mark. Thank you for the perspective.


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## cbreon (Apr 25, 2005)

Very exciting news indeed. There is some great articles/pics on the webs of Andinobates, its defintely exciting to think about quality specimens that will be available through sustainable, responisble projects as oppose to careless, reckless harvest. Hopefully these efforts help to preserve these frogs valuable and often relatively tiny habitats.

one of the articles I spotted:

Dendrobates.org - Ranitomeya


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

I am sure we will never truely appreciate the bureaucratic nightmare this has been, I for one am not a fan of Truncs however a species that may seem mundane I truely look forward to seeing from Colombia is their amazing Auratus. Colombia like Peru offers such a diversity of amazing species it is hard not to fantasize about the possibilities.
Mark would it be appropriate to see a price for the Truncs on this forum?


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i try to be a glass half full type of guy mark 

i just thought it a strange frog as a first offering. the truncatus that exist here (the US) already are an under-appreciated frog with a seemingly small following (there seems to be a resurgence in the popularity of the blues however) so you'll have to excuse me if i was somewhat baffled by their being the selection for this offering. i have to believe that you would have rather imported a frog with more of the WOW factor (like the benedictas have) but this was the most viable option.

either way, its fantastic that the doors are starting to creak open to this country, and i doubt that anyone will find that understory hasnt continued to be one of the finest operations around which continually seeks out the difficult tasks and takes charge of leading the community through hard work,the way no others could.

james


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## curlykid (Jan 28, 2011)

i could have sworn Captivus were colombian. well if they're peruvian maybe chances are better?


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## skylsdale (Sep 16, 2007)

MPepper said:


> Not surprisingly much of the focus here seems to be on the what's next as opposed to the what is now. We fully expected this and it is of course understandable. However, it is somewhat dissapointing that the thought of other species is seemingly detracting from what is at hand. F1 locality specific, legally imported, captive bred Colombian truncatus. Truncatus live in a huge variety of habitats, and are extremely tough, beautiful frogs. The golden yellow colour these particular ones exhibit is difficult to capture with a lens. They are pretty unique mid sized frogs and certainly worthy of a place in any collection.


I, for one, couldn't be happier that truncatus are the first frogs being offered (I have been worried the last couple years that this is a frog that is dwindling from the captive hobby and at risk of falling through the proverbial cracks). The first thing I noted in seeing the images on your site, Mark, was the markedly intense coloration--very nice frogs.

Hopefully folks will support the availability of Colombian frogs of proper legal origins and processes through the efforts of Understory.


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

The very first dart i owned was truncatus, i am really glad that they are coming in, the bloodline in the US is way to inbred and most offsprings offered are fragile and weak because of it.


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## MPepper (Feb 29, 2004)

Thanks for the input guys.

@CBreon, yeah the Andinobates are incredible looking species. I as much as anyone else would love to enjoy these in my vivaria as well. Keep your fingers crossed, this will be a good chance to exercise patience 

@Mr Pulawski I do not know if it is appropriate or not, but a mod can decide. The price is $75 for frogs which will be 1/2 to most cases 3/4grown. The Colombian auratus are something special indeed, I am with you there.

@James I see what you are saying, but we are looking at the situation from two different perspectives. Truncatus is a species of least concern, abundant and easily accessible from Bogota (for purposes of founder stock). This is a very heavily monitored/supervised project especially so since nothing of the sort is currently operational. In situations like this, and it was the same in Peru, acquisition of and approval for additional species is often hinged upon success with previous species. Thus, the fantastic success they have demonstrated with truncatus in captivity will serve as a very solid foundation for solicitation and approval of additional species, several of which are well underway. Had they started with lehmanni, showed a production of 1 or 2 or 3 offspring, it is a pretty safe bet the project would have ended there. So from our perspective, truncatus was the ideal species to get the ball rolling. I was just excited to clear a box of truncatus through customs as I would have been histos, after years of waiting it was a thrill to receive anything Colombian!

hope that provided some further clarification


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## Paul G (Feb 27, 2007)

I kind of figured this would be the response by some as a lot of people don't think much of truncatus. 

truncatus is one of my favorite PDFs and as Mark P. said you really cannot capture the true colors in a camera lens. There are so few blood lines in the US that I bet most have never seen them in person and once again I have seen next to no photos that do them justice. If you put any nice daylight bulb on truncs it looks like they are blacklight responsive.

I cannot say I'm not interested (a lot!) in Colombian Oophaga but I'm very excited that I can soon get F1 locale specific yellow truncatus and hopefully some other species that have been inbred to death like blue truncs and all the Phyllobates sp.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Paul G said:


> I kind of figured this would be the response by some as a lot of people don't think much of truncatus.
> 
> truncatus is one of my favorite PDFs and as Mark P. said you really cannot capture the true colors in a camera lens. There are so few blood lines in the US that I bet most have never seen them in person and once again I have seen next to no photos that do them justice. If you put any nice daylight bulb on truncs it looks like they are blacklight responsive.
> 
> I cannot say I'm not interested (a lot!) in Colombian Oophaga but I'm very excited that I can soon get F1 locale specific yellow truncatus and hopefully some other species that have been inbred to death like blue truncs and all the Phyllobates sp.


I do have some concerns that the already established truncatus will be left by the wayside due to the availability of the newer imports. If we lose those frogs, we also lose some of the history of the hobby.... 

Ed


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## Paul G (Feb 27, 2007)

Thats a good point Ed. I guess we won't be mixing these with the old lines. Just like the old Ranitomeya vs UE Ranitomeya.



Ed said:


> I do have some concerns that the already established truncatus will be left by the wayside due to the availability of the newer imports. If we lose those frogs, we also lose some of the history of the hobby....
> 
> Ed


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Ed,

I have been having a lot of success in breeding the blue form of D. truncatus and hope to play a role in getting more proven groups of these into the hobby. I was not really sold on them until I had them in my collection and could see how beautiful they really are. I would hope that others would make an effort to keep all the known morphs going in the hobby (even though they don't have locality data associated with them).

The issue I have with new imports such as these is, do we know what the number of founder stock animals were that are part of the project? If Mark and others are willing to put so much time and effort into bringing these wonderful frogs into the hobby, shouldn't we be trying to get a TMP going for each species as soon as they are offered for sale? Otherwise, we won't know if there is drift toward frogs that perform better in the hobby and less successful lines will die off?

Just a thought, Richard. (I'm ordering a quartet of these yellow D. truncatus myself).


Ed said:


> I do have some concerns that the already established truncatus will be left by the wayside due to the availability of the newer imports. If we lose those frogs, we also lose some of the history of the hobby....
> 
> Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

I have some yellows that need to be paired up and I really like them.. At some point I would like to get some of the blues as well. For some reason the main distribution of the two variations ended up on the seperate coasts with most of the blues out west, while the yellows were mainly on the east coast. 

A TMP would be of value (and if you want, I can send the information for TWI...) 

Ed


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## El Saptio Joyas (Jun 15, 2011)

Paul G said:


> I kind of figured this would be the response by some as a lot of people don't think much of truncatus.
> 
> truncatus is one of my favorite PDFs and as Mark P. said you really cannot capture the true colors in a camera lens. There are so few blood lines in the US that I bet most have never seen them in person and once again I have seen next to no photos that do them justice. If you put any nice daylight bulb on truncs it looks like they are blacklight responsive.
> 
> I cannot say I'm not interested (a lot!) in Colombian Oophaga but I'm very excited that I can soon get F1 locale specific yellow truncatus and hopefully some other species that have been inbred to death like blue truncs and all the Phyllobates sp.


I concur - Truncs are one of my fav PDF's. I see my yellow Truncs more than any other frog I have. Their beautiful coloration is no less striking despite being "over bred" for 20+ years - intense lemon yellow when viewed from the side, which changes to a bright electric orange when viewed from above. The blue truncs are much the same w color changes from blue to green, depending on the angle they are viewed. I have both morphs. Next spring I will prob pick up some F1s from Mark. 

-Scott


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

This is really great to hear. And it definitely makes sense for them to release an easily bred species first. The project been going for 4 years and I can't imagine the cost that went into it. It would be best for them to get some money back in to continue their work. Whether they are histrionica or truncatus doesn't matter to me, it's just exciting to finally hear about some CB known locality species coming from Columbia.


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

Ed and Richard,

I've been a member here for about a year now and can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a trunc other than the ones on the UE website. I'm about to search on here to see some pictures, but maybe we could start an appreciation thread like we have for some of the other species to make this one a little more known.


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## skylsdale (Sep 16, 2007)

thedude said:


> ...it's just exciting to finally hear about some CB known locality species coming from Columbia.


Technically they're from Colombia. Unless we live in Warshington.


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## thedude (Nov 28, 2007)

skylsdale said:


> Technically they're from Colombia. Unless we live in Warshington.


I don't always spell so well! That doesn't take away from what I said, WRITE??


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Spaff said:


> Ed and Richard,
> 
> I've been a member here for about a year now and can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen a picture of a trunc other than the ones on the UE website. I'm about to search on here to see some pictures, but maybe we could start an appreciation thread like we have for some of the other species to make this one a little more known.


Like this? It doesn't bring out all of the colors since I've played around with the diet but it's a start...


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