# imitator calls:diffrent meanings



## jojopotato25 (Jan 7, 2007)

ive heard that imitator males make a special call when they want to female to feed the tadpoles. is this true? and what does it sound like when compared to the regular call. I heard my male make a diffrent sounding call today and i think i might have tadpoles because of it! this call was much shorter(2 seconds long,4 diffrent times.......his regular calls are atleast 4 seconds long and he does them a bunch of times) and it sounded a note lower than his regular call.


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## reggorf (Oct 24, 2006)

That is what our imitators do. When he is trying to get her to feed, his call is a bit shorter and lower. When he wants her to meet him in the film cup to breed, his call is louder and higher and longer and did I mention, LOUDER. You may have eggs/tads, but you may not. How old are your imis? Maybe he is still learning how too call. Do you have plenty of water sources if there are eggs/tads? We have two empty film cups to lay in and 4-5 film cups with water for deposition. Good luck and I hope you have eggs/tads. Our male is a great daddy. He guards the eggs, transports the eggs, and makes sure mom keeps them well fed. We just got our first two froglets out of the water this week. They are so tiny and cute.


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## jojopotato25 (Jan 7, 2007)

i have one film cup with water in it and some broms that MIGHT be able to hold tadpoles. im not sure how much water needs to be in a brom for a male to transport to it. I also have two stillwater ponds about 5 inches in diamter.do you think he will drop them off in the ponds?


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## reggorf (Oct 24, 2006)

I think he probably would drop in the ponds. He won't drop more than one per water source. Our imis don't use the broms we have but ours are vey small. If you had a large brom, he probably would drop in there. our film cups are about half full. They don't need a ton of water to survive.


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## themann42 (Apr 12, 2005)

that's pretty sweet. anybody know if it's the same for other types of frogs? my basti's have been calling in the same way; quieter, shorter chirps. i wonder if i have some tads or froglets in there now. i saw eggs a few months ago, but thought my broms would be too small for them to get raised in... i just thought my male wasn't in the mood to mate lately, because he used to call loud and long all day.


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## pl259 (Feb 27, 2006)

My imis have been breeding and use different calls as well. They've been egg feeding too. Mine deposit tads into broms and ignore the pond and deli containers. I figure they know what they're doing better than me. Mine also put more than one tad in a single location. If one gets eaten, so be it. I prefer to free range mine. 

It's definately true with other species. My vittatus have a wide variety of calls. I've heard a couple different calls with my tricolors. The male tricolor is very loud initially and when a female joins him on a leaf, the call becomes softer, shorter, and more choppy. I've also seen the tricolor males rapidily thump the leaf with his rear leg when in amplexus. 

EricG.NH


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## _Enix_ (Jul 31, 2005)

themann42 said:


> that's pretty sweet. anybody know if it's the same for other types of frogs? my basti's have been calling in the same way; quieter, shorter chirps. i wonder if i have some tads or froglets in there now. i saw eggs a few months ago, but thought my broms would be too small for them to get raised in... i just thought my male wasn't in the mood to mate lately, because he used to call loud and long all day.


I find this behavior very interesting. 

My male Retic. has a couple different calls. He will call louder and longer when there are no eggs and shorter when there are eggs (too bad I can not get any of the fertilized eggs to stop molding over.)

My Escudos also have different, distinct calls. The one male seems to chirp at the females, kinda like saying, "hey you, come here". He looks right at her and will move around apparently trying to get her attention. He will also call for very long periods of time with a very long call. Not sure what he is trying to say there


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## XtReMaTriX (Dec 12, 2006)

jojopotato25 said:


> ive heard that imitator males make a special call when they want to female to feed the tadpoles. is this true? and what does it sound like when compared to the regular call. I heard my male make a diffrent sounding call today and i think i might have tadpoles because of it! this call was much shorter(2 seconds long,4 diffrent times.......his regular calls are atleast 4 seconds long and he does them a bunch of times) and it sounded a note lower than his regular call.


Check out this video its pretty neat to watch them feed the tads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64y15Ho6d84


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## housevibe7 (Sep 24, 2006)

Mine have different calls as well, three that I can pick out.... and they always deposit in bromes... I have lots of film canisters, both clear and black. I guess my imi just prefer the real thing. Some peoples frogs lay in both, just depends on your frogs and your orientation of the canisters I think.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

XtReMaTriX said:


> jojopotato25 said:
> 
> 
> > ive heard that imitator males make a special call when they want to female to feed the tadpoles. is this true? and what does it sound like when compared to the regular call. I heard my male make a diffrent sounding call today and i think i might have tadpoles because of it! this call was much shorter(2 seconds long,4 diffrent times.......his regular calls are atleast 4 seconds long and he does them a bunch of times) and it sounded a note lower than his regular call.
> ...


That is a very nice little video...should be in the care sheet!


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## XtReMaTriX (Dec 12, 2006)

Dancing frogs said:


> XtReMaTriX said:
> 
> 
> > Check out this video its pretty neat to watch them feed the tads.
> ...


Yay I made a useful contribution :lol:


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