# Anybody have any experience with "Ameerega silverstonei"



## jelly_shrimp (Apr 17, 2009)

So, I'm planning on getting so 18x18x24's (talls) and I'd like to know what setup you have had success with when caring for this species. Thank you for ANY tips!
~Sean


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## Scott (Feb 17, 2004)

Definitely not a beginner frog. Do some searching on it.

Dendrobates.Org - Ameerga silverstonei:



> Only once you reach the cool, misty summits of the Cordillera Azul are you within the range of this montane specialist. Its habitat is a place of perpetual dampness and cold, with daytime temperatures on the ground typically around 21 C (70 F), and at night reaching 12-15 C (53-60 F).


I saw them in the Montane Room at Atlanta Biological Garden.

s


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## jelly_shrimp (Apr 17, 2009)

Well, it would have been a while away seeing as it's $175!!! I also want a Bri Bri, but I ain't got the tank for one, second off, I don't have $225 for one! So...I plan on my starter to be "Kahlua and Cream auratus" Or some Azureus, OR some "Dendrobates tinctorius". Anywho..first I need to save my allouance for 3 months.....I need a tank to start with, allreay know what it will be, (looks in the air in awe and angels start going "awwwwwe") an exo-terra 18x18x24, I'm going to have some bromeliads, some ferns, a bunch of almond leaves so they have spots to go under and for the crickets to hide (the constant pinheads or 1/8"), ghost wood branches leaning from the bottom left up to the top right and after a few months if will be covered in moss, then I'll have a concrete-covered-foam background that melas did (thanks for the idea) with another bridge made out of the concrete-coverd-foam, a small bit of moss over by my pond (small pond so they still have a lot of space to walk around and such) ("Awwwwwwe ends") so as you can see, I know what I want to do. It's just the start, it's nice to have and end projected, but I first need to get the tank   
This will also be my first, but definately not my last!
~Sean


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

You pretty much cant get these. There are very very few people with them, and i havent heard of anyone even getting eggs in the last couple years. That basic price list on sean's site is old, he updates it though with "available now" if that species is...but in the 5 years i've been in the hobby i've never seen that under the silverstonei.

Auratus, tinc, azuerus, much better beginner frogs....i'd stay away from bri bri, and pums or even thumbnails till you have some experience, then start with an imi, gl lamasi, something like that...bri bri are still not super common. The size of pums and thumbs makes them less forgiving as it is, and many are considered intermediate to advanced in their care. 

Unfortunately unless new imports come in the vast majority of us will only be able to appreciate this frog in photos.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

Silverstonei need a big tank and cooler temps and once they grow up you literally CAN NOT move them. The last breeding group that I know of stopped producing a few years ago. These are frogs and rarely do I say this (actually this is the first time i have ever said this) that must be kept by only the most advanced of hobbyists. 
On a side note I understand Understory may be currently working on eventually supplying them, if they do become available i would suggest anyone interested have a 40 or 50 gallon breeder ready for them minimum, a 75 would be even better.


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## jelly_shrimp (Apr 17, 2009)

markpulawski said:


> Silverstonei need a big tank and cooler temps and once they grow up you literally CAN NOT move them. The last breeding group that I know of stopped producing a few years ago. These are frogs and rarely do I say this (actually this is the first time i have ever said this) that must be kept by only the most advanced of hobbyists.
> On a side note I understand Understory may be currently working on eventually supplying them, if they do become available i would suggest anyone interested have a 40 or 50 gallon breeder ready for them minimum, a 75 would be even better.


Humph...And to Dendri, the Bri Bri was a fantasy mainly, I would need to save my money for 6months! I get $40 allowance a month..... And I'm planning on starting out with a cheap tinctorius that's like $50-$60, I will be getting some (2-3) 18x18x24 and a few rearing tanks (1-2).


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

Hey Mark,
Mine got moved around 3 times after they were adults and still did fine. Since there are so few that have had them, I think some that came in might have had vit or calcium deficiency problems that came in from EU.
I sold them before they bred but they seemed as hardy as trivis. They pounded large crickets and even made it thru shipping as adults. I think, once they come in again, we`ll see more of them and they`ll be a bit more hardy, being bred here. 
Just my thoughts.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

frogfarm said:


> Hey Mark,
> Mine got moved around 3 times after they were adults and still did fine. Since there are so few that have had them, I think some that came in might have had vit or calcium deficiency problems that came in from EU.
> I sold them before they bred but they seemed as hardy as trivis. They pounded large crickets and even made it thru shipping as adults. I think, once they come in again, we`ll see more of them and they`ll be a bit more hardy, being bred here.
> Just my thoughts.


I had 7 or 8 adults at different times, 5 were a very prolific breeding group and all went down after being moved as adults. Perhaps it was a vitamin deficiancy, the breeding group was at the Cincy Zoo and produced 100+ offspring, when Robin Saunders left there i pulled them and all died within weeks.
I surely hope we get the chance to find out if they are more hardy than what I experienced, they are surely one of my favorites.


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## Darren Meyer (May 22, 2004)

I had my goup back in 02 from Sean . Think they were some of the last he produced . They "were" some of my favorites also . They had started to breed in their 20 gallon grow out viv so I moved them . All 5 were dead inside 1 week . Would love to work with them again myself . I know of another who has some that have breed for him .... the viv is in a horrible state and needs to be re done in a bad way . He hasen't , because of fear of loosing them , so those frogs haven't breed for awhile . There was another local guy back in 99 or so , Don who had a group who moved his established group out of a 200 gal acrylic all dead inside a week .
Just think once you have them established you should be very wary of moving them IMO. For that reason alone it should be a larger than your normal viv .
Happy frogging , 
Darren Meyer


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## Dendro Dave (Aug 2, 2005)

Perhaps they are especially poor at adapting to new conditions with a different bacteria load then where they came from...maybe moving some soil and stuff from the old tank into the new would provide familar smells and mircofauna, along with a similar bacterial profile.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

Darren Meyer said:


> I had my goup back in 02 from Sean . Think they were some of the last he produced . They "were" some of my favorites also . They had started to breed in their 20 gallon grow out viv so I moved them . All 5 were dead inside 1 week . Would love to work with them again myself . I know of another who has some that have breed for him .... the viv is in a horrible state and needs to be re done in a bad way . He hasen't , because of fear of loosing them , so those frogs haven't breed for awhile . There was another local guy back in 99 or so , Don who had a group who moved his established group out of a 200 gal acrylic all dead inside a week .
> Just think once you have them established you should be very wary of moving them IMO. For that reason alone it should be a larger than your normal viv .
> Happy frogging ,
> Darren Meyer


Actually Sean never produced any, he was getting them from a guy named Eric Anderson through Ron Gagliardo, Eric also produced the ones that were in the Atlanta Botanical Garden. Those were the last I got as well and after growing them up 3/4's I sent them to a guy in San Fran who said they all wend down shortly after. Eric's group is the one I was referring to that stopped producing, they were the last breeding group in th US that I was aware of. I believe they are still alive but they no longer produce anything viable, too bad he did not hold back future breeders for himself.
Mark


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## Julio (Oct 8, 2007)

I actually got a chance to talk to Mark a fw weeks ago about Silvertonei, he told me that they are actually a pretty hard frog and not as sensitive a people think they are, they dont' need to be kept as cool as people think, because i told him i wanted to setup a tank with a chiller and he said that would be a total waste, that they would acclimate to warm temps just fine.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

I think they will acclimate fine as well, I would suggest giving them conditions more closely related to their habitat may give the opportunity for greater success. I know Chuck N bred them in Hawaii and the temps were reported to be in the 90's for at least the summer months. I also understand many Europeans keep them outside a good portion of the year exposing them to pretty cool temps. So I guess like a lot of frogs lots of TLC will allow them to survive and even thrive in conditions they don't see in the wild...as usual more than one right way to get it done.
My breeding group was at the Cincy Zoo set up in a river tank with a chiller and they bred prolifically, amazingly enough mostly in film canisters (mind you these frogs were huge). I sure hope Mark gets them into the hobby again, as advanced as many of our hobbyists are now i am sure we would have decent success reproducing them here in the US.


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## jelly_shrimp (Apr 17, 2009)

Just to let yall know, I got the point that I can't buy any, yet even if I could they are a very advanced species. But yall can keep talkin about who still has em and if you've ever had them, I don't really care haha! Although, I do feal pretty special that I started an intresting topic!
P.S. In the sentence "I feal important" Is feal supposed to be spelt "feel" or "feal" Because I spell it randomly because I've seen both, even in the same sentence...


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## waynowon (Jun 2, 2007)

ue should have some coming in March 2015. i am asking if i can buy some, as I don't consider myself an expert
http://www.dendrobates.org/images/silverstonei11.jpg. 
not sure if they will but i am hopeful. what a frog


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## Spaff (Jan 8, 2011)

There are already a few people here working with a small group of UE frogs. Based on what they've said, they're doing well so far.


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## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

They seem to be doing fine.

-Nish


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## Cutterfly (Apr 9, 2009)

Hi there

They like to have larger vivaria because they are "sitters & watchers", like trivittata, so they like to see each other over longer distances while courting than i.e. some tinctorius would. You could use smaller vivaria with little vegetal cover, but they won't feel save in those in the long run.

A certain indicator (at least for me) if these guys are happy is when you hear them calling early in the morning or late in the evening before the lights turned on and after the lights turned off.
If you don't have many calling silverstonei or other Ameerega you can easily introduce your potential male's calling by drumming against a porcelan dish or a jar or something similar (even my metal kitchen worktop works) as long as you have the right beat/interval (no, I'm not kidding you... this works with all trivittata and silverstonei since years for me, I can still observe this every other day while drumming against my jar full of fruit flies to keep them down)
The "right beat" is the HA-van-na part of the havanna cuba beat (again, I'm not kidding you): TACK tack tack, TACK tack tack... as this is very similar to the silverstonei's native calling interval.

You can move them as often as you want without some superspecial black magic sudden death occuring... 
Of course you should not move any frog more often than neccessary.


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## dmartin72 (Oct 27, 2004)

I would love to see a YouTube video of that...cool.


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