# Pics of Mantella aurantiaca eggs sites



## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Does anyone have any pics of their M. aurantiaca eggs deposition sites or can they describe them for me??? My males are calling up a storm and the female looks like a marble with legs. I dried out the enclosure for a couple months and lately I’ve been misting the enclosure pretty heavily. There are brazil nut pods, coco huts and tons of magnolia leaves but no real “shallow depressions” so I was wondering if that was really needed for the female to lay in. 

Also are people pulling the eggs or leaving them in the enclosure. I leave the eggs for most of my frogs now, as long as there is a water feature to deposit them in. Seems to work well for me. 
Thanks! 
Ed


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

When I bred them at work years ago, all of the good eggs were deposited close to the water in a depresssion under pieces of cork or under the moss. I pulled the eggs for hatching. 

Ed


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## trow (Aug 25, 2005)

*Golden Beauties*

You can also use film canisters partially buried within enclosure and then transfer eggs out to incubation area this works for me and it is alot easier.Although they will lay in areas described by others the canister or whatever small containment device you would use keeps things easier.
later


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## Derek Benson (Feb 19, 2004)

I believe Devin has pictures of his aurantiaca deposition site on his website, if not, jsut send him a message if he doesn't see this.

http://www.amphibiancare.com


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

Hey Ed martin,

congrats first with having a group of aurantiaca, that is cool. Are the one of the captive breed bloodlines or wild???? 

As far as breeding goes, pretty much any mantella (other than laevigata of course) will lay there eggs in anything near water. Try makeing depressions of sphagnum underneath cork, make gaps in between rocks, even bore out holes in driftwood if you have some in your viv with them. THey really just need a moist dark area to lay, where they feel their eggs would be protected. Film canister like trey said probably will work as well. I personally haven't had any mantella's lay in canisters, mine always prefer the hardest area to collect from. But just experiment and give them some options. And do check out Devin's site, he has a lot of good pics of his aurantiaca eggs, tads, and more. Take care,

ed parker


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Thanks Derek, There are some pics on Devin’s site (great info too!)…. I just wanted to see what everyone else was doing, because the pictures seem to depict the “classic” moist depression egg site

Hey Ed, These are from Rich T. I am really happy with them, the female is pretty shy but one of the males (3:1) is usually out calling. I’m just amazed at how big the female gets. I’ve set up a couple spots for her to lay, like deli cups filled with moss, buried in the soil under logs or leaf litter but I figure that it will be as you said, and she will deposit them in the most difficult spot to reach in the enclosure. So if they lay in a log or something… how are you extracting the eggs?? Do you just remove the whole log??

I’ll keep you posted on any progress. 

Ed


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## Devin Edmonds (Mar 2, 2004)

Here are some more photos:









Mantella crocea eggs laid under a clump of moss









Same eggs a little closer, notice the development









Mantella aurantiaca eggs. The left side of the photo that is blurry is a piece of moss I'm lifting up. After her first year of breeding, my female almost exclusively deposited her eggs under this clump of moss.









First clutch of eggs from F3 generation, they were all scattered around the cage. There are only two eggs visible in the photograph.

I remove the eggs using a plastic spoon, and just scoop up whatever substrate they were laid on. These are then placed either on top of a clump of java moss, or submerged in very shallow water, probably less than a quarter inch. Good luck with your group, let us know how it goes!


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Thanks Devin! 
Ed


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## insularexotics (May 3, 2005)

Sorry I am a little late posting these. I just now found this part of DB  I have used a coco hut with petri dish in my goldens' tank for years. They use it about 60-70% of the spawns. I pull the spawn after a few days or when I see wigglers. This was taken in situ after I picked up the hut but before moving the dish.


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## trow (Aug 25, 2005)

Rich I cant see your pics.
cya


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## Mantellaprince20 (Aug 25, 2004)

This is Rich's picture. You copied the wrong URL rich . Don't feel bad, this forum was just barely put up a few days ago, due to the growing interest. It is nice to finally have a place for our mantella's . Take care man,

ed parker


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Holy cow...I thought tricolors laid a lot of eggs. That is one fricken' mass o'tads there.

Bill


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## Guest (Jan 5, 2006)

If the eggs are laid on land, how do the tads get to the water?? 
Sorry for my ignorance,  .


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

As far as I know, most mantellas don't transport tads...that's why they lay in depressions near the water (at least that's what I hear :roll: ) and let a rainstorm carry them to the water


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## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

Very neat and that is a BUNCH of tads....


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Mantellas have a bit of a different strategy in producing eggs... a lot more eggs per clutch, but fewer clutches. Also, there is a bit of a trend of the more parental care, the fewer produced over all in amphibian-dom.

Gotta remember, PDFs are total oddballs in the Anuran (or amphibian) world due to their parental care (much less the DEGREE, the eggfeeders are above and beyond!). Mantella parental care (or rather, lack there of) are much more the norm.

Aren't their clutches produced during the "wet/rainy" season? I'd imagine the streams would flood regularly due to the rain, not only flushing the eggs with fresh water, but flushing out the tads when they hatch. Not major flooding or anything, but a normal couple inch rise and fall due to rains, and with the eggs laid so close to water level, would be plenty to do the job.

And bill, if you think thats one mass o' tads compared to tricolors, some tricolor relatives are right up there with mantellas in their egg count. Transport the buggers too (unlike their Madagascan look-alikes). A bassleri with a clutch like that on its back (tads a different color of course, lol), now *that* would be a sight.

Is that mummy or daddy hiding under the perti dish? lol.


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## insularexotics (May 3, 2005)

Yes. I am pretty sure that's dad under the dish. My adults, especially the males, tend to care for the eggs as long as I leave them. But as everyone else said, I don't think they do much after that.

My mantellas spawn in the Spring when I start spraying heavily and warm them a bit. In the Winter I only spray about 1X/week and cool them close to 60F. I also cut back to 1 or 2 feeds/week. Any mor eand they get OBESE  

Mantellas rule!


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I'm not sure thats caring for the eggs as much as keeping other males away so they don't have a chance to sneak in and fertilize some eggs that the original male might not have gotten the first time around. PDFs the adults not only protect the eggs from members of their own species (female egg stomping, egg eating, males trying to sneak in their genes) but they also keep the eggs moist. If the parents weren't present the eggs would dry out. I think due to where Mantella frogs are laying there eggs they don't have this issue and are just trying to make sure all the tadpoles are his.


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## trow (Aug 25, 2005)

Actually mantellas due tend to their clutches and it is in fact the male that do most of the work in my colony's.I have watched my males eat fly's and other critters that get within range and they will chase intruders male and females.My bernhardi males will actually attack my fingers if I mess around inside their enclosure for to long.No not as complex as pdfs but it is parental care.
cya


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I wasn't saying that Mantella's don't show "parental care" of eggs by displaying gaurd behavior, we completely agree on that point, as I've noticed the same behaviors. I was more trying to point out the difference between Mantella vs. PDF "Parental care" in literal care of the eggs - by "peeing" water on them to keep them moist (mantellas don't have this behavior but rather solve the problem of egg moisture by egg placement in the splash/flood zone) as well as tadpole transfer.

Mantella gaurd behavior is really cool and I wonder if its due to primarily intraspecies competition (over suitible egg deposition sites? territories? skewed sex ratios?), predation (seems likely with the "finger attacking"), or a mix of both. The Mantella's level of parental care is seen in a good amount of stream salamanders, but while not as extreme as PDF, is still an anuran oddity. Funny - seems like anuran wise, the animals with the parental care are the ones that are staying and breeding a lot in the hobby, less triggers for us to figure out I guess?


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## insularexotics (May 3, 2005)

KeroKero said:


> snip... I was more trying to point out the difference between Mantella vs. PDF "Parental care" in literal care of the eggs - by "peeing" water on them to keep them moist (mantellas don't have this behavior but rather solve the problem of egg moisture by egg placement in the splash/flood zone) as well as tadpole transfer....snip
> 
> Actually, mantellas will hydrate their clutches. From _Mantellas_ (Staniszewski, 2001):
> "If conditions permit, once fertilized the clump is usually left unattended and will develop and absorb surrounding moisture. However, during abnormally dry conditions, some species such as _Mantella aurantiaca_ (see Fig. 27, p.36) and _M.viridis_ or in species which naturally inhabit more arid regions such as _M.expectata_, the males adopt a maternal responsibility by regularly visiting the spawn and coating it with secretions (Staniszewski, 1998). Sometimes a single male may remain with the spawn to the point of hatching, behavior seen in few anurans."
> ...


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## rattler_mt (Apr 15, 2005)

yes i realize they are the black sheep of the Mantellas but how do M. laevigata fit in? they are egg feeders though some have pointed out dont have to be, development just seems to take longer. but i havent noticed any guarding behavior in mine that some have described for other species. so they are just on a completly different strategy?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

If the others are black sheep, Levis must be the purple sheep that were abducted by aliens.

I think this behavior developed due to niche needs... streams not available, the only really available source of water to them was the still water in bamboo stands. Its another interesting parallel with PDFs, they are basically an example similar to our "thumbnails".

And people thought emerald tree boas and green tree pythons were awesome examples of convergent evolution....

Interesting thought on eggfeeding - the Levies are non-obligate. Why did obligate PDF eggfeeders develop? Seems like feeding infertile eggs is a suppliment to a food poor environment for a tadpole (pocket of water in a bamboo stand vs. stream) so are PDF obligate eggfeeders taking this to the extreme, tadpoles in nutrient poor enviroments that relied so much on the feeder eggs that their digestive system developed to get as much nutrients out of the eggs as possible, causing them to no longer be able to digest other forms of nutrient (not to mention possible also lose the instinct to try)?

Thinks to think about.


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## tanakay (Dec 5, 2005)

*Milo's site*

Hi, I found good Milo's site, written by Japanese. But pictures are good, tadpole and froglet.
PS."kerokero"sound good!


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## tanakay (Dec 5, 2005)

*URL*

Sorry, forgot URL.
http://hitomi_x.frog.gozaru.jp/


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