# Bad eggs.. again?



## M44KHB (Nov 9, 2020)

Hi all! 

Pretty new to posting but I have been hovering these forums for years. New to keeping Darts too, but pretty experienced in keeping reptiles.

I have a pair of Azureus (which I suspect are siblings although sold as a breeding pair). They are beautiful little creatures, really active and hilarious to watch. They follow each-other around most of the time and are really cute.

The male has started calling straight away back in November, and I soon found some eggs (four) in a petri dish/cocohut. Sadly they were ******-grey and did not develop. I put this down to maybe not enough food/the right nutrition from before I got them, or maybe because they were still young (10 months or so).

From November until now they have been fed a meal or fruit flies with Zoo Med Repti Calcium 5 days a week, once a week swapped to Repashy Vitamin A Plus and once a week Zoo Meds Reptivite with D3. Once a month I buy small crickets and release a bunch. And I keep the tank topped up with some non-dusted flies for grazing. They also have three LED lights and a UV light at the top of the exo 45x45x90. 

The calling stopped for some time, but started back in about a month ago. And I have finally found a new clutch of eggs... but sadly they still don't look too great (so my entirely untrained eye).

Any suggestions / tips would be really appreciated!











And here are some of my magical little frogs and their home (because why not)


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## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

A few pieces of advice here:

1: supplements: the supplements you're using are not designed for dart frogs. There's a very strong chance that's why the eggs you are getting aren't turning out. Repashy calcium plus is an all in one supplement that meets the needs of dart frogs. 

2. That tank, while beautiful needs some improvements to be a better dart frog tank:

Leaf litter on top of the substrate
there doesn't look to be a lot of usable floor space for the dart frogs. The water feature on the right hand side is taking up valuable real estate


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

It is a gorgeous setup...dare I say maybe more appropriate for Ranitomeya than these Azureus.

I will reiterate the above advice from @fishingguy12345, but more specifically : Use a better supplement. I agree with Repashy Calcium Plus being a great every day/every feed supplement. Use the Repashy Vitamin A only once a month or so for now (if at all), and if they start breeding regularly you can increase that a bit.


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## FroggerFrog (Jan 11, 2021)

I liked what @fishingguy12345 said but I have one more question. Is that a fogger? If so, do you spray your tank too? While foggers look cool, they aren’t a primary misting method and if used wrong, can cause problems.


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## aapuzzo (Apr 20, 2020)

I don't know much but in all my reading I don't remember anybody ever recommending plain calcium for dart frogs. I have been using Repashy calcium plus every feeding for my frogs that haven't produced eggs yet with Repashy A Plus once in a while for frogs that are producing every few weeks. If you stay with calcium plus every feeding you are most likely safe however. It is normal to receive a bunch of infertile clutches before getting a good one. My Auratus gave me about 5 dad clutches before I got a good one.

Also I am jealous of your setup but my Azureus almost never climb. Do yours? If they don't I would get something 18x18x18/24 or bigger footprint and put something different in there. That's not the reason you are getting infertile clutches though. Pin a few vertical fireball bromeliads in there and it would be amazing for some Pumilios.

Note: Josh's frogs does have a feeding schedule that shows plain calcium as below. Not sure if this is old information being 2015. I never read anybody on current forums saying they followed this supplement schedule.









Frog Supplementation - The Next Step - Josh's Frogs How-To Guides


So, you’ve had dart frogs for awhile now, and they’re thriving! You have a wonderful vivarium with growing plants, and are…




www.joshsfrogs.com


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## M44KHB (Nov 9, 2020)

Hi all, thank you all for the comments and advice. I'm afraid the supplements I have were specifically advised and sold by the store I got the frogs from  I will switch to calcium plus straight away. Hopefully that will help.

As for the setup, I wasn't too sure how they'd get on with it either - and was happy to move them if they didn't use the space - but they really seem to love it. They use all of the space and are constantly exploring so I'm not worried about this but will probably get them a 45x90x90 at some point. There was a lot more leaf littler but it all got broke down super fast - need to get more.

From the front the setup looks very vertical but it's laid out in an 'S' shape, so they have a path all the way to the top tier. They sleep in the cork tunnel (middle left) together, and pretty much every morning wake up and head down to the 'hunting ground' for breakfast. They climb to the top tier a couple of times a day too without fail. Originally the base was all terrain, but as I have no sump I had a water build up in the bottom and thought I'd try out a corner pond - they sit in the corner pond a few times a day and seem to enjoy it.

Lately the boy is OBSESSED with the larger bromeliad on the middle tier, I think he wanted her to lay the eggs there.. he was sure he found a good spot.

Oh and yeah, the lights and fogger are on timers, and the fogger just comes on for 10 mins in the morning and evening either side of the light cycles - and is set to a much lower setting than it was for that photo above. I mist the tank twice a day allowing time for it to dry out a bit through the day.

@aapuzzo - Thanks for sharing that, hopefully they will have some more luck with their next clutches. 

Thanks again for all of the replies, I'm thrilled to have found such an engaging community!

Some more photos -


























































This shows it before the corner pond went in - you can see the frogs on top of the cork tunnel on the middle tier together


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

It's nice to see them using all that space. It does seem like they are enjoying it! Great photos!

Despite being more vertically orientated than I would initially suggest, I do really like this build and it looks like you have created lots of different flat areas for them at different heights. 

Fix up your supplements and give them a couple of months. First egg clutches often go bad. Not a sign of anything at all!


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## M44KHB (Nov 9, 2020)

Thanks @Chris S ! I would like to give them more floor space at some point, but after seeing how they use the height I wouldn't take that away from them.

I'll post any updates of future clutch news. Hopefully at some point I can post some offspring


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## M44KHB (Nov 9, 2020)

So I read somewhere that once you hear the male calling and the ritual begin - cover the enclosure - leave the room if possible and don't disturb them in hope that they complete the process.

I tried this yesterday and maybe... just maybe... I have 3-4 good eggs out of 7 total.

3 are clearly white and marbled - the other 4 look... better! Fingers crossed I see some development in the next few days.


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