# Shipping egg clutches



## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

Decided to try shipping a developing clutch of E. anthonyi earlier this week. Very easy to do and worked out nicely according to the recipient. I ended up cutting and rolling the philo. leaf on which the developing tads were situated and inserting into a plastic test tube that had been rinsed with H20. Rolling the leaf around the clutch allowed it to maintain integrity during travel. The tube was placed in a small, thick biosupply cooler along with a gel pack, and send overnight. 

Have you shipped eggs/developing tads? Have you found that certain stages work better than others?


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## Wallace Grover (Dec 6, 2009)

Shipping eggs?

It sounds really cool, but if it worked wouldn't everybody be doing it by now as opposed to shipping tadpoles?


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

I won't ship tadpoles, they are too fragile, in my opinion. The point of shipping egg clutches, generally at the mid to late Gosner stage of development, is that they are old enough to determine that successful development is taking place and yet young enough to be still enclosed in jelly and less prone to being tossed around during transport. They are also substantially lighter to ship and require less space. This approach also helps avoid the concerns that some who trade in tadpoles have raised about tadpoles becoming acclimated to one type of H20 before being exposed to another from a different region. I haven't experienced this but some folks have claimed that issues have resulted when tadpoles were exposed to different water conditions than those within which they were initially reared.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

This is a really safe shipping procedure and is without a doubt a safer bet than shipping tads. I have infact shipped treefrog eggs with this same basice idea. It was well before the tads hatched as the eggs are weaker at this stage. I folded both Anthurium and large philo leaves over and shipped in 6''x1'' containers. 

Michael


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## Wallace Grover (Dec 6, 2009)

Why don't more people do this then?


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

Ignorance. 


j/k. I don't think there is really a need in most cases. The only reason I considered doing this is that I will be out of the country for a month or so and am trying to cut back on all the tadpoles.


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## poison beauties (Mar 1, 2010)

I was unprepared for the few clutches of treefrog tads when I did this. Idid not have the space for hundreds of tads.

It does still involve some of the risks like with receiving tads. You could end up with sls issues and Im unsure even this could become a practice. Theres just not much need for it. You couldnt really ask much for frog eggs anyways.


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## markpulawski (Nov 19, 2004)

I have shipped tads many times without issue but have never tried an egg clutch but I would assume this is the least stressfull stage of a frogs life to be shipped, some commentary....

Jesco White on Sloppy Eggs - YouTube


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## Psyko (Apr 5, 2011)

i am curious as how you would as a vendor charge, per egg or clutch or size of clutch? also how would it ship? overnight like frogs or could they last a 3-5 day ground shipping with appropriate temps? just some thoughts, i know the appropriate would most definitely be overnight but would it be possible seeing that the eggs are just developing?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Hi Ray,

Zoos routinely ship tadpoles including those of critically endangered species like Puerto Rican Crested toads. They aren't a problem and contrary to the opinion of hobbyists that delicate if shipped properly. The main trick is to minimize or eliminate the air in the tadpole container. If there is a lot of air then the tadpoles experience a lot of turbulance and can be bounced around in the containers potentially damaging them. If you ship them with little or no air in the container, then the amount they can be tossed around is dramatically decreased. Check out Kordon Breather Bags Kordon LLC - Kordon - Breathing Bags 
Just to be clear I am referring to air that is contained in the bag or jar with the water and tadpoles not extraneous to the eggs. 

I agree that there should be little issue with shipping many different types of anuran eggs.. (bio supply companies have been doing it for at least half a century...) 

Ed


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## jpstod (Sep 8, 2005)

stemcellular said:


> Ignorance.
> 
> 
> j/k. I don't think there is really a need in most cases. The only reason I considered doing this is that I will be out of the country for a month or so and am trying to cut back on all the tadpoles.


I am curious why you say that?

I would think it might be more likely Profits..
How much do you charge per egg or clutch?
How much do you charge per Tadpole?
Just like juveniles sell for less than adults and Unsexed and Sexed sell differently


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

jpstod said:


> I am curious why you say that?
> 
> I would think it might be more likely Profits..
> How much do you charge per egg or clutch?
> ...


I think if we think about it, the greatest profit is going to be in selling eggs as there is little investment in the terms of cost and time at that point, which is going to maximize profit (even if they are sold for much less). If we really priced them out then the least cost effective sale is going to be sexed adults as you would have all of the time and costs into them until they were sexable. 

Ed


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## jpstod (Sep 8, 2005)

Just Curious How much are eggs going for?
How long does it take to find out if Eggs are Fertile?
How long does it take for eggs to Develop?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

jpstod said:


> Just Curious How much are eggs going for?
> How long does it take to find out if Eggs are Fertile?
> How long does it take for eggs to Develop?


 
I haven't priced eggs or considered pricing them but development can be seen within a couple of days so fertility is easily determined and hatching is typically within 15-20 days. However if you have a pair (or more) of the frogs there isn't anything preventing committing clutches to sale before they are laid and then ship them out as soon as fertility is determined.


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## tclipse (Sep 19, 2009)

Ed said:


> Hi Ray,
> 
> . Check out Kordon Breather Bags Kordon LLC - Kordon - Breathing Bags
> 
> ...


^those bags are awesome... shipped some pretty delicate fish for years with no issues.


One place where I think shipping/sale of eggs would work very well is with those who end up culling their eggs because they don't want to spend the time/space raising tads/froglets. They make an extra buck, the hobby gets more frogs, win-win.... particularly with the more rare species.


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## stemcellular (Jun 26, 2008)

thanks, Ed. Might give it a whirl sometime. 



Ed said:


> Hi Ray,
> 
> Zoos routinely ship tadpoles including those of critically endangered species like Puerto Rican Crested toads. They aren't a problem and contrary to the opinion of hobbyists that delicate if shipped properly. The main trick is to minimize or eliminate the air in the tadpole container. If there is a lot of air then the tadpoles experience a lot of turbulance and can be bounced around in the containers potentially damaging them. If you ship them with little or no air in the container, then the amount they can be tossed around is dramatically decreased. Check out Kordon Breather Bags Kordon LLC - Kordon - Breathing Bags
> Just to be clear I am referring to air that is contained in the bag or jar with the water and tadpoles not extraneous to the eggs.
> ...


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## 19jeffro83 (Sep 5, 2011)

Sounds interesting.


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