# Ranitomeya variabilis “Southern” Eggs



## TravisH (Jan 18, 2017)

I have some eggs (6) going on 25 days and the tadpoles still have not broken free. They are very active and look to be fully developed and the yolk sack fully absorbed over a week now. I did see one of the males transporting tads, a day after removing the clutch above, so tend to believe everything is fine with the adult frogs in regards to the overall health of the eggs. Have removed two additional clutches and a third clutch was deposited this evening. At this point no egg I have removed has not been fertilized or stopped development.

I know the tads release an enzyme to help and guess no harm in just leaving them and let nature take its course but have debated to just nick the egg. 

I also noticed when I left a clutch the vivarium for about a week I was surprised with how often one of the males would go to wet the eggs and just rub his belly over them for 5 minutes or so (clutch of 4) even with the eggs wet from the routine misting. I also observed the other frogs would spend time on the same bromeliad leaf (rarely visited prior to the clutch). After removing the clutch the that bromeliad leaf use age returned to normal. Would the extra jostling from frog activity help break the eggs? I have a few film cannisters in the vivarium that see daily use as far as the frogs hanging out in them (one clutch was deposited in a cannister all other on bromeliads).


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

I'd leave them be. The top clutch is about ready to break free, same with the bottom right (looks a little behind). The clutch on the left still needs some development time.

You can add a bit of water to the canister for the ones you think are ready, and see if they wiggle out. If they don't within 5 minutes or so, make sure you drain out the excess water.


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## TravisH (Jan 18, 2017)

The top clutch is the one that is moving slowly and will be 4 weeks Sunday evening. Based on what I had come across 14 days plus/minus seamed the expected development "curve". The clutch of 4 are about 15 days at this point and are almost to the same point of development as you stated. I should have jotted down which female deposited the clutches and observed all of them being laid. 

Thee other clutch is only 8 days.


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## Chris S (Apr 12, 2016)

TravisH said:


> The top clutch is the one that is moving slowly and will be 4 weeks Sunday evening. Based on what I had come across 14 days plus/minus seamed the expected development "curve". The clutch of 4 are about 15 days at this point and are almost to the same point of development as you stated. I should have jotted down which female deposited the clutches and observed all of them being laid.
> 
> Thee other clutch is only 8 days.


I wouldn't look into it too much - I've found wildly different development times for eggs in Ranitomeya, even from the same parent frogs (12-20 days). If these are first clutches of younger frogs, typically each clutch will get a bit stronger, assuming the frogs are healthy and not deficient in minerals/vitamins. Part of maturing. I've had extremely young frogs lay and fertilize eggs, but a lot of the time the eggs go bad or the tadpoles develop really slow, and sometimes die off shortly after back legs appear.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

What is your incubating temperature? 

Some comments 
Ed


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## TravisH (Jan 18, 2017)

Incubation temperature has varied between 68 and 72 during this time (have not checked to see how accurate). The tads appear healthy with no abnormalities observed and respond to external stimuli. I wasn't surprised it went 20 days as temperatures may be a few degrees lower than observed but now not that far from a month out thought would see others experiences.


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## TravisH (Jan 18, 2017)

At 28 days I noted one of the tads had died in the largest clutch. I went ahead and poked each egg with a pin and within 3 days all were free swimming. Amazing how quick they grow as the tads isolated first had a few days of eating prior to the last tads and were visually larger. 

Did the same with the second clutch and they all were free swimming after 4 days. The first two clutches had a different membrane and was really tacky. The third clutch was very much different but was kept with a little more water and I swirled them daily in the cup to wet in comparison to the first two. Those all became free swimming without intervention. Will keep an eye on the development and see if development continues normally.

I left a small clutch that was laid a few days after the third clutch and kept an eye on it and today watched the male go over and pick up tads. I put more film cannisters in so will see if he makes use of them. The broms do have a healthy growth of algae, biofilm, and dead fruit fly soup in them so I guess slight chance a few morph within the vivarium. 

Another small clutch was deposited today.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Generally the frogs are going to seek out higher incubation temperatures in the wild for the eggs and tadpole deposition sites, D. auratus for example actively seeks out deposition sites that are 80 F. The low temperatures not only slow development but can also impact the rate of function of secreted enzymes. The tadpoles as they become ready to hatch secrete enzymes to break down the membranes of the egg and low temperatures will also reduce the rate at which the enzymes are secreted and function, 

Some comments 

Ed


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## TravisH (Jan 18, 2017)

Well after 130 days moved one of the tad cups this afternoon and 2 hours later the cup was empty. Have a few smaller containers to make sure they get a good start with the springs them will move to "Rubbermaid" set up.


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