# metamorphised froglet rearing containers



## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Good news guys. I have seven tricolor tads that have gotten HUGE in the last two weeks. So far so good! (KNOCK ON WOOD!!!) :lol: 

But at the rate my frogs try and breed and considering my mantellas are getting excited, plus i will be getting a mate for my tinc.....

what IS the most practical way to rear the babies cheaply and happily? I have seen shallow shoeboxes, but I'm afraid of the tricolor neonates to jump high and escape. I have also seen racks with several 10 gallons, or deeper sweater boxes, but sweater boxes make me a little worried when you try and open the lids.

What about large fruit fly cups (vented lids) for single froglets? Mantella betsileo and tricolor morph out very tiny, and I would be a little worried about too much crowding and competition considering their brood sizes...


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Ideally, I like keeping my tricolor froglets in tall shoeboxes that I think are 16 qt. Right now I have about 50 froglets spread between 10 containers, some are in the “normal” type and it is a bit hairy at feeding time, because tricolors can really jump! The smaller containers have their value too because they take up only 1/3 of the room of the other container. 

I have never raised tricolors individually so cannot comment on that, but seem mine seem to do fine with 5 – 6 frogs per container. All of them have soil, leaf litter, pathos and are seeded with springtails about 2 weeks before I introduce the froglets. Even though they morph small they eat melanoganster right away, the springtails are more of an insurance policy. 

Hope this helps! 
Ed


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

thats exactly what I thought, a little "hairy at feeding time."

do you have a rack Ed? are you using any UVB lighting?


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Rubbermaid makes a line of containers called “clear impressions”. It is actually not too bad with these because they are clear containers and the clear lids, you just have to get used to looking for the froglets (even in the taller containers) before opening the lids. They like to sit in the handle area because it creates a little shelf, and in the normal shoebox the pothos grows as tall as the container, so a frog could sit on top of a leaf and be right there when you open it. 
I have several racks in my frogroom and use UVB on all my tads. I cannot say if it helps them or not. I can say that tricolors are much more sensitive to water conditions than some of my other frogs, I experienced some morphing issues using aged tap, but did not see problems with the majority of my other frogs. 
One of the biggest things I found with tricolors is how quick they can drown after the front legs pop out, Other frogs will climb out on vegetation, leaves, even the sides of the container as they develop into froglets, I’ve had tricolors drown with most of their tails left.
Ed


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## elmoisfive (Dec 31, 2004)

Congrats on your tricolor tads and good luck!!

Bill


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I used to use Dixie food storage containers (cheap, disposable) they work great for those of us that are paranoid of escapees. They have a small (3/8" I think) opening that is designed to be a vent when you microwave you're food in them. At feeding time you just open the vent and either use a turkey baster and squirt springtails in or use a funnel, and drop flies in...super secure.
On the downside they aren't very clear...and worst of all they must have been discontinued, cause I can't find them any more.
I guess a person could always modify whatever container with a hole and a cork to fit it...argh!...more work!


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## Jason (Oct 14, 2004)

This place has some nice containers. They also have good FF containers as well.

http://superiorenterprise.com/catalog/d ... Path=21_41


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## booboo (Jan 22, 2005)

here is my opinion go out and buy however many sterilite shoeboxes you need i say 5 froglets per plastic box and then just put syran rap over the top that way you can see in and they cant jump out and its easy!


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

Ed, what would you suggest then to prevent my froglets from drowning? 

Lower the water so it just barely covers them and put some moss in the water for them to "cling" to?

I originally had nine tadpoles, but I think two either succumbed because of water pollution (only a day old) or just weak.

BTW: How long do these guys take to morph out?

Some of the tadpoles are HUGE now in just two or three weeks. A few of them have a little black spot on each side under the skin (they're seethrough) that I believe is a hindlimb bud. Not all of the tads have them, so I'm assuming since i"m seeing it on the largest that its a limb bud.


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## bgexotics (Feb 24, 2004)

Superior Enterprises has some huge deli containers that are clear and are great for raising froglets. You can either get them long and squat or you can get taller containers. The lids are more secure on those than the shoeboxes. Cureently I am using shoeboxes to raise out my froglets with no problems. When they start to pop their front legs I move them into a shoebox with gravel built up on one side with moss on top of teh gravel on the land side and java moss on the water side. Once they are out of the water I move them to planted shoeboxes.


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## Ed Martin (Mar 25, 2004)

Just lower the water and prop up one end of the container about 3/4" - 1" or you could move them to another container that has a little land area like the setup mentioned above. I keep java moss and pathos in mine and have not seen them climb out on it. With the tilted container they can exit and reenter the water easily. I do this with all my tads, but because I raise my tads in large containers most of the time I have to actually move them. 

This is just my experience so take it with a grain of salt, but I rarely change water. Maybe once the entire tadpole stage. If tricolors tads make it past the first week they are pretty bulletproof if you use RO water and feed them enough. Yours may have just been weak, but that happens sometimes. 

I have had tricolors take from a little more than 40 days to about 70 days, so it is hard to predict. 

Ed


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I raise my tads in 5.5 gallon tanks usually with a sponge filter, gravel, a couple of wild almound skeletons (whats left after making tad tea) and some floating plants (cheap frilly stuff from petsmart, I don't remember the name). I don't change the water, I just add what evaporates, sometimes run the fish vacuum over the bottom if it gets bad. I use spring water with tad tea added.

When the frogs look like they are going to pop the front legs soon (experience lets you see when the elbows are starting to poke a bit) I move them into rectangular gladware containers (24-64 oz depending on how many tads) that have just enough water to cover the tads (~1/2 inch), with a clump of sphagnum moss taking up 1/3 to 1/2 the container on one end, no tipping needed. When the frogs have absorbed most of their tails and are up on the moss, I pour the extra water out (moss still sopping wet tho) so they have nothing to drown in, and keep them there until their first couple meals. At that point I usually move them into 5.5 or 10 gallon rearing tanks.

Yes, the froglets can jump out of the gladwares, but they usually dive for the sphagnum, and I normally feed only a few FFs out of a pooter (film canister container) so I don't open the container all the way. When they are readily eating (and jumpy) they go into the rearing tanks. Just make sure to orginize the rearing tanks by sizes, some grow faster than others. I usually had two sizes, the ones getting two large for the second tank were half grown and ready to sell.

This way I keep losses at a minimum and it works well with not just touchy darts, but treefrogs (easy to drown as well), and some Gastrophyrne tads I'm working with.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

whats really interesting is that the adult tricolors are very good swimmers. I believe my female Trinity had the prolapse because she kept running from me when I was removing her from the critter keeper, kept swimming under the false bottom, straining and exhausting herself.

The water I've been using is half tap water, half RO, some blackwater extract, and I add back in a few minerals by using RepCal, until there's a DH of at least one or two. Right now, I'm feeding spirulina wafers and spirulina powder, plus some cyclopeeze later on....

Good god! They grow fast!


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

where did you get the gastrophyne tads?


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

I just finished a contract job working for the MD DNR in which a facet of what I did was working on tadpole IDs. These guys are state endangered in MD so I was working with them under permits.

Something I didn't note earlier that I ment to...... the containers by Superior Enterprises have prepunched holes in them that fruit flies get out of, so I only use these containers for transport. The gladware are almost as cheap, just as stackable, and no holes for FFs to get out of. With froglets, they don't need much air and the opening and closing to feed, mist, or do a head count is plenty of air circulation.

I've found that most stages of tricolor are good swimmers. I haven't had the "drowning" metamorph problems in this species, and when I had froglets in the breeder colony tanks, the froglets just as often zoomed into the pond area and hide under a rock (underwater) as they did jump into the leaf litter. Funny little frogs.


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## Rain_Frog (Apr 27, 2004)

A little off topic, but I may be finally get a male tinctorius soon. My female Jean is soooo lonely. :wink: 

as far as water changes go, I'm generally just use my turkey baster and change about 25% of the "ground/ poop water" once a week or every few days, just so my tads are swimming ontop of it all the time.


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## Guest (Aug 26, 2005)

OH, that makes sense and seems alot easier than having to tear the tank apart. Good one guys! Im sure that will come in handy in a month or two. How often do you guys clean your tank?


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