# First Clutch from My Terribilis



## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

Hi all,
I just got my first batch of eggs from my terribilis mint and I am thinking they are not viable. They aren’t black. More like a darker gray and then a dot or spot of yellow like the color of yolk. I am trying to figure out how to upload a pic but in the meantime can anyone tell me if this is how they are supposed to look or if they are not viable?


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

You will know in a few days, but I am guessing you are right. It took numerous clutches (over 10, I am guessing) for my Mints to produce viable eggs the first time. Make sure you are supplementing properly (see numerous other threads) and just be patient. They will probably eventually drop some good eggs for you.

Mark


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

Encyclia said:


> You will know in a few days, but I am guessing you are right. It took numerous clutches (over 10, I am guessing) for my Mints to produce viable eggs the first time. Make sure you are supplementing properly (see numerous other threads) and just be patient. They will probably eventually drop some good eggs for you.
> 
> Mark



Thanks Mark, good to know. Patience is not my strong suit. I do believe I am supplementing correctly. I use repashy calcium plus for every feeding and then use repashy vitamin A about once a week.


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

Here’s a pic. They hadn’t been rinsed yet so not super easy to see.


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

Sure sounds like it. Make sure to keep the supplements in the fridge and discard and buy new after 6 months. They will get there, but don't be surprised if it takes several clutches to get there. Once they finally do kick in, you will be awash in tads if keep all of their clutches. I probably have 30 or 40 little fellas waiting for good shipping weather right now and I shut them down well before the end of fall. I could have double the number of froglets right now if that was a priority. It is also handy that Terrib tads can be housed together rather than having to have them in separate cups. Don't put brand new ones in with the older ones, though. Give them a little time to put some weight on before you put them into the Thunderdome. I let them double in size in a 32 oz deli cup before I put them in with all the others.

Mark


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## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

I bet you are right that those aren't fertile. They will form a little line down the middle before the tadpole starts to develop along that line. Even that takes a day or two to show up, though.

Mark


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

Thanks for the info. I didn’t know terrib tads could be housed together. That is way more convenient. I definitely don’t have the time or space for multiple clutches but I’m excited to raise a clutch at a time with my daughters.


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## Jand1k (Nov 19, 2019)

Update us on this and if you can include pictures then that would be great!


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

There is a second clutch in my terribilis tank now. There has been some activity so I lifted the coco hut while they were busy eating and from my quick glance, there were only about 4 eggs and they are white. Not sure if that means they haven’t been fertilized yet or if it’s another bad batch. Either way, hopefully one step closer to a good batch!


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

So I finally have gotten ONE egg that is fertilized and doing great. Yay! Now my problem is that I am going on vacation at the end of next week for a week. I am hoping that I have a tadpole before then so that I can put it in water before I leave. I have read that newly hatched tadpoles don’t need to be fed for the first few days to a week? Really hoping this guy hatched in the next week. I can’t remember how long the egg stage lasts. I will look it up but anyone have any advice? I have almond tea all ready to go.










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## bssknox (Apr 24, 2017)

It will be a couple of days yet before you see that round part "disappear" and you have a fully formed tadpole. Then at that point it's a few more days before it breaks out. You can add some tadpole tea now to the Petri dish (don't cover the egg) that way if it breaks out while you're gone it won't dry up.

And be sure to put the top of the Petri dish on in order to hold on to some of the moisture.


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

Egg update! I think everything looks good? I haven’t seen it wiggle but every time I look it’s pointing in a different direction.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

Encyclia said:


> [...]I probably have 30 or 40 little fellas waiting for good shipping weather right now and I shut them down well before the end of fall.[...]


Hey Mark, how do you 'shut down' yours? Reduce misting and food? Send them to Planned Parenthood?

I have 32 Blackfoot tadpoles in the water, with the last clutch being a little smaller but with the highest viablility rate out of all of them...they've been threatening to produce more.

(My last resort is putting the male in a separate bachelor pad).

...to the original poster -- when they get going they *really* get going.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

jennifer7799 said:


> Egg update! I think everything looks good? I haven’t seen it wiggle but every time I look it’s pointing in a different direction.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Looks good to me, and very close to hatching by the looks of the straight tail and no obvious yolk from the top.


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

I’m a little concerned because it isn’t or never was in the C shape. Hopefully that is ok.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

jennifer7799 said:


> I’m a little concerned because it isn’t or never was in the C shape. Hopefully that is ok.
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


From what I've observed they straighten out prior to breaking out. It was never coiled up? Could you have just missed it?


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

It would have been hard to miss the C shape. I check on it quite a lot everyday. Here is a pic from below taken today. I also noticed that the external gills have been gone for several days and there are no threadlike strings (for lack of better word) coming from where the gills were that I have seen in other pictures of developing eggs. I have seen it move so it’s alive, I’m just not sure if it’s developing correctly.


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## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

I don’t generally have the opportunity to examine developing tads that closely; I’ve never seen external gill development in terribilis and in some general sources on tadpoles, they cite that phenomenon as being occasional rather than a guaranteed thing, but to be honest I haven’t fact checked that, maybe someone with more experience can chime in.

It seems fine to me so far; out of over 30 tadpoles I’ve only lost 2 and that tended to be very early in development so I chalked that up to congenital issues.

If you have everything else dialed in I’d just sit back and wait.


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## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

Your tadpole looks fine. Terribilis tadpoles are realy small, so they don't make a C curve often.

This is one of my mint clutches I shot 5 minuten aggo as a reference for you :


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## Terraformer (Feb 25, 2020)

I found some tads on the back of one of my yellow terribs the other day, got them moved into a container to grow out and they seem to be doing good. A week later i saw some suspicious activity in a coco hut so i checked later and found the eggs. Some of them had large yolks which they have absorbed, but the smaller ones never had yolks I saw at all. Do any of them look viable?









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## bssknox (Apr 24, 2017)

Terraformer said:


> I found some tads on the back of one of my yellow terribs the other day, got them moved into a container to grow out and they seem to be doing good. A week later i saw some suspicious activity in a coco hut so i checked later and found the eggs. Some of them had large yolks which they have absorbed, but the smaller ones never had yolks I saw at all. Do any of them look viable?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


First glance the 3 closer to the middle are looking good. The two touching each other might go bad. You'll know for certain in a few days.


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## jennifer7799 (Dec 29, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your help and advice. I was so happy to come back from vacation with an active tadpole in a shallow pool ready for more room and food! It’s already grown quite a bit in just a couple of days.










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