Dendroblog

2009-11-25T11:58:00.000-08:00

Dendrobates Leucomelas

(Bumblebee Poison Frog)

Size: 1 to 1.5 inches

Level: Mostly terrestrial
Care: Beginner
Tank: 5-10 gallons per frog
Price: Low
Breeding Difficulty: Easy
Behavior: Does well in groups.
Notes: Commonly known in the hobby as "Leucs," these frogs are one of the boldest frogs in the vivarium, very hardy, very easy to breed, and extremely affordable. When combined with their striking coloring and loud call, these frogs are a perfect beginner frog and a staple among hobbyists.

*Several of my fellow hobbyists keep these frogs and they are one of the boldest frogs I have ever seen: not even moving when you approach the tank! Their high, trill-like call is very loud--loud enough to be heard several rooms away. Luckily, like all poison frogs, Leucs are diurnal meaning their call won't keep you up at night.

2009-11-23T20:49:00.000-08:00

Dendrobates Auratus

(Green and Black Poison Frog)

Size: 1 to 1.5 inches
Level: Mostly terrestrial
Care: Beginner
Tank: 5-10 gallons per frog
Price: Low
Breeding Difficulty: Easy
Behavior: Does well in groups.
Notes: Auratus are another popular frog because of their hardiness and their affordability. However, unlike most of the larger species of dart frogs, Auratus tend to be more timid and often hide when they notice movement outside their tanks. Also, although commonly known as the "Green and Black" frog, they come in many different morphs or colors. From turquoise and bronze, to all black with blue spots, to more of a chocolate with few markings, there are as many different morphs as there are different countries they are found in. On an interesting note, Auratus are now found in the wild in Hawaii where they were transplanted to help control mosquitoes--these are now noticeably different then their Central and South American cousins.
*As the first frogs I was privileged to care for, Auratus will always have a special place in my collection. The morph that I own (Ancon Hill) tend to be a little less shy; talk to your breeder before you buy about their opinion on the shyness of these frogs.

2009-11-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Through the end of the year, I'm going to be showcasing some of the dart frogs that are common and not so common in the hobby. We'll start off with some of the favorites.

Dendrobates Azureus
(Blue Poison Frog)

Size: up to 2 inches
Level: Mostly terrestrial
Care: Beginner
Tank: 10 gallons per frog
Price: Low to mid range. Common, but popular.
Breeding Difficulty: Easy
Behavior: VERY territorial. Females have been known to kill other tank mates by drowning them. Best kept singly or in breeding pairs. Bold in the vivarium.
Notes: A stunningly-colored, blue frog, Azureus is a more common species because of its hardiness in the vivarium and ease of breeding. Often found in zoos and hobby rooms alike, Azureus is very bold and active frog which makes it a popular choice. These frogs, like other members of the tinctorius group, are large and sexually dimorphic in regards to size and shape of the body and size of the toe pads.
*On a personal note, a friend and I found an incredible deal on six tads which begin morphing back in July. They morphed out with good color and incredible appetites! If you are looking for a bold frog that does well in the viv, I would recommend these beautiful frogs!

20 Gallon Viv

2009-04-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

(because of time constraints, this post and these pictures are pretty much copied from a post on Dendroboard)

About the viv:
I have been working on a 20 for over a month. It has two pieces of Malaysian driftwood, one siliconed to the wall, and the other kind of fits against it. I have two neo (walmart) broms in the driftwood, a ficus in the back right corner next to another (home depot) brom that I love because it is blushing pink in the middle and it is so hardy (but I don't have an ID), a pothos in the middle, and a fern on the side, half hidden under the driftwood. The back is silicone, then gs, then silicone, then coco. I carved out a shelf for a coco hut, and there is another one underneath the other driftwood. It was seeded with springs for a while before I moved them over, and I've had them on Panacur for a while to get rid of some worms that fecals showed--so I'm hoping to keep that out of this tank.

I just added some two creepers (one fig, and the other we don't know--has red leaf buds that eventually turn green with just a hint of orange as they expand) from a friend of mine on here that were overgrowing his 55 gallon, so I'll have to keep them trimmed. (but I don't have a picture of that yet.)

I'm also glad I snapped a few pics of the frogs in the deli cup I caught and transferred them in, because since releasing them, I haven't seen them at all! Typically they go on a cycle through past vivs with hiding for a while and then becoming more active--and the more hiding places the better, so I'm hoping as this is my first tank with leaf litter, they will be much more visible after they get settled.

The substrate is an egg crate false bottom covered with hydroton that is visible and slopes to a corner "pond" which doubles as a siphon point should the water get too high. That is covered with a thin layer of sphagnum/coco mix, a layer of just sphagnum, and leaf litter on top.

Fred

Bill

George

20 Gallon (Top Down)

New 20 Gallon

I just needed to throw these in to link them

Tank Evolution

2009-03-22T13:24:00.000-07:00

This was the first tank setup I put together--fairly simple. I bought a ten gallon tank, a light hood, a 2.0 UVB bulb for the hood, a screen covered in plastic wrap to keep up the humidity and keep in the fruit flies, a couple of plastic plants, a thermometer and hygrometer, a piece of driftwood, some eco-earth, and some sphagnum moss.

The eco-earth is dried coconut fibers and comes in a brick that needs to soak in water for a little while. (which triples or quadruples the volume of the earth) This was squeezed out so it was still moist, and placed directly into the bottom of the tank, then covered with a very thin layer of sphagnum moss (a pre-dried moss originally from New Zealand). Then I very artistically placed the two plastic plants in there along with sticking the thermometer and hygrometer (measures humidity) to the wall of the tank. I tossed in the log and halfway buried a water dish off to the left and in went my first two frogs.

With the addition of a third frog, I decided that I wanted to have an actual vivarium (a tank with plants and animals in a kind of mini-ecosystem) so I bought a few tropical plants, removed all the dirt from their roots, soaked them in a 10% bleach solution to remove any pathogens or unwanted organisms, removed the plastic plants and planted these in the substrate (what the bottom layers of dirt, moss, etc. are called). I really liked the plants we chose: from the far left, we have a beautifully colored plant (that I don't know the name of), two snake plants in front of it, a bromeliad (these plants are amazing! Here is a link for pics and more info!)shooting off a pup (the name for the offshoot of an additional plant from the original) and in the back right corner, a clipping of Philodendron with only a couple of leaves on it. So far, this tank led to the most activity by the frogs, and you can see George there sitting in the food dish. I believe the reasoning for the increased activity was the seemingly high level of plants and shade. The dart frogs that I have are characteristically shy, and a well-planted vivarium tends to increase their activity. The plant in the back left corner produced a rather large shaded area that was very visible and they were very active in that area. However, that plant was also a problem as it started to grow extremely fast and began pushing up the tank lid! Not a good thing when you want to keep fruit flys and little frogs from escaping! So... sadly, it didn't make it into the next tank and the colors and shade are definitely missed.

The current setup. I decided to try for a seemingly healthier and easier to care for vivarium with this setup. The white stuff you see at the very bottom of the tank is pvc pipe, egg crate, and #7 mesh from a fabric store. This creates what is known as a false bottom--the water can now drain through the substrate and will collect away from the roots of the plants. How to get the water out? A cleverly placed pvc pipe at the back (with a cap on it) will allow the exess water and waste to be siphoned out as it collects on the bottom. The false bottom is covered with a layer of hydroton (expanded clay pellets) which help with the drainage and are not as heavy as pebbles, and they are covered with another couple of inches of sphagnum moss. The plants were replanted (without the red leafed one) directly into the new substrate and were rearranged slightly.

Here is a picture without the flash--in the last one, it was only so you could see the false bottom setup. You'll notice the bromeliad (growing like a weed I might add) is now in the left corner with the snake plants now split up to either side. The philodendron is also going to town in the rather tropical conditions. You may notice the black cylinder in the middle which is just a film canister which provides a hiding place and possible future breeding place. The green stuff just in front of it is an aquatic plant called java moss which is supposed to do well in tropical vivariums as well. I'm not sure how long it takes to grow, but I haven't seem much from it yet. We will have to wait and see. The wires coming down in the back are the new digital thermometer and hygrometer that is outside the tank with only the nodes being inside. I have found many flies escaping through the small crack in the vivarium that is allowed by the wires coming down, so now we only check the temp and humidity from time to time to allow for a more sealed vivarium. You can see the external gauge in the picture just above this one.

I think the current setup is the best one I have had for the plants so far, but it is very bright, and I will definitely be adding more shaded areas to future tanks. As I seem to be adding one new thing for each new tank, my next project will be... a background!

It all began...

2009-03-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

With a simple desire to use tickets we had won at a place called Trafalga.

They used to have aquatic frogs there that you could get with tickets from the games, but the next time we went, there weren't any. So we tried Wal-Mart. No luck. They did have lots of bettas and a few other types of fish. So we started thinking about fish. We went to another pet shop hoping for aquatic frogs--no luck, but they had darts! I thought they were pretty neat, so I spent the whole weekend researching them, their housing, their food, etc. The more I read, the more excited I got.

I used to keep frogs as a child. Well, mostly common toads, but since I was so young, I never quite got the feeding part right, and they were mostly turned loose by parents because I couldn't feed them.

In honor of MLK Jr., we decided to get a pet. (our way of demonstrating civil disobedience to our Nazi apartments) I built a very simple terrarium (no plants, so not a viv yet) and bought my first dart. The pet shop had three. Within the next week, they had none and I had three. Funny how that works, no?

Since then, I've learned a ton--how to maintain a food source for them, how to keep the appropriate habitat for them, how to turn a terrarium into a vivarium, so on. I will continue to post more about these experiences--hopefully to inform and possibly interest others in following this fascinating hobby. There are many reasons to keep darts.

Here are some pics from when I first got them. I will post more later to show how much healthier they look than when I got them.

I'll be honest--I'm not a huge fan of naming frogs and other small animals, but it is nice for my wife to say--oh good! Fred is out eating again... I know which one she is talking about.

My frogs from left to right: Bill, Fred, George--pretty skinny when I first got them.

FredBill

George

George and Fred

New Blog

2009-03-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Let's see if we can get this up and running...