A Good Book and some gorgeous frogs

For Christmas Kelly had got together with my mum and step father to get me a very special present. They got me a book, Poison Frogs, Biology, species And Captive Husbandry, its an edition Chimaira release by Lötters, Jungfer, Henkel and Schmidt. This book holds an incredible amount of information on Poison frogs and more or less covers everything there is to know about everything there is to know about them. It contains a vast array of species accounts and also well over 1000 high resolution glorious pictures. Its a heavy read and I've found myself checking the dictionary and the internet a few times just to get what they are talking about in parts. But I'm learning new things and its started to show through in the things I'm doing for the frogs already. It has a hefty price tag of around £80 but if your into Poison frogs its worth every penny.

As I said yesterday I would post some pictures of the Citronella in their new home i got the camera out and had a sneaky peak I only got 1 shot of each frog as they were both sitting under coconut huts, here you go:

They have some gorgeous colour now and they are growing really fast, they seem a bit freaked out by the larger vivarium but it will only take them a few more days to get over it.

I was also finally able to get a couple of pictures of the Ole Marie tinctorius, these frogs are huge, reasonably bold and always looking for food, although at times they can be a bit camera shy I hope you like them as much as me:

I should also have the first back legs appearing on the cobalt tadpoles soon as they are now starting to form some of their body shape, Tinctorius  tadpoles take FOREVER to morph and depending on water temperature take anywhere between 100-120 days.

In the shot below you can see a slight dent on the left side of the tadpole, this is how they have started to shape.

Ill post more info on egg and tadpole care over the next couple of days.

Citronella tank

Well the day to move the baby Tinctorius Citronella I picked up earlier in the year is finally upon me and I've managed to knock up another low budget tank that will look great when its grown in. The Citronella are now a much more comfortable size for me and I'm now happy to move them into their permanent home. These stunning little frogs come from the Kasikasima mountains in Suriname, South America. I was lucky enough to pick up a good looking pair of frogs at a show last year. The babies were a little smaller than I would normally purchase but I couldn't let them get away and they have grown into a couple of gorgeous frogs.

Here's a couple of pictures of the new tank and I'll update tomorrow with some pictures of the frogs in their new home:

The big ones moved and little ones getting bigger

I set up a very basic rearing viv for the first of the tricolors to move. I just managed to move the largest five across to it here's one of them having a good nose around:

They are eating well and hopefully they'll settle in soon enough. Also worth a mention are the Tinctorius 'cobalt' tadpoles that are now the biggest tads I've ever seen I know it sounds silly but their bodies are just a bit bigger than a baked bean and in tadpole terms that's big! They are being reared in the same mix of red bush tea as the tricolors were. A lot of people have reared Tinctorius tads individually and had great success I have gone for rearing them in groups of 5-10 in what are known in the trade as 'cadburys boxes'. Tinctorius tadpoles can be cannibalistic at times but as long as they have plenty of visual barriers and are kept well fed they should be fine. Here's a couple of them:

They have just started developing their back legs so fingers crossed we get some baby frogs real soon. 

I also recently acquired a slightly rarer morph from the Tinctorius group known as Olemarie. They should be a male female pair originally imported by the same person that the large WC cobalt's came from. You don't see Olemarie everyday and it was an opportunity I could not turn down. these frogs are shy at the moment due to the move and hopefully given time they will become as bold as the other frogs in the frog room. for now though we'll have to wait and see.

I've just about recovered

Its taken a while to get my computer sorted after losing two power supplies in as many days but here I am with very brief news from The Rural Jungle. Our little Hyloxalus (Cryptophyllobates) azureiventris have all grown up amazingly quickly and I have two definite boys who are now calling from 6am till about 10pm everyday without stopping. Also the Tinctorius Cobalt eggs we had hatched and the tadpoles are now HUGE!! I'll post a picture or three tomorrow.