Dart Frogs!
Jan. 26th, 2008 07:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
platedlizardPictures! Pretty, pretty pictures of my newest widdle petsies.
So I got a pair of Cobalt dart frogs instead, with a terrarium! A pretty, pretty planted terrarium.
This is the terrarium. I bought it already set up for $140US. Spendy, but worth it in terms of me not having to set the damn thing up myself. I planted one plant in it when I got home, a phal. orchid that I had arrived with healthy leaves and dead root several weeks ago here. It should like the moist soil (unlike most orchids phals need moist roots) and will hopefully put down roots. Everything else was already set up and planted at the show. Yay!
You may notice that there is a black film canister sticking out the backing. That is for breeding, should I have a male and female pair. The pair goes inside, does their thing, and then the female goes to a small water source (such as a bromiliad or deli cup) and lays her eggs in it. She then tends them by laying infertile eggs in the water for the tadpoles to eat. Dart frogs do not swim and should not have any large sources of water in their enclosures, misting and high-humidity is all they should have. They should have a glass lid, not screened, because screens let out too much moisture.
This is "Spot", one of my frogs. I bought a pair, but they are too young to sex yet. These guys are babies, they will eventually triple in size, or more. There were some ones at the show that were from the same parents, only a month and a half older that were twice this size, so they should grow fast. These dart frogs should always be kept in pairs to minimize fighting.
The dark-colored plant in this photo is a Jewel Orchid! Coincidentally I have been looking for a Jewel Orchid for a Really Long Time Now, and it turns out that Driftwood Dart Frogs (the breeder I got these guys from) puts one in every terrarium they sell! Jewel Orchids are another orchid that likes being in normal soil, although they can tolerate drought just fine. Jewel Orchids are prized for their leaves, rather then blooms, although this plant is putting up a flower spike. Also, all you have to do is break off a piece and stick it into potting soil to propagate it so I am looking forward to this thing getting too big, I've always wanted a Jewel Orchid in a terracotta flower pot!
This is "Stripe". I am calling them Spot and Stripe for now, but I really want to name them something else. Perhaps something fandom related, although I can't think of any characters in my current main fandom that they remind me of.
Dart frogs live a long time, 20-25 years! And they're really easy to care for once you have the right set up. You feed them flightless fruit flies (I bought a colony) supplemented with a vitamin/mineral supplement (I already have that for my reptiles). You can also feed them pinhead crickets and springtails. Basically any insect that is really, really tiny. They do not need heating (warm room temperature is fine, and due to my other reptiles I keep my apartment at about 75*F-80*F) or lighting, the light is there for the plants.
This is the side of the terrarium. As you can see, it has a false-bottom. That empty area underneath is to provide drainage to keep the soil moist, but not soaked. The terrarium should be misted every day. I am on Portland city water (some of the purest municipal water in the US) so I don't need to filter it (tap water here is like spring water, basically). All I need to do is dechlorinate it prior to misting. There is a hidden pipe that I can insert a tube into to siphon out the excess water when the reservoir gets too full. You can see the bottom of the pipe in the left side of the tank.
And last but not least, this is Radar, my iguana. I'm including this picture because it shows how effin BIG he is. And suicidal. Moments after I took this I had to grab the bookcase to keep it from falling on him. (Note, Radar came with that name already, but even so, naming him after that character from M.A.S.H. was a good move.)
So I got a pair of Cobalt dart frogs instead, with a terrarium! A pretty, pretty planted terrarium.
This is the terrarium. I bought it already set up for $140US. Spendy, but worth it in terms of me not having to set the damn thing up myself. I planted one plant in it when I got home, a phal. orchid that I had arrived with healthy leaves and dead root several weeks ago here. It should like the moist soil (unlike most orchids phals need moist roots) and will hopefully put down roots. Everything else was already set up and planted at the show. Yay!
You may notice that there is a black film canister sticking out the backing. That is for breeding, should I have a male and female pair. The pair goes inside, does their thing, and then the female goes to a small water source (such as a bromiliad or deli cup) and lays her eggs in it. She then tends them by laying infertile eggs in the water for the tadpoles to eat. Dart frogs do not swim and should not have any large sources of water in their enclosures, misting and high-humidity is all they should have. They should have a glass lid, not screened, because screens let out too much moisture.
This is "Spot", one of my frogs. I bought a pair, but they are too young to sex yet. These guys are babies, they will eventually triple in size, or more. There were some ones at the show that were from the same parents, only a month and a half older that were twice this size, so they should grow fast. These dart frogs should always be kept in pairs to minimize fighting.
The dark-colored plant in this photo is a Jewel Orchid! Coincidentally I have been looking for a Jewel Orchid for a Really Long Time Now, and it turns out that Driftwood Dart Frogs (the breeder I got these guys from) puts one in every terrarium they sell! Jewel Orchids are another orchid that likes being in normal soil, although they can tolerate drought just fine. Jewel Orchids are prized for their leaves, rather then blooms, although this plant is putting up a flower spike. Also, all you have to do is break off a piece and stick it into potting soil to propagate it so I am looking forward to this thing getting too big, I've always wanted a Jewel Orchid in a terracotta flower pot!
This is "Stripe". I am calling them Spot and Stripe for now, but I really want to name them something else. Perhaps something fandom related, although I can't think of any characters in my current main fandom that they remind me of.
Dart frogs live a long time, 20-25 years! And they're really easy to care for once you have the right set up. You feed them flightless fruit flies (I bought a colony) supplemented with a vitamin/mineral supplement (I already have that for my reptiles). You can also feed them pinhead crickets and springtails. Basically any insect that is really, really tiny. They do not need heating (warm room temperature is fine, and due to my other reptiles I keep my apartment at about 75*F-80*F) or lighting, the light is there for the plants.
This is the side of the terrarium. As you can see, it has a false-bottom. That empty area underneath is to provide drainage to keep the soil moist, but not soaked. The terrarium should be misted every day. I am on Portland city water (some of the purest municipal water in the US) so I don't need to filter it (tap water here is like spring water, basically). All I need to do is dechlorinate it prior to misting. There is a hidden pipe that I can insert a tube into to siphon out the excess water when the reservoir gets too full. You can see the bottom of the pipe in the left side of the tank.
And last but not least, this is Radar, my iguana. I'm including this picture because it shows how effin BIG he is. And suicidal. Moments after I took this I had to grab the bookcase to keep it from falling on him. (Note, Radar came with that name already, but even so, naming him after that character from M.A.S.H. was a good move.)
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-27 08:44 am (UTC)I love Dart frogs - but my mojo on them is not yoda like - they aren't poisonous with you cause they don't have the food source to be poisonous.......right?
Iguana named Radar. God. *luveluveluveluve* (easily first crush on TV character, with a tie to Alan Alda as Hawkeye...)
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-28 02:25 am (UTC)Note: WILD CAUGHT dart frogs can be toxic up to a year after capture, so they should never be kept (unless by an expert who is trying to breed a rare species or morph). Most dart frogs aren't actually deadly to humans, even though they'll make you Really Really sick. There are only three species (Phyllobates aurotaenia, P. bicolor, and P. terriblis) that are truly deadly to humans.*
Interestingly enough those three species tend to be susceptible to skin infections in captivity, probably due to the lack of their natural toxins.
My species, Dendrobates tinctorius is not one of those deadly-to-humans-in-the-wild types.
Interestingly enough, a friend of mine was poisoned by some newly imported wild-caught frogs about 20 years ago. She actually lost her eyesight for about six hours! Fortunately she was either poisoned by one that wasn't deadly to humans, or she only received a mild dose. Fortunately captive-bred frogs are much easier to find and cheaper to buy then wild-caught these days.
I-uh, I guess that's your Frog Biology Lecture for the day, yes?
I didn't name him Radar, he was a stray that got picked up and passed around, but the name TOTALLY fits him. MASH and Star Trek were my first fandoms before I even knew what fandom was! And Alan Alda is hot. No one can tell me different.
*don't be too impressed by my Frog-fu. I had a book open right next to me. No way can I spell those names off the top of my head, *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-27 04:43 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-28 02:29 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-28 02:30 am (UTC)Iguanas are nifty. :)