Ranitomeya ventrimaculata - Terrarium

clownonfire · January 12th, 2011

Hi,

We will be getting our Ranitomeya ventrimaculata in about 3 weeks. It will remain at the breeder until the terrarium is ready, and the fruit fly culture is stable. I've been googling for the past 48 hours, looking for an easy and inexpensive way of creating a viable terrarium/vivarium for the R. ventrimaculata. It doesn't have to be fancy, it has to be nice and good for her/him. We are fully equipped on heaters, misters. fogger... We have an Exo-Terra Terrarium of 30cmX30cmX30cm.

My main questions are:

1. Does anyone has an easy step by step example for one?
2. What would be the best substrate? We have a coconut and moss substrates for our CB Bumblebee Walking toad
2.a. What substrate is also ideal for fruit flies, to make it easy on the R. ventrimaculata?
3. Would fake plastic plants (for the bromeliad for example) be suitable, albeit not ideal?
4. Any other tips will be greatly appreciated.

Once again, this forum just kicks major butt. Thank you in advance for your answers and suggestions.

Eric

**Google Ads** · January 12th, 2011

**tjtreefrog** · January 12th, 2011

Check out the thread "10 gallon vertical dartfrog terrarium construction" under Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion.

clownonfire · January 12th, 2011

Originally Posted by tjtreefrog

Check out the thread "10 gallon vertical dartfrog terrarium construction" under Vivarium, Terrarium & Enclosure Discussion.

Thank you. It's a great place to start, and we will use the idea on a smaller scale.

Kurt · January 13th, 2011

Check out Dart Frog Terrarium Building

clownonfire · January 13th, 2011

Thank you, Kurt. We got the supplies, we'll start building next week.

clownonfire · January 18th, 2011

**Update: Terrarium almost completed.

AND

First cultures of wingless fruit flies successful (great and easy recipe from the Montreal breeder) and springtails.

Thank you again for suggestions and links.

clownonfire · January 25th, 2011

Well, here it is. I can't take the credit for it, my beautiful and very talented wife took care of all the handy work.

We opted for tillandsia pruinosa which do well in terrariums for air plants, moss, Malaysian wood, hydro balls, forest bark, coconut husk, cork, Repti Fogger on a timer (6*15 min/day) to control humidity, heat cable on one side under the terrarium, and a fake vine.

poison beauties · January 26th, 2011

Looks good and congrats on getting the vents. I would suggest alot more plants in there. You need to grab up a few mini neo species ''broms'' as that is what they need in order to breed and deposit tads in along with the fact they will also live in the brom axils. Id suggest a few other plant species like peperomias, philodendrons, fittonia, wondering jew or any other tropical small leaved species. The frogs really do need it in order to thrive,.
I would ditch the fake plants/ vines as they do nothing beneficial for the frogs or the micro fauna. Im not sure you will need the heat cable either as most dart frogs thrive at room temperatures anywhere from 60's to upper 70's. and can venture down to the upper 50's at night without many issues.
Vents will also need a nice layer of leaf litter on the bottom as they hide in it and forage for the micro fauna that depends on the rotting leaves as the bulk of its diet.
Also make sure the light on the viv doesnt over heat the viv. Heat will kill a dart frog faster than anything. So will dry conditions so you will need to cover the top of that Exo Terra with a piece of glass in order to keep the humidity in. They need high humidity which can be kept up with daily misting only if you cover the top.

Michael

clownonfire · January 26th, 2011

Michael,

Thank you for the thorough response!! Really great. For more flowers, noted! Ill take care of that.

There are no fake flowers, just the vine. And for that one, i've based myself on the breeder where his use the vine to walk on and enjoy jumping from it.

As for heat, the light is extremelly low, 15w and 2.0 UVB, as we have with our other terrariums and mostly for the plants. Air plants don't need much but a bit of light and good moisture.

The heat cable will be necessary. It is hooked on a timer with the humidifier. I live in Montreal and we have extreme weather during winter, for example, this week we've been living with a temperature of -28 celsius. The heat cable only covers half of the bottom and will also help release the moisture. Even with good heat at home, im not taking any chances. We have heat and humidity sensors which will also help.

Lastly, once comes Spring, ill get some foliage leafs to cover the substrate, once our weather will raise from subzero temperature.

Thanks again, Michael.

Eric

Ps: forgot, we wont be breeding our vents.

Leefrogs · January 26th, 2011

Nice. In 3 weeks post finished please, you're very thorough. So I don't need to worry bout that. Wisconsin we deal with the same temp craziness. It can drop 50 degrees (or 20 celcius) in 6 hours. I have hand heating pads in case power goes out.

poison beauties · January 26th, 2011

you cant stop them from breeding unless you have all of one sex ''females'' as males will fight. You would have to cull alot of eggs and I mean a lot of them. My vent trios produced more than thirty froglets each a year inviv on there own.
As for temps I missed that you were that far up north. Im all the way down in the south east so heating is never required.
I know many great breeders up in Canada that could help you out as well if you need anything, There is Canadart.org • Index page . Darts are growing in popularity up there and finding live plants shouldnt be hard I can help you out there as well if you need,
And make sure you cover the lid with a piece of glass as humidity will not stay in the viv and there is no way to keep a functioning viv for darts with out it. There are build threads on other boards on how to exactly do this.

Good luck,

Michael

clownonfire · January 26th, 2011

Originally Posted by poison beauties

you cant stop them from breeding unless you have all of one sex ''females'' as males will fight. You would have to cull alot of eggs and I mean a lot of them. My vent trios produced more than thirty froglets each a year inviv on there own.
As for temps I missed that you were that far up north. Im all the way down in the south east so heating is never required.
I know many great breeders up in Canada that could help you out as well if you need anything, There is Canadart.org • Index page . Darts are growing in popularity up there and finding live plants shouldnt be hard I can help you out there as well if you need,
And make sure you cover the lid with a piece of glass as humidity will not stay in the viv and there is no way to keep a functioning viv for darts with out it. There are build threads on other boards on how to exactly do this.

Good luck,

Michael

Michael, you've been awesome. Actually, the breeder in question in Montreal is well known, he works for Understory Enterprises, which are based in Chatham, Ontario. He will be leaving the country next week for Peru for his Biology Doctorate where he will be studying dendrobates. He was very helpful while I built the terrarium. Actually, to be honest, my wife took care of that. She's much more handy than I am.

He has transferred his amazing frog collection to other very serious breeders and hobbyists, and I'll get a few plants from him.

And for the breeding part, you're right! And will have to adjust if in fact this will occur. One thing that I did not have time to do is let springtails lose in the terrarium for them to reproduce and start building up. I do have a nice culture, so I guess I'll have to continue maintaining these cultures, which is rather easy as you know.

As for the weather.... Yeah... It's freakin' cold here.

Another thank you for the Canadart.org link. I did not know that. Understory Enterprises are on that list: http://canadart.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6.

@Gingerlee: Thanks, Ginger. I will post pics for sure. The vents are coming tomorrow!

clownonfire · January 26th, 2011

And, on the vents I am getting:

They come from a location called Pongo de Cainarachi and are not available on the market. They were acquired by the breeder from Understory Enterprises, as I mentioned earlier in the thread.

Here's also a link to a group I started on dendrobates:

http://www.frogforum.net/groups/dendrobates.html

E.

poison beauties · January 26th, 2011

I know Mark Pepper. If your frogs came from him or an employee your getting some healthy frogs and a good bloodline at that. I imported a few of my retic lines from him when I was looking for new blood to expand with.
Keep in mind seeding the viv is important as thumbs are constantly eating. Even if you have to add springs to the viv every few days until population gets going. Enjoy the canadart. I have a few friends there.

Michael

clownonfire · January 26th, 2011

Originally Posted by poison beauties

I know Mark Pepper. If your frogs came from him or an employee your getting some healthy frogs and a good bloodline at that. I imported a few of my retic lines from him when I was looking for new blood to expand with.
Keep in mind seeding the viv is important as thumbs are constantly eating. Even if you have to add springs to the viv every few days until population gets going. Enjoy the canadart. I have a few friends there.

Michael

It's not Mark, although he's good friends with my breeder, Mathieu. So I will add springs. And I do have a very healthy culture of flightless fruit flies which I will make sure are in constant presence in the terrarium, as per Kurt's suggestion. I've been doing this for my bumblebee walking toad in her terrarium and she loves it.

It's really nice of you to share all this info. Very helpful.

Do you have any pics of yours? And I did join Canadart, I'll look for you.

E.

poison beauties · January 26th, 2011

clownonfire · January 26th, 2011

Originally Posted by poison beauties

They are absolutely beautiful. Your Reticulata and the Vanzolini in picture 1018 are stunning.

And I envy your installation. It's a growing passion, and who knows with time... But your setup is just incredible.

And I did not know this about Mark. If I am correct, Mathieu is leaving for 3 months in Peru with him next week.

clownonfire · January 28th, 2011

We finally picked up our male and female vents yesterday. We named our little ones Mickey and Mallory. So far, I was only able to take the male on pictures. Here's the link:

Frog Forum - clownonfire's Album: Ranitomeya ventrimaculata

And the terrarium with 2 bromeliads and oak leaf litter.

E.

clownonfire · January 29th, 2011

I've contacted Understory Enterprises, and here is what they had to say about these "Pongo" vents:

Those are the same frogs as the "Rodyll" vents that have been on the market for a few years now. Math (the breeder), got them from us before we sold any publicly, to use in some of his research.

So there you go!

clownonfire · February 28th, 2011

Here's a last picture update. We added plants to our vents' vivarium. A Cryptanthus bivittatus bromeliad (on the right, pink and green stripes leaves). A Nephrolepis exaltata (Boston Fern), and a Hypoestes (polka dot plant).

Now moving on.

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