Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

  1. #1
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    43

    Default I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    How long do I have before I need to setup a tank for the froglets when they climb out?

    Some of the tads are developing faster than others. Some don't have hind legs. What should I do in this situation?

    Is it okay if I transfer the further along tads in a separate shallow dish with the same water and put that dish in their temporary tank while they climb out?

    This temporary tank will be their tank while they absorb their tails and learn to eat pinheads. What should this tank consist of in terms of substrate, decor, water supply etc.

  2. # ADS
    Circuit advertisement
    Join Date
    Always
    Location
    Advertising world
    Posts
    Many
     

  3. #2
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    43

    Default Re: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    https://vimeo.com/145014906

    Anybody? Anybody?

    This is what stage their hind legs are at. Hopefully you can see it.

  4. #3
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Nationality
    [Australia]
    Location
    Australia
    Age
    33
    Posts
    28

    Default Re: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    At the stage your tads are at now, I would usually provide a ramp for the more ambitious froglets. You will want to minimise stress and movement as much as possible so using a floating turtle dock in one one corner of your existing set up may help with this. Provide cover on the land part with fake or real plants but stay away from anything that babies could be lost in (I.E Sphagnum). I personally use plastic drink bottles cut in half longways and with the top cut off and cover it with a clean cloth to make a dark but lightweight cave for them.

    Good luck with the babies! They look like they're going to be beauties!

    As for your froglet tank! Damp papertowel works as a great substrate as it is easy to clean and keeps the moisture up to the babies. Provide lots of cover and a shallow area of water for them to bath. I personally used a soldering iron to cut down a large tupperware container because it leaves a smooth edge. Tong feeding is a great way to make sure every baby is getting a feed, it's time consuming but you wind up with the lowest mortality rate.

  5. #4
    100+ Post Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2014
    Nationality
    [United Kingdom]
    Location
    Welney, UK
    Posts
    213

    Default Re: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    Quote Originally Posted by ulyssis View Post
    How long do I have before I need to setup a tank for the froglets when they climb out?

    Some of the tads are developing faster than others. Some don't have hind legs. What should I do in this situation?

    Is it okay if I transfer the further along tads in a separate shallow dish with the same water and put that dish in their temporary tank while they climb out?

    This temporary tank will be their tank while they absorb their tails and learn to eat pinheads. What should this tank consist of in terms of substrate, decor, water supply etc.
    I did reply on you other thread regarding emergence, so for continuity: You can keep them where they are if the tank has a lid. Something floating on the water or an island of some sort would be useful, but in practice they'll climb the glass. A top with ventilation is needed as you don't want the glass they are going to climb too wet or they might drown trying to climb it and slipping. When they've climbed out you can move them to their rearing cage.

    Their back legs are small right now, they'll get bigger and then the front legs will appear, after that they will emerge very quickly (a day or two for the fastest). They won't go anywhere near land until they have their front legs. If you wanted to move them at this stage to their rearing cage in a large water bowl you can (they won't feed any more at this stage, they live off their tail - reabsorbing it), but I don't, I just collect them from the glass after they've hauled themselves out.

    The rearing method that I use it to provide a full bio active set up with live plants from the word go. You have around 40? I would use two 45cm x 45cm x 45cm Exo Terras and put 20 in each. As they grow, some will grow quicker than others so I move them around to keep two groups of similar size individuals.

    I wouldn't even attempt tong feeding, it won't work. Just put plenty of crickets, fruit flies or whatever other feeders you have available over there every day. Dust the feeders with calcium and vitamins and make sure they are gut loaded. Each vivarium NEEDS to be provided with 5% UVB, do not skimp on this or you'll regret it, trust me. Change the water in the water bowl every day with treated tap water.

    Here's a care sheet that applies equally to juveniles as to adults:

    Captive Care of the Red Eyed Tree Frog (Agalychnis callidryas)


    Below is a brief summary of the techniques used to ensure your Red Eyed Tree Frog leads a healthy and happy life under your care.

    Purchase:
    The first and arguably most important step! It is absolutely VITAL that you ensure the frog you are buying has been captive bred. There are many breeders of this wonderful amphibian and purchasing a captive bred animal will mean you have a frog who is used to living in a vivarium all it’s life and will fare far better than one that has been removed from the wild (during it’s breeding season!), shoved in a box and shipped from one dealer to the next to get to you. Wild caught frogs die in huge numbers during shipment, carry all manner of diseases and parasites (which will spread among captive collections) and the trade is now quite unnecessary when there are so many quality captive bred examples available. If the supplier of your frog doesn’t know for sure that it was captive bred, don’t buy it!

    Housing:
    Bigger is better! If we base sizes on the popular Exo Terra glass vivarium, while a 30x30x45 cm is fine for juveniles, they will quickly outgrow it. A Red Eyed Tree Frog can be approaching adult size as quickly as 6-8 months of age. The 45x45x60 is suitable for an adult pair or trio. These are very active frogs!
    The decoration of the interior is important. Ideally we are looking to recreate as closely as possible the habitat in which these animals live in the wild, there are no plastic plants there! While we might be convinced a fake plant looks authentic, there’s no fooling a tree frog. These creatures have evolved a close relationship with plants over millions of years, they sleep firmly attached to the underside of leaves forming a moisture-saving posture with their thin-skinned undersides in contact with the leaf. There is evidence that this helps the frog maintain it’s hydration and even that there is some gaseous exchange of oxygen and CO2. Red Eyed Tree Frogs need real live plants! Broad leaf vines such as Pothos and Philodendron are ideal and can be purchased from specialist suppliers to ensure they are free of pesticides and fertilisers etc. They can also be bought from garden centres but great care must be taken to thoroughly wash the leaves and soil to remove all traces of contaminants.
    As far as substrate is concerned, I prefer a natural, bio-active approach. Basically, a drainage layer is topped with soil, living in this are creatures such as springtails and woodlice which dine on any waste and mould keeping the vivarium clean. There are now specialist companies that supply substrate in the bio-active philosophy and much information can be found online.
    Add to this some clean branches and you have a natural environment for your frogs that beyond some basic spot cleaning is largely low maintenance meaning you can leave you frogs to get on with their natural behaviour with minimum disturbance. Handling frogs causes them great stress and should be kept to the absolute minimum!

    Heat, Light and Humidity:
    Ideal temperatures are 26-28C during the day and 23-24C at night, this can be provided by bulbs, ceramics, vertical heat mats or heat cable on the outside or simply a temperature controlled room.
    UVB of around 5% should be provided. Frogs need vitamin D3 in order to absorb calcium, this is best supplied in the way they get it in the wild, from sunlight. Bulbs which emit the same UVB as sunlight are available and should be used, despite these frogs being strictly nocturnal, they sleep out in daylight and as a consequence receive sunlight and therefore UVB. Without calcium and vitamin D3 frogs develop nasty conditions such as Metabolic Bone Disease and without UVB their behaviour is noticeably less natural and their colours less vibrant.
    Humidity should be maintained between 60-70%. Using moist natural substrate and live plants does most of this work for you, a light misting of treated or distilled water twice a day will keep the levels right. One of the biggest mistakes people make with this species is keeping them too wet. Plastic plants and sterile housing encourages people to close off ventilation and constantly spray the enclosure to keep up the humidity, the resulting large amounts of sitting water encourages bacteria to grow and bacteria kills frogs. There should not be streaming condensation on the walls of the enclosure, good ventilation is required and if anything err on the side of dryer rather than wetter if in doubt.

    Food and water:
    Red Eyed Tree Frogs will take a variety of fast moving prey, the best staples are crickets and locusts. All prey items should be gut loaded and dusted with calcium/vitamin preparations. Various gut loading fruit and veg can be used, I always include kale (high in calcium!) and carrot, with various others depending on what I have, but always organic to be sure of no pesticides. I also use a dry staple such as ‘bug grub’, the bran that crickets and locusts come packaged with is not a suitable gut loader.
    A water bowl needs to be provided and the water changed EVERY DAY with fresh, treated tap or rain water, a product such as ‘Reptisafe’ is a good water treatment. Tree frogs drink by sitting in water and often it’s the first thing they do every night when they wake up. If the water is contaminated with fecal matter, dead crickets etc., the frogs will take this bacteria-loaded water into their bodies with disastrous results.

    In conclusion....The Red Eyed Tree Frog is a wonderful and beautiful amphibian to keep, and only needs to be given the right conditions in captivity to thrive. Enjoy!
    Find me on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100011064331624

    Trachycephalus resinifictrix - Trachycephalus nigromaculatus - Agalychnis callidryas - Agalychnis spurelli - Phyllomedusa sauvagii - Phyllomedusa bicolor - Phyllomedusa vaillanti - Phyllomedusa tomopterna - Gastrotheca riobambae - Anotheca spinosa - Cruziohyla craspedopus - Cruziohyla calcarifer - Hyla arborea - Litoria caerulea.

  6. #5
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    43

    Default Re: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    Thanks guys. I want to move them out of the aquarium tank because I don't have a top cover. Ideally when the emerge from the water I would like them to be in the temporary tank while they finish absorbing their tails. I'll keep them in the temporary tank to grow some more and so I can keep an eye on their feeding. Also this will buy me some time to finish up their permanent home, a full live planted vivarium with misting system.

    I was going to have a substrate of coco chunks topped with frog moss (not sphagnum). How big are these guys when they come out the water? Will they get lost in the moss? I was going to try and compact the moss as much as possible. I tried the paper towel substrate when I was isolating a pair of newly purchased RETF. I found that the paper towels dried up real quick. I won't have an automated misting system in this tank and I'll be only able to mist it twice a day. Once before I leave for work, 6am and when I return 5pm. I'm afraid the paper towels would be dry by then. Has anyone ever used those really absorbent towels they use for drying cars? We call them shammies in North America. They hold a ton of water, soft to the touch and won't likely dry out while I'm away at work. Since the tank is going to be temporary, I am aiming for fake plants right now.

    As for feeding while in the temporary tank, I have started culturing crickets, however, my first set of pinheads might not be ready by the time they are ready to feed. How long does it take for the froglets to absorb their tails? In the meantime, I have a nice stable supply of fruit flies I've been culturing for a few months now. I'll give them that dusted with calcium and vitamins. Speaking of fruit flies, can these guys climb glass? I know crickets can't. I was planning to provide two methods of feeding, a shallow glass container I will dump the insects in, and also release some into the tank to get them used to hunting.

    In terms of behavior, do they sleep during the day and become active at night like adults?

    As of yesterday, a couple of them have front limbs. The others have the shape of the front limbs but they are still attached to their body. They haven't popped out yet.

  7. #6
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    43

    Default Re: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    I finished up their temp tank last night. 24x18x18 Exo-terra.

    Shallow tray with treated tap water, blackwater extract, some Java moss and duck weed. I have a hanging Exo-terra fake plant in anchored to the glass and the bottom submerged in the water to act like a ramp. I also have a fake broad leaf plant in the water as another option.

    The substrate is made up of hydro-balls, coco bedding, ABG mix (with springtails), moss and topped with leaf litter. Some real branches make up a network of climbing apparatuses. I left the glass walls bare to give these guys a lot of options to rest on. A very shallow dish of treated tap water is there for drinking. When all tads emerge, I will replace their makeshift pond with a shallow glass feeding tray. I will keep the pinheads in there as well as release some in the environment for hunting purposes.

  8. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
    Nationality
    [Canada]
    Location
    Brampton, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    43

    Default Re: I see hind legs on my RETF tads.

    Also I checked on the tads this morning. More have their front limbs now and the green is showing on their backs.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Awkward hind legs on ornate pacman.
    By Evolution in forum Pacman Frogs
    Replies: 9
    Last Post: August 16th, 2012, 07:24 PM
  2. Hi! Got Grey Tree Frog Tads with hind legs! Help!
    By hjoe1112 in forum Introductions Area
    Replies: 3
    Last Post: April 1st, 2012, 05:13 PM
  3. We have hind legs
    By lisaann177 in forum Aquatic Clawed Frogs
    Replies: 13
    Last Post: August 19th, 2011, 09:49 PM
  4. We have hind legs
    By lisaann177 in forum General Discussion & News
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: August 15th, 2011, 11:46 AM
  5. My AFC's hind legs aren't working
    By Blackfhyre in forum General Discussion & News
    Replies: 5
    Last Post: July 29th, 2010, 01:32 AM

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •