Raising Northern Spring Peepers - Week 4
by
, August 19th, 2011 at 10:05 PM (1476 Views)
All seven spring peeper froglets are doing very well. They are eating a lot of fruit flies now. For the 7 of them, I'm putting 60-80 fruit flies in the tank at a time. More of them are gaining their markings and they are all growing and gaining weight. I have one that is a bit bigger than the rest, and is most definitely a HE. His voice has not broken yet, but he has definitely made some peeping attempts. I am very excited!
They are growing a bit more slowly than I expected. When I was reading about spring peepers, one study showed that it is rare to find a juvenile in the wild, suggesting in the same study, that they grow so quickly before winter hits, and that is why it is so difficult to find them.
They are using both the terrestrial and arboreal space... leaving me confused about whether to do a vertical or not when I build them a new tank. I think I am just going to make the tank big enough to give them plenty of space for both. Some like to hide under the leaves, while the others like the tip top of the plants. They all enjoy the bromeliad, especially after I mist. They all hop up on the leaves and soak up the water.
They are definitely more social than I expected. They are nocturnal, but will definitely wake up as soon as they hear me tapping the fruit flies out of the bowl they were dusted in, into the tank. I feed them in the same spot every feeding, so they all know where to go to find their supper!
I'm including some pictures so you can see how some of them have gained their markings...a few still have not. They really are a beautiful, slender, tree frog.