bumblebee walking toads in refrigerator?

[oneshotveth]

I was reading the care sheet for these guys, and it said they put the female in the fridge??? Really? In a tupperware container with air holes?

My wife is very understanding about my frog hobby, but you better label that REALLY good to avoid any surprises...

[Kurt]

Who's care sheet said this?

[GrifTheGreat]

The only time that I've read about placing a frog in a fridge was for hibernation and you had to raise the temp level up to 45 or 50F. Also it was recomended to buy a mini fridge to place the frog in so you didn't worry about food going bad. I really don't think that even for full estivation would I place the frog in the fridge. Of course I don't believe that this was to be done for all species as most tropical frogs would not actually experience a actual winter cold hibernation.

[wesleybrouwer]

You might wan't to keep them at 7-9 degrees celcius (44,6-48,2 fahrenheit) for about a week or so.
It will stimulate the females egg production, males are also ready to breed without a temperature drop but it won't hurt putting them in a little resting period as well.
When taking them out, feeding heavily and putting the raining system on you'll have best breeding results.

[wesleybrouwer]

I now see the caresheet on the site also mentions the cooling period
Altough still referred to as stelzneri

Frog Forum - Bumble Bee Walking Toad - Melanophryniscus stelzneri (Weyenbergh, 1875) - Care and Breeding

[GrifTheGreat]

Yeah I knew about the cooling period. I was jsut bringing up the information because it seemed like there was some confusion about placing them in the fridge. I've also read about using natural outside temps if you live somewhere that doesn't reach freezing during the winter. I would be a little worried about placing them in the fridge. You have to do air trancefers everyday so they get fresh air and check on them constantly to make sure they are not dried out or losing weight. I've read of several deaths from estivations that went wrong. Especially if you don't wait for your frog to mature before allowing them to estivate.