Quote Originally Posted by Jenste View Post
Tuesday, tell us about your amphibians. How you came to keep them, mistakes/learning curves, species kept, breedings, how you found Frog Forum etc....we heard enough about you on Monday, let us hear about them frogs!
So I have always been into reptiles, amphibians, invertebrates, and even small mammals at times. The first pet I can remember was a green anole, George. I mentioned him in my Monday post.

I kept various common Missouri snakes, frogs, turtles, and lizards over the years. Growing up I can remember going to my Aunt's house out in the country and chasing baby five lined skinks (the ones with the bright blue tails) around the foundation of her house. They also had lots of snakes out there in their fields and barn. I've also kept several captive bred species like white tree frog, ball python, water dragon, jackson's chamelion, fire belly newts, clawed frogs and more.

I remember one 4th of July, I was probably 8, I caught this very large black rat snake on my great uncle's dairy farm. My grandma told me to be gentle and respect black snakes, don't be mean to them or they can develop the ability to be venomous. This was apparently a common misconception amongst some farmers in the area. I believed that wives tale for the longest time :P Always being sure to be extra gentle with black snakes in fear of them spontaneously turning venomous, hahahaha!

I've also bred rabbits (accidentally, and then later intentionally :P ), kept gerbils, mice, and rats. My final thoughts on rodents? Mice are disgusting, rats are awesome, gerbils are only tolerable becuase they're cute, and if I had the money I would probably breed rabbits again, but this time for food.

In middle school I moved out of my room upstairs into the unfinished basement of my parent's house. This is where I set up my first animal room, tanks all around, with a big work table in the middle for various childhood experiments (you know, melting crayons with a lighter, taking apart broken toasters, etc etc).

These days I like to keep a few wild caught species because they are easy to care for and I don't have to provide anything special as far as temps & humidity goes. All of my critters live in the semi-finished half of my basement, where it stays quite cool all year. Even this summer, where we had almost a full month in the triple digits (105 F avg) my basement never got above 73 or 74F.

My grey tree frogs are my pride and joy :P I have 6 of them (technically my girlfriend "owns" 5, I "own" 1. In Missouri residents are only allowed to legally keep up to 5 wild specimens). They are all adjusted to tong feeding and act like they are starving every time I walk in front of their enclosure.

I keep a wild caught prairie kingsnake, Hercules. Hercules was spotted by my girlfriend's little brother Spring of 2011. She grabbed him, yelled for me, and together we managed to gently free him from the hole he was trying to escape into. We found him in an empty neighborhood lot that is currently being bulldozed and destroyed, no doubt we saved him from a grim fate. He now happily lounges in his custom built cage all day, eating freshly prekilled mice. I used to give them to him live, but he tends to let them bite him, so now I give them a good thump behind the head before dropping them in his cage.

My two tiger salamanders, Bertha & Ernie, were rescued from a local bait shop by my little brother and gifted to me last year on my birthday. They were still aquatic when I got them, but morphed within 2 months of being in my possession. Just last week I bought my first three axolotls!! Two of them are melanoids (black) and one is a wildtype (brownish). They are still juveniles, only about 3 inches long.

I also recently acquired two baby Amazon Milk Frogs They are gorgeous little things When I bought them from the seller on craigslist they were in very dirty conditions. I got them home, put them in a more appropriately sized tank with fresh substrate, live clean plants, and a freshly cleaned water bowl with spring water. I misted down the tank heavily with distilled water to knock all of the coco fiber off the walls, plants, and decorations. The froglets were a bit skinny in my opinion, but have been eating well and putting weight on. I feed them the very smallest of my dubia roaches, and small lobster roach nymphs. Because I was worried about their weight I always keep a bowl in their tank with dubias in it, and when I'm down there I attempt to tong feed with lobster roach nymphs. They don't quite get tong feeding yet, but they'll figure it out :P

I have juvenile cane toad, also. I bought her with two males Spring 2012. The males were sold to another keeper, I only kept the female. She is still quite small, and not so sure about humans. I am hoping to get her tamed down with age.

As far as invertibrates go I currently have a large nursery web spider I caught in my wood pile this summer, a tiger centipede (named Tigger) that I've had for a year and a half now, and a baby chinese mantid.

Aside from Hercules, who I have to buy mice for, and the axolots who get pellets and worms, all of my other animals eat for free. Well, kinda. I breed roaches, lots and LOTS of them. The frogs, salamanders, toad, spider, and centipede all eat the roaches. My roaches are raised on high quality puppy food, fruits, vegetables, water gel, and high temperatures. I also breed guppies, springtails, and freshwater gammarus (scuds).

What pets do I see for myself in the future? Well I've never had a dog before, and until a year or so ago I really didn't care for dogs, at all. My girlfriend's little dog changed my mind. Now I've decided that I do want a dog at some point in my future, when my financial situation is a little more comfortable. I've even settled on a breed already! I won't settle for anything other than a Vizsla puppy, also known as a hungarian pointer.

Mistakes and learning curves? Well, I won't hesistate to say that many of the animals I kept throughout my childhood could still be with me today if I had been more informed. I've made lots of mistakes and I'm sure I'll continue to make them here and there. The internet is the best tool in the world, and now that I have resources like this forum I can make sure all of my animals live healthy happy lives

I've tried breeding various food items for my animals over the years. I bred crickets for 6 months one year; never again. Crickets are the most vile disgusting insects anyone could ever keep in their home. Their tub smells like death after 1 week of not being cleaned, they chirp and make noises all hours of the day and night, they bite and attack reptiles & amphibians when they can get away with it, and they won't live through much. I have also bred mice; never again. Filthy smelly animals! Then one day I decided to breed roaches. Roaches, it turned out, were MUCH cleaner than crickets. Their tubs can go 6 months at a time without needing to be cleaned, and there is virtually no smell! Just provide them with a water source, high protein dry food, fruits & veggies a couple times a week, some cardboard to hide in, and heat. If you have all of the elements your roaches will breed effortlessly. Mine reproduce WAY faster than I can feed them to my animals. I frequently have to give them away by the thousands. Also, it's worth mentioning that compared to crickets roaches are much higher in protein, lower in fat, have less shell, more meat, and are easier to digest.

I breed Lobster Roaches, Dubia Roaches, Red Runners, Surinams, Blaberus Hybrids, Madagascar Hissers, P.femapterus, and Pallid Roaches. If you're looking for a guide on how to breed feeder roaches check out this one (the focus is lobster roaches, but most others can be kept in the same way outlined in my guide): http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...r-roaches.html

Lots of photos of my little beasties tomorrow!! Stay tuned