malaysian horned frog!

[Lija]

they pretty similar to pacs, they just sit there and lunge, can catch cricket from quite far in comparison to pacman. they move a little, but not much and always at night. i have one smaller, that one moves more. why are you saying it is silly to feed crickets to your pac, it is very entertaining to watch how a very big pac would go for tiny in comparison cricket, I always give mine once in a while to stimulate hunting instincts.

[Lija]

picture update

[Starforce2]

I was saying silly to feed him crickets cuz he can't catch them. Superworms though and fun to watch him go for.

I am curious, what do you use for a night observation bulb? I use this purple moon bulb for my cresties. I am currently looking for an LED option so I can have some glow on my other night animals so I can watch them a bit better. I am not sure which spectrum they can't see well in. Usually for animals it's red but I was told for some reptiles it's blue.

[Pluke]

Very nice Lija. I take it you're happy with them? Are they very hard to care for? Have run into any problems with them as far as husbandry goes?

[Lija]

I was lucky enough to find a guy in Canada who used to breed them, he helped me a lot to set up the enclosure and gave a lot of how to tips. Out of 2 initial ones none survived, something weird was going on that can be related to stress, it also looked similar to mycobacteriosis, may be that was combination of both.

those are different frogs, one i got from the same pet store injured, he survived and got better, another 2 i just happened to come across in another store on a Christmas sale

I'd say they are really easy to take care, if they're healthy. good thing that they don't need high temps, so it is easier to maintain climate needed in comparison to other frogs.
right now they seem to be very happy, eating like pigs. really funny to watch them interact, they are communal, always together, even looking same direction most of the time. very interesting frogs in their behavior and definitely looks.

Starforce2, i suggest you check pacman frog section, you'll find a lot of info on pacs. not wanting to derail this thread i will tell you however that superworms are bad for pacmans as they posses very high risk of impaction due to high chitin content.

[Starforce2]

I wonder if their communal behavior has anything to do with the fact that they resemble leaves? Maybe its a defense mechanism.

[Starforce2]

ANy updates on how they are doing or pix in their completed setup? I'd like to see how you are housing them.

[Lija]

they are doing awesome, eat like pigs, 20 + crickets for all every second day. sometimes they are very funny sitting with open mouses, no idea what that means, but if i put a nightcrawler in they look very happy eating it

they are now in temporary tank, waiting for another shelving to arrive, and then i will set up their permanent home. so far their set up looks like that: layer of moss, bigger layer of eco earth, dry leaves on top, cork pieces on a ground and couple cork hides, but they all use just one and sit together, even facing one direction all the time. They also have a big shallow water bowl and artificial plants. In their permanent home I'm planning to do a waterfall, false bottom, live plants and get some springtails going. I'll take some pics once it's done

[Starforce2]

I'll be looking fwd to seeing that. You should try getting a vid of them feasting if you got anything that shoots good video.

[Pezsas]

very cool frogs, I've seen them only once, and they were fairly expensive, but they are awesome. I am looking forward to seeing your set up.

[Heatheranne]

Lija, they are really neat! I'll definitely be looking forward to seeing them in their permanent home . Are you going to make a build thread along the way? Any new photos? Such cute faces! How big are they now?

[Eric Walker]

You can house them together because they can't bite or hurt each other like Ceratophyrs Horned frogs would.

I don't know where you came up with this but this specie has been known to have adult females attempt to eat adult male. Males are smaller and these guys have large mouths. Iv actually seen pictures of a males back legs hanging out of a females mouth. They can do just fine in groups but this is something to keep in mind. Most attempts at breeding involve people keeping males separate and introducing them just for breeding. Then removing afterwards.

[Lija]

these guys do have big mouths, but they are delicate as well, they can't bite like pacman or other big frogs, i highly doubt if nasutas would go for mice, they eat only what they can in one gulp, nightcrawler if they eat it, get inhaled literally without them closing their mouth fully, but just one out of mine would eat it. the person that I mentioned and who used to breed nasutas a few years ago, kept his in a big group, females and males together and now when i have them I'm convinced they love to live in groups. they behave like I've never seen frogs, except waxies, they always sit together and most of the time look same direction. if stressed out, they would sit together too, need to take pics, cos I've never seen frogs do that, they sit almost human like, on a butt with body absolutely straight, one in a front and the rest would pile up on his back, so they altogether look like one unit, may be it is their defense mechanism, very interesting frogs for sure.

I think i have 2 males and possibly one female, not sure of that, suspected males haven't call yet, and the one that i this may be a female was smaller a month ago when i got her and now outgrown the other 2, so time will tell. so now 2 are about 4" long and one is about 4,5".

Heather, here is a thing, i got a tank, and now starring at it thinking may be idea of all nice is not that good lol, I'm not a pro on building nice looking tanks, for all mine the simple the better but i will try.

[Heatheranne]

I'm sure you'll do fine. Just read through some of the other posts so you can avoid the mishaps others have faced. Deranged chipmunk (Bill) has some great threads and if you check out the plant section you'll get some great ideas too.

[kueluck]

Oh my gosh I love these guys. I was thinking about getting some of these, but all I've read on them say they are not easy to keep, that they are for the experienced herpetologist. I've only had native toads & frogs for two years, and snakes for almost a year. I guess I'll have to “live” w/these amazing creatures through this thread. Keep it updated please.

[Lija]

update time
out those 3 in the last pic another one died and second one was showing similar symptoms, one was totally healthy and fat. None of the frogs were responding to treatments, first 2 died very fast showing neuro symptoms and skin lesions, left trio was doing very fine for a few months, and then symptoms kicked in again.
right now working closely with one of top frog vets in north america on getting reasoning and treat it, so far so good, sick one is getting better, eating like a pig again and almost ready to transfer from his hospital set up. I'm going to test our ideas first and will share it with you.
if anyone on here has experience in keeping those frogs i would love to chat.

[Starforce2]

Sounds like these frogs should be avoided. Were they WC?

[Lija]

yes, they were, as far as i know cb are not available anywhere on a pet trade lately, attempts of breeding were made and some were successful, but as far as i know people have hard time keeping them long term, and i think we might came up with why based on our experience.
I don't think they should be avoided, but due to not much captive care information and information about them in general it is hard to keep them, once I do all my research and test theory, I will probably write a care sheet. As with any species the more information you have the easier to keep.

[Mentat]

Hello Lija! Just read your thread, very informative but at the same time sad . I really like these frogs and even found a probable source in U.S. But last thing I want is to get them and watch them wither and die.

Did you and Vet came to any conclusions about your frogs issues? To me it sounded like a very agressive opportunistic bacteria attacked a stress weakened immune system. Some bacteria target the brain and nervous system and are highly lethal. That would explain the neurological symptoms and later skin lesions. Did Vet do autopsy on dead frogs to determine cause of death? Good luck with remaining one !

[Lija]

no, not yet, it is scheduled for necropsy with tissue sampling to be done soon. I can do it myself, but i want to include more pro's in it, more heads better outcome!

yes it is very sad story, but i wanted to share it and hopefully come up with the solution. any experience is good, it is sad for me, but it might help many more frogs in the future. The person who I'm communicating with is top notch and don't have reasons to not believe him, especially given that his suggestions work and explain everything I'm dealing with as well as other people dealt with too.
skin lesions come first, neuro later.

will be updating as it comes, right now i want to dig as deep as it's possible and hopefully to come up with reliable care sheet.