Bronze or Brown Mantellas?

[Geo]

I am intending to try a few more plants to see if I can find the right combo for the terrarium, the climate needed and the mantella's interest level.

Yeah, their eating habits are a bit unusual according to the norms. I am happy to see that they munch on the grubs but I am not certain if they are too fatty or not enough nutrition for them. If they are wild caught, which at present I am lead to believe they are, then they should eat whatever I would think as no preferential training has been in place regarding their diet.

lol I do indeed find the burrowing interesting. I also had a small coconut hut in there but that was ignored. I made a few small caves out of slate but that too was ignored. They seemed to prefer moss and leaf debris so moss and leaf debris it will be.

I have ordered two more mantellas which I am hoping will arrive within the next week or so. The pet store that I got the first two at indicated that they weren't available but they were tracking some down. I may try breeding springtails and introducing that into their diet as well.

[deranged chipmunk]

i know there is very little captive breeding for mantellas, with the exception of the golden mantella, so the likelihood of our mantellas being wild caught is high. you should try contacting understory enterprises. they are in the land of the canuck. i hear they have mantella captive breeding programs. although, i am not sure what species they breed.

springtails are a good idea. for some reason, i thought you said you tried 'tails with them, hence the reason i never mentioned them.

[Geo]

I contacted Understory and the frogs were cheap but to ship the frogs costed over $100. Outside my price league right at the moment as I am planning habitat upgrades for my tree frogs, fire belly newts and firebelly toads.

I got a limited supply of springtails from someone else in the area and ran out in my attempt to introduce them to the mantella diet. I will be starting that shortly. Busy, busy, busy.

[deranged chipmunk]

wow, that's ridiculous for shipping!! i guess they ship from the U.S.

you sound as busy as i am....lol after the 125 is finished in a few weeks, i have a 40 breeder project i am building into a carnivorous plant paludarium and i have to build a paludarium for some sort of reptile in my wife's 55g. after that, if the mood strikes me, i am considering converting my 75g from a planted tank into a mossy tree frog paludarium, themed as the swamps of dagobah from star wars. busy busy busy here too.....LOL

[Geo]

On top of work and a busy home life, we are in the process of moving to a new home so not alot of time for the new projects floating around presently in my head. My wife is shutting down her 55g and giving it to me so now I am playing around with a few ideas for that. My niece has shown an interest in fire belly toads so contemplating passing them along to her and that opens up my large exoterra for a new project. Dang it, too many options lol. The distributor for the local petshop where I got the mantellas said that the ones I got seem to be the last ones they could get, at least for now. I may order some if I can find someone who can deliver here for a decent price.

[flybyferns]

Hi Geo,
Well what ever you decide !
Enjoy !

[deranged chipmunk]

i'm in the same boat my friend.housing issues caused me to rehome all of my frogs. took all the fish tanks down as well. on the upside though. i worked out deal with my buddy who took my frogs, to get them back once my housing issues are resolved.