New eggs

[pissedbudgie]

My Epipedobates anthonyi have just laid a new batch of eggs, Just a week after the last batch.

I was asked if I could take pictures of the progress of the last ones, but as they were already a few days old I said I would wait for the next batch.

I intend to leave them with the male for 24hrs to ensure proper fertilisation, more of a just in case than is probably needed. I only do this as I have read that that is what others do that remove the eggs to petri dishes. I have no idea if it is actually needed, but I will do it anyway. If you have any thoughts on this practice, I would love to hear them.

After the initial 24 hrs have passed I will transfer them to a sterilised petri dish. I will use the time between now an then to setup and test my camera system/software as I hope to produce a time-lapse video of their development. I hope this will be of high enough quality that many people will find it interesting and informative. I know I could just take a series of photo's (which I will also have as the software does that at the same time), but I hope that this will be a better method and much more interesting. If anyone has tried this I would love to hear from you about any pitfalls or anything you think will be helpful to me.
I intend to take one frame every 10 minutes both day and night, the camera I am using has a built in light which I can adjust the intensity of. The camera has a maximum magnification of 200x so to help keep a perspective on size, I hope to include a scale. I have no idea how many eggs I will manage to get into the frame, but I will try to get a few just in case of duds.

With the time interval I have selected and the framerate of the final video, the video will be quite short, about 70 seconds give ot take with a frame size of 640 x 480 if I recall correctly.

I will keep you all updated on how this progresses, maybe even post a sneak peek pic or two.

This will be the first time I have attempted to do this, so I have no idea if it will work as planned.
But I hope it goes well and will be a great video and be of great use to other people.
If it works, I know I will enjoy it immensely.

[pissedbudgie]

It appears that making a time-lapse video is not going to work this time as the petri dish cover just mists up and you cannot see anything, although it would have turned out great if it had of worked going by one of the frames captured before it misted too much.
I am going to have to rethink how to do it, but for now I will just upload pics that show the progression of the eggs.

Here is one of the captured frames.



The eggs in this picture are approx 36 hours since being laid.
Including the clear part they are 4-5mm with the black center being 1.5-2mm.
The graduations on the left are millimeters.
There is also a load of "dirt" stuck to them. This is from stray eco earth that was in the film canister which I couldn't remove without damaging the eggs.

Here is a picture taken with my old camera of all of the eggs laid.



I will continue to upload pictures of the progress every few days or when there seems to be a change in them of some kind although they will have to be with my old camera.

[flybyferns]

These are great photos!
Thanks so much for taking the time.

I can't wait to see more.

[N3XU5]

Can I have some frog eggs? Just kidding.

[frogfreaks]

The photo's are fantastic!

[pissedbudgie]

Sorry for the delay, I intended to post an update yesterday, but as it was my youngest daughter's birthday (29) things got a little bit busy.

I think you will forgive me for the delay once you see the pics.

Personally I think they are better than the previous ones.

At the time these were taken it was approx 96 hours since being laid.
I will continue in the same format. A close up of a couple of eggs then a pic of them all as I think this gives the best overall representation of them.

The close up

Sorry the colour is a little washed out but it was the pic that showed the best detail.

Now the overall pic taken with that old camera.


It's amazing how much they have changed in only 4 days.

I hope the Olloclip turns up soon (I ordered it from the USA as it was so much cheaper that way even with the postage).

Anyway, I hope you like the updated pics.