My Mantella Collection.

[MantellaGuy]

Very nice collection and set of habitats. I am curious as to how you care for the M. Betsileo. Can you share what foods you feed, feed schedule, habitat, lighting etc. I would like to compare against what I have been doing for my colony. To date I am only aware of you, me and Bill (deranged chipmunk) having lengthy experience with them.

Thank you very much George Well I feed a range of foods such as Acyrthosiphon pisum (occasionally), Folsomia candida (Constant supply as they are in the substrate), Drosophila melanogaster, Trichorina tomentosa (Constant supply as they are in the substrate) and Gut-loaded Gryllus bimaculatus (Micro/Hatchlings). They are fed thrice weekly (Monday, Wednesday and Friday) with every feed being a different food item.
They are sprayed for 11 months of the year with intermittent amounts of precipitation quantity For Example;

• Monday = 3 Sprays (1st for 7 seconds, 2nd for 5 seconds and 3rd for 10 seconds)
• Tuesday = 2 sprays (1st for 10 seconds and 2nd for 10 seconds)
• Wednesday = 4 Sprays (1st for 8 Seconds, 2nd for 5 seconds, 3rd for 5 seconds and 4th for 10 seconds)
• Thursday = 1 Spray (7 seconds)
• Friday = 2 Sprays (1st for 6 seconds and 2nd for 6 seconds)
• Saturday = 0 Sprays
• Sunday = 2 sprays (1st for 7 seconds and 2nd for 6 seconds)

And I will follow that routine closely for most of the year (Yes, I really am that much of a pain lol) which is all documented in their Journal that I keep for the species.
Substrate is slightly Sandy with a 20/80% Ratio (Sand/Soil) and have a bit of a rocky setting with lots of leaf litter.
Lighting is kept on for 10-12 hours so they are given about 12-12.

Temperature is maintained at/between 20-26'c and no higher than 26'c however I rarely go as high as that, they seem to prefer 24'c.

Live plants are more of a challenge, they are definitely less bold as other species within the genus due to being less Aposematic but, I went for Fittonia, Devil's Ivy, Pothos and various other Foliage species. They are quite arboreal which you wouldn't have thought so I try to utilise the tanks height as much as possible

Hope this helps!

[MantellaGuy]

Hi all,

Thought I would update my thread with new photographs of my Yellow Mantella (Mantella crocea) group!

Yellow Mantella
Nomenclature: Mantella crocea
IUCN Red List: Endangered
Country of Origin: Eastern-Central Madagascar.

Information: This species is 1 of 16 species in the Mantella genus all of which use Aposematism as a defence mechanism. Aposematism basically derives from the Greek words that mean "Warning Colours" a defence which has made another family of frogs famous, the Dendrobatidae family (Poison Dart Frogs). Like the rest of the Mantella genus, it is completely terrestrial and is not a fantastic swimmer, but will be found in and around swampy areas where it will also remain to breed.

It is classed as Endangered by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and can only be found in Eastern-central Madagascar, from a few localities covering a very small area including; Ifoha west of Parc National de Mantadia, a forest area east of Ambohimanarivo and outside the Réserve Naturelle Intégrale de Zahamena. This species is (like most of Madagascar's Wildlife) mainly threatened by Habitat-loss through Agricultural expansion from Crop planting and livestock grazing land, Expansion of Human Settlements and Logging for Timber. It is believed to be mildly threatened by Collection for the Pet Trade, however this hasn't shown any signs of a lasting or drastic effect to their decline.

© 2013 (These are copyrighted photographs, please ask permission before using)

Thanks for looking!

[Geo]

Very nice. I wish I could get my hands on a couple more different mantella species but for some reason many of the breeders won't ship here (Canada). Your recording of the their daily care is quite specific lol. It is interesting that you mentioned the arboreal behaviour as I have noticed very little of that behaviour in my M. Betsileo colony (as of yet) although I have a setup that would allow for it. Periodically one of them might be on a higher branch but that is not too common. They seem to be, at least the past few months, very much oriented towards burrowing into the moss and creating little indents/caves here and there.

[MantellaGuy]

Very nice. I wish I could get my hands on a couple more different mantella species but for some reason many of the breeders won't ship here (Canada). Your recording of the their daily care is quite specific lol. It is interesting that you mentioned the arboreal behaviour as I have noticed very little of that behaviour in my M. Betsileo colony (as of yet) although I have a setup that would allow for it. Periodically one of them might be on a higher branch but that is not too common. They seem to be, at least the past few months, very much oriented towards burrowing into the moss and creating little indents/caves here and there.

Various species of Mantella are sometimes available around about July time, this is when the Malagasy Imports tend to occur. But generally I have found that people this side of the Atlantic tend to stick to Europe which can be viewed as unfair in all honesty. Well, currently they would be more into burrowing like you describe because of the time of year, if you minimumise the amount you spray them, you may encourage breeding behaviours more. They can be very arboreal, if they are offered such a setup however this may not always be the case and that stick to lower down, however with both bloodlines, they appear more arboreal.

[MantellaGuy]

Hi all

Here are some snaps of my latest acquisitions, a pair of Mantella aurantiaca individuals but with a difference! They are both incredibly pale "Wild Type" colourations











Gorgeous colourations, really pleased with them and they are a great blood line too so perfect for future breeding!!

[Geo]

ok now I am envious! nice specimens.

[MantellaGuy]

ok now I am envious! nice specimens.

Gorgeous eh? Very lucky I spotted them both!

[MantellaGuy]

One last update for the day, for those of you that have access to the Magazine known as Practical Reptile Keeping, I wrote an article on the Mantella genus explaining the Basic Care, Natural History and finally Conservation of them.

[MantellaGuy]

Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd let you all know, I made a care sheet for my own Forum, but I took the information and posted it on Frogforum also! Here is the link below:

Golden Mantella (Mantella aurantiaca) Care Sheet - by Joshua Ralph

I hope you all like the care sheet which includes;

• Scientific and Common Naming,
• Micro-habitat Types,
• Conservation Status,
• Temperature Ranges,
• Photo-period Activity,
• Humidity Parameters,
• Water Parameters,
• Diet,
• Enclosure,
• Breeding & Other Comments,
• Rearing Notes,
• Recommended Reading,

Anyway, please leave some feeback, and hope that this can become a Caresheet on here!

Kind regards,

Joshua

[MantellaGuy]

Hi everyone!

just to let you know, I have had another article Published in Practical Reptile Keeping magazine (again)! This is one the breeding of Mantella species, so do please check it out!

[Fbt123]

Some amazing pictures of your Mantellas Joshua ! What is a good starting mantella? They look really nice and ive heard they prefer cooler temperatures and my room stays between 19-20 degrees celsius, is this ok fir them?