Estivation question

[Lija]

and the one out of probably 100 (?) that survives these conditions will more likely to respond better to any changes in his environment.

one way or another the way they were fed, the way there kept when they're tadpoles, babies, and so on as well as genetics will influence the way they will respond to anything in their life, it will affect their adult size, lifespan and other factors, so to get more objective results that part has to be constant and since it is not possible to achieve unless clone them, control groups have to be very big.

[Jakub Urbanski]

It is not that bad... They are given minimum care - stiil they are too expensive to let them die. On the other hand large fraction of the frogs aquired from amateur breeders seem to have suffered the MBD (deformed limbs, "bird beaks" and so on..) or are obese - overfeeding with rodents is a big problem, as it completely wrecks the liver...

[Mentat]

Well, i have to agree that a mistake in aestivation might be dangerous. Anyway - in an artificial environment we cannot control all parameters of the environment to the same extent. It is relatively easy with the humidity and temperature, but other factors such as atmospheric pressure are beyond our control. In Poland where I live, despite so called "moderate zone" we experience rapid changes of the pressure corrsponding to the weather changes. My observation is that if we do not correlate the outside weater pattern with the microclimate of the close environment, we expose the frogs to the stress. For example If we do not let them estivate in the season corresponding to the dry period, they tend to shed their skin more often... The stress make them more prone to the skin disease and infections, also they tend to die unexpectedly due to some kind of stress more frequently than the frogs subjected to estivation.
Physiology of all cold-blooded animals is highly dependent on weather conditions, and the estivation is a natural response to the changing environmental conditions of the dry period...

Hello Jakub! This is very interesting and poses some challenges to members that like myself live in areas with no natural dry hot season. Although could simulate temperature and humidity parameters; the atmospheric pressure and light cycle are pretty much out of my control. Would you be so kind to discuss how do you aestivate your frogs from the moment procedure starts to when it ends and frogs are eating? Please do include any tips you have learned from experience. No hurries, know we are all busy, so do it at your convenience, thank you !

[mfj7777]

Hey there... I would like to ask smthg since were on the topic... Does aestivation stimulate the formation of nuptial pads?


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[GrifTheGreat]

Hey there... I would like to ask smthg since were on the topic... Does aestivation stimulate the formation of nuptial pads?


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No. Nuptial pads appear once the male reaches sexual maturity. While the male may be sexualy mature when the pads appear he will not be old enough or large enough to safely breed without becoming a possible snack for a uninterested female or other larger rival male.

[mfj7777]

Wow thanks...

[Jakub Urbanski]

Although could simulate temperature and humidity parameters; the atmospheric pressure and light cycle are pretty much out of my control. Would you be so kind to discuss how do you aestivate your frogs from the moment procedure starts to when it ends and frogs are eating? Please do include any tips you have learned from experience. No hurries, know we are all busy, so do it at your convenience, thank you ![/QUOTE]

Sorry for the late reply...

First of all we do aestivate only frogs that are perfectly fine and well fed.
We feed them 'ad libidum' before aestivation. Than we replace the regular substrate (coconut coir with the sphagnum moss) with the moist coconut coir (6-7 cm - just enough for the frog to dig in). The frogs are to spend quite a few weeks in it, so clean substrate is important. This step is followed by the mild raise of temperature (from some 25-26 to 28 deg. C). We stop spraying the substrate and let it dry - surface should be almost dry, than decrease temperature to some 20-22 deg. C. and let the frogs rest, checking substrate humidity once in a while, and spraying it if required. After 5-10 weeks (depending on needs and/or outside weather conditions and so on...), we gently raise the temperature and flood the frog with water to re-hydrate the substrate. And by flooding I mean pouring the water over the substrate. Frogs that we meant for breeding are instantly bathed and placed in a rain chamber (a bit shocking, but it seems to be the case in natural environment, the first thing the frogs do when the rainy season starts is to reproduce).

The best results (as of breeding success) are obtained when the end of aestivation matches the rapid weather change (sudden fall of the atmospheric pressure and storms)... In our climate it is late February/mid-March (end of winter) and mid-September (end of summer)...