My Varadero update

[Happy Frog]

That was fast -

Last month I received 4 Varadero and it appeared like I was ending up with 1 female and 3 males. I had told the person I bought them from to try and pull two pairs. As time went on I decided to separate one of the noticeable males into his own enclosure and keep the two males and 1 female together. Soon one of the males started getting fat and broad and was taking on female characteristics. Today I was going to move it to the other enclosure but it darted under a magnolia leaf. When I pulled the leaf back I found a clutch of four eggs. They are positioned in such a way that I can't get enough light on them to take a picture. I've decided to leave this first clutch in the viv and let the parents take care of it.

At this point I want to say something...The frogs didn't lay the eggs on the glass or on a bromeliad leave or inside a film canister, but instead they layed them on a bed of live oak leaves covered by a large magnolia leave.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; leaf litter is incredibly important to these dart frogs. There are members of Dendroboard who have actually went to Costa Rica, Peru and other dart frog habitats and have come back and posted pictures and videos that show the forest floor covered with a bed of dead and decaying leaves. To you beginning dart frog keepers - Forget about a water feature and instead invest in a couple bags of live oak and magnolia leaves.

If I can get a good picture of the eggs I'll come back and post them. At this point I can't tell if they are good and I'm just going to leave them alone.

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A quick update: I just went and did some research on this forum and my eggs look just like the 6-7 day Imitator Varadero eggs John Clare posted on 02-12-2010.

[Mentat]

Congrats on the eggs Bryan ! So how many males/females do you think have now?

[Happy Frog]

Congrats on the eggs Bryan ! So how many males/females do you think have now?

Definitely 1 female and 2 males. One of the frogs that I originally thought looked like a male is starting to look like a female. These are my first Imitators so I don't have any long time experience sexing them.