Varadero tadpoles metamorphosing

[Jace]

They truly are beautiful, John. I can definitely see the difference between the healthy frogs and the one that has SLS. Is there anyway the froglet can survive with this condition? I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of your tadpole develop normally.

[John]

Is there anyway the froglet can survive with this condition?

The problem is that they can't hold their body up correctly so they can't feed and the whole thing stresses them out because they know something's not right. Those that can't hold themselves up are done for.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of your tadpole develop normally.

Thanks. Going on my own experience and what others have told me, SLS is pretty rare in R. imitator in comparison to other dart frogs, so I think if the first one is fine then the rest should be alright too.

I'm going to take more photos tonight - just looking at him in his canister I can see right away that his tail has decreased greatly in size over night and he's looking much more frog-like.

[Kiwi Photography]

Oh WOW.
Gorgeous colouring; truly stunning.
Looks ike he's doing very well(:
Congratulations!

[Jace]

Will these new froglets eventually join your breeding program? Compared to American Bullfrog tadpoles, these guys seem to morph overnight! I can't wait to see more pictures. Thanks for sharing all of this with us.

[Ebony]

Yes John, thanks for sharing the process with us. They look beautiful and im still amazed on how their colouring is so apparent during metamorphosis.

[John]

If you think that color is early, look at the tadpole photo from Phil Tan of a Ranitomeya lamasi tadpole - note it has no legs so it's relatively young.

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[Ebony]

Yes, they are really striking, I guess it must be easy to identify these guy's . I get blown away by the colouring of the frogs you can keep in your side of the world so for me to get the opportunity to see this is awesome. Thanks