Uh Oh. Gonna have babies

[alane]

I think FBTs may be on the 'smart' scale of things.

They are curious such that if one changes their environment, they check it out.

If I put a food they have not seen much, such as a worm, they'll come up to it, stare at it, dare each other to strike at it. Eventually one will. But it is tentative.

Put a cricket in the tank? They can catch them before they even hit the floor. They have been known to jump the length of the tank immediately and accurately. They love looking at the shadow of a cricket under a leaf; they will all jump to get it. The cricket either gets ate or goes flying. They are nutz for crickets. No hesitation.

Put a toadlet in the tank? The adults let them ride on their backs.

Once, I saw one that looked like it had a bloated belly. I carefully picked him up. He deflated...just trying to float...no problem.
But then something remarkable happened. As I had this frog upside down, he struggled a bit as one would expect...then he went limp. It was not an unken reflex. Froggy just relaxed and let all four legs droop down. I'm holding the frog upside down, mind you, and it relaxes completely. I was a little worried until I put him back into the tank, where he woke up and hopped away.

I know you are not supposed to touch them, and at first, I had a bad skin reaction whenever I as much as touched the water. But i've gotten used to it and can apparently handle one without any reaction now. little upside down relaxed frog in my hand was just a pool of jello. as if it had no bones at all.

[sambal]

When observing their behaviour I would also say they are rather smart (for a frog), however they are in fact one of the most primitive species of frogs, which would suggest the opposite.. I have never had any other species in captivity so I have nothing to compare them to but with firebellies I have always been surprised by how much 'personality' they have.

About the 'jello frog'; Frogs in general can get completely paralysed when handled; take any type of frog and put it on its' back and gently hold it down for a few seconds. After that slowly remove your hand and the frog will remain on its' back for a long time. Years ago I filmed this behaviour with one of my firebellies for a school project, I found the video and uploaded it to youtube to share it with you:



In the first place this is a defence mechanism to confuse predators but I have noticed that when my firebellies are in a exceptionally horny mood they also seem to get very passive when handled. They can just be scooped out of the water and just seem mellow and can't be bothered and will remain in any position that you put them in.

[sambal]

Oh yes and about the toxicity; I don't think one of my adults has ever had one of the toadlets in its' mouth, let alone all seven of the adults. And still they all seem to ignore them as food. Of course it is very possible that they did in fact all tasted one and learned from their mistakes or even that they smell or sense in any other way the toxicity of the toadlets. I am not sure though if toadlets of this age have already developed their toxins, I'm talking straight out of the water with a tail toadlets.. It would be an interesting experiment to put some toadlets of another species in the tank and see if the adults react any different to those.

[alane]

Daily check on the tank...the chiller is running. It's thermostat isn't working right. The chiller thermostat says 77F. My tank thermometer is at 65F. It's supposed to be at 73F.

So. Chiller gets turned off until I can fix or replace its thermostat.

Frogs dont seem to mind at all.

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

Sorry, I haven't been online that much frequently, been very busy with life and school. This is an interesting read, as I was considering attempting to breed this species someday in the future. Do you have any homes planned out for all the juveniles yet?

[alane]

Well, the chiller is okay. It malfunctioned due to low flow in the filter/pump system. It was time to overhaul the filter and pump system, which I did. Full flow restored and correct cooling too. And now, my tank is in 'rain configuration' and it's raining heartily on the frogs.

In celebration of this basic maintenance victory, I set the cooler down a few degrees to simulate 'winter' for the little fellows.

I gotta say those 'razor blade on a handle' tank cleaners work great for removing any sort of stuff on your glass, both above and below water. hard water deposits come right off. cool.

No plans for the juveniles as of yet. they are so cool to listen to now, the little ones 'beep' a few octaves above the adults now.

The cherry shrimp are thriving on the bottom. I am so tempted to add african dwarf frogs to this tank but I suspect I should just enjoy what i got.

[alane]

I am buying them exclusively large crickets, as I find the small crickets just are not much of a meal. I still have some smallish toadlets, in fact some are quite small and apparently are behind the others. Yet...I see that these smallest of my toadlets have no problem downing the largest of crickets. It's comical and somewhat frightful. You'd think that a toad that is about the size of a cricket could not do it. But the toadlet stretches. I have seen only one toadlet 'abort' a meal that was too large. I am stunned at how they can expand to fit their food.

One interesting fact is that the frog/toad is the "lowest" animal that evolved a vomit reflex. This is the first animal that could puke.
No doubt this is a survival instinct to be able to puke up either items that are too large or are not digestible.

But, my, these things do love their crickets. Much, much more so than any other food.

Some of the adults do not like the dusted crickets. These adults get extra vitamins, as they always end up with a mouthful of dust whether or not they swallowed the prey.

The PacMan frog I had was "is he gonna eat today". The FBT tank is "how many are you willing to feed them because they'll eat it if you give it to em".

They will occasionally get excited about food and strike at my fingers. Cute little mouths with no teeth and a sticky tongue.

I am getting lots of enjoyment out of this tank of frogs.