Mantellas breeding already????

[kati537]

Hello everyone,
I was hoping someone could give me some advice. I bought a pair of painted mantella's at a reptile expo about 6 or 7 weeks ago (i'm 90% sure they are mantella baroni). The dealer said they were wild caught (I know that should be a no-no, but I couldn't find any captive bred). They now live in a little planted vivarium that is usually in the 64-68 degree range with humidity around 70%. There is also a low powered heat pad underneath part of the tank (and two inches of ecoearth and one inch of moss on top of that). I half-buried one of those little wood caves they sell at petstores near the heat pad. I dug out some of the dirt near the back so they could get closer to the heat pad if they needed to. Ever since I put them in one of the frogs decided that under the log was his spot, and hes always under there. Three weeks later, I started hearing cricket-like calling coming from the tank (tiny crickets can't chirp like adult crickets yet, can they?) Another couple weeks go by and both the mantellas have now claimed the log as their own. They are both always under it (I use a little flashlight from the outside of the tank to see underneath). They have dug a tunnel out the back and i'm pretty sure they did some redecorating with the moss. So a couple days ago I peeked under the log and saw the male on top of the female. Which leads me to where I am now.....

If I start trying to lift the log and look for eggs, It is probably going to disturb the whole vivarium (at least mess up their tunnel and such). I was hopeful that one day they would breed and I'd have little tadpoles, but I never thought it would be this quick. Maybe I switched them over to a higher temperature and/or humidity then they were used to. Should I re-arrange the tank to make it easier to find the eggs? Or leave it the way it is and as gently as possible look for eggs every few days?

[tgampper]

Mantellas are fairly easy to breed and care for. I provided a link to one of the best mantella care sheets on the web:

Marc Staniszewski's Mantella FAQ

Good luck

[Leefrogs]

Welcome to forum, hell of a first post!!! Since u were planning on breeding anyways, I would just go get the stuff just in case. Read hiding eggs, sometimes it happens quick. Post some Picts if u can, or if they let you.