Scaphiophryne gottlebei tank

[clownonfire]

Some elements of this tank could to be adapted for a S. gottlebei tank (rocks, gravel, etc)... With your cycling/drying/cooling/flooding, not surprising the plants did not make it. At this point too, I'm very ambivalent about adding them.

Which species of Melanophryniscus did you work with? I'm keeping a Melanophryniscus stelzneri myself.

Thanks for sharing this picture, JVK. Feel free to join our Facebook group if you have a FB account!

Eric

[bshmerlie]

Eric, what size tank are you going to be putting them into?

[clownonfire]

Eric, what size tank are you going to be putting them into?

I'm aiming for a 30-gallon, mostly because I think I will be using the height too. I have a similar design in my head to yours. The difference is that I would have a sand substrate, with moist and dry patches as mentioned, and water surrounded by rocks and sandy bottom, but all the cave-like structures would be made using big rocks that the S. gottlebei could climb on. This would basically give moist burrowing areas on the bottom level, but dryer cave-like holes to hide in on the upper levels.

[jkooiman]

Some elements of this tank could to be adapted for a S. gottlebei tank (rocks, gravel, etc)... With your cycling/drying/cooling/flooding, not surprising the plants did not make it. At this point too, I'm very ambivalent about adding them.

Which species of Melanophryniscus did you work with? I'm keeping a Melanophryniscus stelzneri myself.

Thanks for sharing this picture, JVK. Feel free to join our Facebook group if you have a FB account!

Eric

Well, I wouldn't call it "working with" exactly, I lost several individuals in the process, and didn't get so much as single call or amplexus when the tank was flooded.A total failure.

The M. stelzneri is the only species available at this point in time, though I believe more appropriate taxonomy may be Melanophryniscus klappenbachi.

I thought I joined the Facebook page awhile back, I'll check into it.

Looks like you have all the tools to do well with the gottlebei, that thread on here from earlier this week is probably one of the best threads I've seen anywhere in awhile. JVK

[clownonfire]

Looks like you have all the tools to do well with the gottlebei, that thread on here from earlier this week is probably one of the best threads I've seen anywhere in awhile. JVK

JVK, thanks for the feedback. I'm quite thrilled with the response I had from it, and the generosity of the information that was shared by all involved parties.

[5280]

Hey Eric, my two, which I personally believe to be a 0.2, have done exceptionally well(as far as I can tell) in the 6 weeks I've had them. I keep them on a eco earth/sand mix which gets pretty dry in between mistings. I don't have any plants with them, as most of the research I did said their habitat is pretty much devoid of any. They are mostly fossorial to my knowledge, although they are occassionally active. They feed aggressively and mine are not shy eaters at all. While their habitat seems functional and they seem happy, I would really like to create an even better display habitat for them and would also eagerly participate in a captive breeding attempt. Good luck man, awesome little creatures.

[clownonfire]

Hey Eric, my two, which I personally believe to be a 0.2, have done exceptionally well(as far as I can tell) in the 6 weeks I've had them. I keep them on a eco earth/sand mix which gets pretty dry in between mistings. I don't have any plants with them, as most of the research I did said their habitat is pretty much devoid of any. They are mostly fossorial to my knowledge, although they are occassionally active. They feed aggressively and mine are not shy eaters at all. While their habitat seems functional and they seem happy, I would really like to create an even better display habitat for them and would also eagerly participate in a captive breeding attempt. Good luck man, awesome little creatures.

Brad, great to see you here (I was hoping you'd join in), and I'm also very happy to read that your two Ornate hoppers are doing well.

As for them being fossorial, you're quite right (see the excerpt on an earlier post).

Would you be able to show pics of your enclosure?

[clownonfire]

There has been a lot of things moving on the Facebook group. Discussions so far have been around lighting and a new one just started on soil.

On the lighting part, since these live almost in cave-like dwellings, it was suggested that zero to little light was needed. And at this point, the main reason we would add light would be to provide UVB to the hoppers (which will supply needed vitamins, especially D3), and beneficial, as per both Corey and Anthony Molnar.

As UVB rays are reduced by acrylic or glass, cutting a piece of either just above the light would be the ideal step.

A few ideas as to which light were given. These were all brought up (some would need to be Dimel in order to remove the UV filter - but it was also noted later on that some of these light might not even have UVB to them):

Eiko: Eiko-Ltd.com Products
Exo-Terra Sun Glo: Exo Terra : Sun Glo Halogen Spot / Halogen Daylight Lamp

Now no info on the Eiko can be found for UVB. As for the Exo-Terra Sun Glo, since the hoppers thrive in a temperature of 19-22C, these halogen bulbs might emit too much heat.

So at this point, we're contemplating only a Repti Glo 2.0 Compact Full Spectrum Terrarium Lamp on one side of the viv, as it seems to have all the UV requirements, and a lower wattage bulb would not create too much heat.

Any comments or thoughts?

Eric

[bshmerlie]

I thought frogs that lived in low light conditions didn't need UVB. If they live in caves where are they getting it in the wild?