Scaphiophryne gottlebei tank

[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?

[clownonfire]

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?

They is still some light getting in... At this point here, this is being discussed, and we have Michael Lawrence on it too, who's just temporarily back before his fight in Asia.

E.

[clownonfire]

The discussions on the Facebook group are hopping (hehe).

At this point, we're almost at a light consensus: Perhaps something like the Exo-Terra Repti Glo 2.0 Compact
Full Spectrum Terrarium Lamp or the Tropical 25 UVB Fluorescent Bulbs . The purpose of the light would be to mimic the little light being bounced off the walls of the cave-like dwelling of the hoppers, and if live plants are used, to provide the opportunity to photosynthesize.

Speaking of live plants, if any used, we're either thinking of a native Madagascar plant, Hypoestes phyllostachya, or the sturdy Pothos. The purpose of the plant would be to help with waste management, first and foremost. But as they are almost no plants in the surroundings of the S. gottlebei (although there is some vegetation) this is something still debated.

Size of tanks will be 30-33 gallons, with covered sidings.

Substrate. The discussions have branched into two: housing substrate and breeding substrate. Roman Slivinsky (mantisdragon91) suggests this mix (which he uses in his own S. gottlebei tank): pure sand- ExoTerra River sand, Coconut husk and river pebbles mixed in a 60/30/10 ratio. It is still debated.

As for the breeding tank requirements, PH is being debated, as for the substrate, water, etc. More to come.

Eric

[clownonfire]

The Facebook Scaphiophryne gottlebei group is going great!

Corey is about to summarize and gather all the info we got. We are looking into contacting some key researchers (first off is to see if TWI has contacted the same ones). Once all is gathered and written I'll present you the sum of the work, and we'll start building the tank for the hoppers.

Topics tackled this week:

1. Feeders: Roman stated that because of the non abundance of food in their natural environment, they are not picky eaters. They have been fed fruit flies (Hydei, Melongaster, Buzzati), springtails, pinheads...

2. Substrate: Matthew Mirabello brought up a picture of S. gottlebei burrowed in a soil that gets hard and dry, like desert sand (hard on the surface, moist below). Both Corey and Matthew suggested something like the Arizona soil, which "retains moisture but also is "hard" when wet allowing it to be molded into a burrow " (Matt).

More to come.

Eric

[clownonfire]

And another piece of info that has somewhat of an impact on the breeding project (and if anyone else has other info on the following, please let us know):

Corey reported after some reading that in the wild they reach maturity at one year (the next flood season after they morph), and they usually don't make it to two seasons. The oldest they found breeding were 2 years old (never found any older specimens of these frogs). So lifespan of 1-2 years. And the more explosive breeders have a shorter lifespan.

I will have to challenge Corey's info on the latter as I read on Edge: "Malagasy rainbow frogs live for 4-7 years and this species becomes sexually mature after 1-2 years".
E.