Curious about a species of climbing toad...

[EZweasel]

They seem to be sporadicly exported,
main problem is (was) that they just catch females, since the males look like an uninteresting species to them.

With these species, it is difficult to get males, just the other way around then normal frog imports.

I found the freshly imported frogs rather fragile, most of them are heavily parasitised,
treating is a disaster as well, since they seem to be water proof, except for a small portion of the underside.
They take up water with this, dosing is rather difficult this way.

What i noticed was that the male have an even higher mortality rate then the females.
More then once i ordered some additional males, just to find them dead in the boxes.
Females seem to be a little stronger, altough i lost a couple of them as well.

I know got a healthy group, established for over a year or 1,5-2,
containing 2 males and 5 females.
They costed me a fortune, but i think it's worth every penny to me.
I bought most of the males at €125 ($175) each and the females at €185($260) each,
imagine how it hurt to see them die on you

Hopefully we will see more of this species in the hobby soon
Altough around here, most people are only focussing on the poison darts.
I don't think i will sell lots of the offspring around here unfortunately.


The tads and juveniles are hard to raise as well.
I praise myself lucky to have 9 remaining that has past the seemingly critical stage of 6-9 months.
From the sporadical breeding efforts, all of them experienced the same problem raising them to adulthood.
The few tads that became toadlets didn't make it past the 6 months.
Mine are now over a year, but still not fully grown i think, they are still a lot smaller then the WC parents.
Hopefully everything goes well, so i'll be able to breed the first F2 generation i know off.

Fingers crossed


By the way, this is what is a big problem with this species,
tapeworms, and lots of them.
This is from one stool of a female i got in.
Never seen a species with that much tapeworms in it.

Do you have any that you would be willing to sell? I would deffinately be interested. If not that's ok.

[wesleybrouwer]

I think it would become even more expensive if i have to ship them all the way across the big pond.
A large portion of the price i paid includes shipping etc. ofcourse,
i believe it's cheaper to import directly into the US.
Didn't kingsnake import them a few years ago?

[EZweasel]

Well Wesley, if you were to sell some how much would you be willing to let one go including shipping. I really do like what you have done with your toads and am very impressed as well.

[Tony]

Well Wesley, if you were to sell some how much would you be willing to let one go including shipping. I really do like what you have done with your toads and am very impressed as well.

Importing frogs from Europe would likely cost at least a grand, probably more, just in permit and shipping costs. You would be much better off grabbing a group the next time they come in from Malaysia.

[SethD]

As has been said they are sporadically available in small numbers as WC individuals in the states at fairly high prices of between 60-100$ each. I have one pair but have not tried to breed them. They have been sporadically bred over here in the states too but when it was done there was virtually no demand even at the reasonable price of 30-35$ for well started individuals. Saw cheap CB juveniles sit with the same wholesalers for months a few years ago. If your patient and keep a close eye on what is being imported for a year or two you can probably find some WC adults, otherwise your likely out of luck. Care is very similar to a lot of large tropical tree frogs except they are more active during daylight hours than your average tree frog. They are also unusual for a toad in that breeding does not require much careful cycling from what I understand. It seems they can breed with just good feeding and some time in a rain chamber. I know my male goes girl crazy every so often with no environmental changes at all.

[jkooiman]

.[/QUOTE] Saw cheap CB juveniles sit with the same wholesalers for months a few years ago.[/QUOTE]

@ Seth When was this, I don't remember that?

Next to Atelopus these are my dream species. Hands down.

Thanks Wesley Brouwer for the great info!

They are notoriously difficult from all I've read. Steve Busch in Oregon, USA, bred them though. The metamorphs were typically tiny, as is customary for Bufonids. I have no idea what happened to his metamorphs, I'm wondering if these are the ones Seth is referring to?

Whatever the case, I believe most of these SE asian imports have a reputation for arriving in bad condition, across the board, regardless of genus. And then there's Chytrid...

Whatever the case, I would keep these ventilated above all else. Species that have skin that deflects water seem to be built for water conservation. Most SE asian Rhacophorids also are built for are very well-ventilated setup.

I read that this species avidly accepts carpenter ants, indicating that they may pursue an ant-eating lifestyle, not a good omen for hobbiests. It would seem though, that with heavy supplementations, such a dietary hurdle could be surmounted, As is seen in the modern dart hobby. I have never seen, nor owned one, very cool though, an admirable endeavor, whatever the case. Thanks, JVK

[SethD]

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Saw cheap CB juveniles sit with the same wholesalers for months a few years ago.[/QUOTE]

@ Seth When was this, I don't remember that?[/QUOTE]

Circa 2005 to 2007 or so.

Next to Atelopus these are my dream species. Hands down.

They are notoriously difficult from all I've read.

I haven't found mine to be that hard. I bought two pairs at the same time because just because the price was as low as most wanted for one pair. One pair died within the first month, the other pair is still going strong about two years later.

Steve Busch in Oregon, USA, bred them though. The metamorphs were typically tiny, as is customary for Bufonids. I have no idea what happened to his metamorphs, I'm wondering if these are the ones Seth is referring to?

Yes, he bred them several times. "Reptile depot" had some spawn for them and did not sell the offspring for quite a long time either. Sandy Mascarino also bred them some in the mid 90's and wrote a "reptiles" magazine article about breeding them if I recall. I believe several europeans have bred them at various times too though I don't know who specifically.

Whatever the case, I would keep these ventilated above all else. Species that have skin that deflects water seem to be built for water conservation. Most SE asian Rhacophorids also are built for are very well-ventilated setup.

Mine have virtually zero ventilation and have been doing fine in a twenty gallon vertical for right at two years. Of course I don't over water either but I think getting healthy individuals to begin with is the biggest issue.

I read that this species avidly accepts carpenter ants, indicating that they may pursue an ant-eating lifestyle, not a good omen for hobbiests.

Mine readily feed on half grown crickets, small roaches, moths, smaller sized june bugs, and so forth. They will take some mealworms too but seem to prefer faster moving prey. They will not take food items as large as many other toads of similar size will take but as long as then food items are lively and not to big they are not picky.