E. Anthonyi "Santa Isabel"

[bshmerlie]

I've been culturing tons of springtails in preparation for these guys plus melanogaster fruit flies. Their stripes are becoming more vivid with every passing day. I don't think the stripes are the issue its the red body color that takes the time. I'll see if I can get a better picture of little tony in the morning so you can see the difference a couple of days make with the stripes. They are definately visible now. I use SuperPig for the frogs and a color enhancing fish flake for the tads.

[John]

Superpig definitely does the job but I find it unnecessary. Why? Because Repashy Calcium+ (formerly known as Calcium+ICB) contains the same color enhancers but in lower amounts. They have pretty much the same effect, just slightly less pronounced (you should see my Matecho tinctorius).

Are you sure you'll need the springtails for the metamorphs? I have a feeling they will be able to take wingless Drosophila melanogaster since my juveniles are eating D. hydei fruit flies without issue. Here's a quote from Poison Frogs (2007) by Lötters, Jungfer, Henkel, and Schmidt:

As soon as the front legs appear, the tadpoles are placed in angled containers with a water level of not more than 1 cm that lead to a "terrestrial" part of some brown leaves. When the metamorphs have eventually left the water, they can be housed in small terraria of maybe 20 x 30 cm. Froglets are initially dark brown with an indistinct light striped pattern. Measuring between 9-11 mm in length, they are capable of managing Drosophila right away. Unfortunately, the offspring of wild-caught specimens with a lot of white in their pattern are usually much less attractive than their parents, as their light stripes are often much narrower. The reasons for this phenomenon are as yet unknown.

[berksmike]

I generally feed my neomorphs a mixture of mels and springs. Most will take mels straight away but have found a small number wont take them for a while so the springs are good for that.
Here's a clip of some of mine having a feast of springtails (sorry for the picture quality):

Baby Phantasmal Dart Frogs feeding on springtails - YouTube

[John]

What kind of melanogaster are they Mike? I generally find that frogs can often manage the wingless mutant when they can't handle the winged kinds.

[bshmerlie]

Mine are wingless...they look a little smaller

[berksmike]

I use turkish glider mels as I find these the most productive. Have made up stunted cultures before to see if those refusing normal mels will take stunted ones - some do and some stick to the springs so generally feed both. They will also take 1st and 2nd instar milkweed bugs without any problem.

Btw John those "Rio Saladillo" look lovely - might get some of those myself. Have a couple of empty vivs im just growing in!