# Finally here! Atelopus hoogmoedi :)



## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

*Finally here! Atelopus, Harlequin Toads! *

Shameless pics to be honest 

It's been a lonnnng wait for these little boys to arrive. I have 4 (likely all boys) of _Atelopus hoogmoedi_, "Hoogmoed's Harlequin Toads" they're around 3cm each, they originate from Brownsberg National Park in Suriname (some lovely pics and vids on the web).

Depending on how things go with these chaps I hope to eventually go and pick up some ladies in an epic search at DutchRana :2thumb: The collectors locate the toads by following calls, so of course, most found are males.

They live by moderately flowing creeks and waterfalls and "roost" on large leaves up to a metre from the ground overnight avoiding flooding and hopefully snakes!
They have an adorable little trilling call and break me out in fits of grinning everytime 

Some of you might remember the waving golden toad at the end of Life In Cold Blood, those were _Atelopus zeteki_, which came from higher altitude areas where Chytridiomycosis and habitat destruction led to their extinction in the wild.
These guys are in the same Genus but are luckily currently not threatened by Chytrid or really habitat loss as they come from one of the most pristine areas of lowland rainforest in the world. 

I hope you enjoy them as much as me!!!













































Thanks for looking!
Cheers
Lotte***


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## andaroo (Nov 14, 2008)

:flrt::flrt::flrt:
They are *gorgeous!* 
Their patterns are so pretty and their yellow bellies and eyes are just adorable!:2thumb:


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## chondro13 (Aug 18, 2008)

Lotte!!!! my jealousy has no limits!! :mf_dribble:

beautiful!! what kinda setup you got for these fellas? 

am i right in thinking there are a similar species/morph that has the yellow parts replaced with reddy/purple? im sure ive seen something similar but hell - i probably dreamed all that... 

beautiful froggies!!


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

Thank yooo!  :flrt:

Miss Chondro;
The closest related species to these are _Atelopus spumarius barbotini_, (Possibly being revised to full species status out of the _spumarius_ group.

They were originally described in 1981 I think but were "rediscovered" last year at the site of a potential mine, so they were heavily publiscised as new "purple frogs" 
My colleague Ben took home 4 of those while I opted for these 

They weigh 2g each! AWWW lol 

Got a video or two aswell, one of them simply climbing, but it's nice to see them in action;
YouTube - Atelopus hoogmoedi

I've got them seperately in "simple" quarantine compartments;



















:2thumb:
Lotte***


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## chondro13 (Aug 18, 2008)

awwwwwwww :flrt: im in love!!!!!!! 

lovely setups too!! very arboreal froggies then. such cuties - i wondered why id not seen them in the pet trade before lol :whistling2:

you planning on breeding when their big and strong? :flrt:


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## Janine00 (Sep 20, 2008)

Wow..... awsome looking froggies and set ups... good luck with them...J :notworthy:


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## ilovetoads2 (Oct 31, 2008)

I thought I had seen these on the market recently...dart frog or triple 8? worth a look if you want them:no1:


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## Kazerella (Jan 7, 2008)

Nice! :no1:


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

Cheers ladies 



chondro13 said:


> awwwwwwww :flrt: im in love!!!!!!!
> 
> lovely setups too!! very arboreal froggies then. such cuties - i wondered why id not seen them in the pet trade before lol :whistling2:
> 
> you planning on breeding when their big and strong? :flrt:


The setups are a bit of a bombsite really, they'll be moving into a planted mansion once I'm happy with their health and chytrid swab results 

They're not incredibly arboreal, they just like to "roost". They spend equal portions of the day jumping in the waterbowls, hanging out under leaves, hanging out on the moss patch, hanging out halfway up the cork stack, on top of the cork stack and as evening goes on they find their way into the fake leaves on the right and roost almost touching the netting 

I certainly hope to breed some, one day... These are more than likely all boys, although I've only heard two calling so far.
They were originally imported by DutchRana, I think I'll wait it out for their next shipment (if there is one!) and go there in person to search for a girly.



ilovetoads2 said:


> I thought I had seen these on the market recently...dart frog or triple 8? worth a look if you want them:no1:


Marc at Dartfrog brought a few over, not sure if someone I know who already has the _A. s. barbotini_ has snapped them up tho! :2thumb:

Very little info on them, I spent 4 weeks straight contacting people around the world to get a comfortable idea of how I should approach their husbandry 
All well worth it tho!
Lotte***










All inflated from calling and looking miffed at the interruption!


















Clip of the calling!!!
YouTube - Atelopus calling

:notworthy:
Lotte***


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## Alex M (May 28, 2008)

Saedcantas said:


> Thank yooo!  :flrt:
> 
> Miss Chondro;
> The closest related species to these are _Atelopus spumarius barbotini_, (Possibly being revised to full species status out of the _spumarius_ group.
> ...


R.e Your photo's above...

I've seen some severe cases of OCD in the past Lotte (look no further than my fridge), but you my dear need help


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## richie.b (Oct 27, 2008)

Your just doing this to make me realise what im missing now mine are gone. 
I had 3 males and 1 female as thats what they normally came as, but Rana did offer me 2 males to 1 female at the end of last year, i think hes sold out now though
I found them easy enough to keep pretty much the same as darts but with a stream in the viv. This is mine after ide had them awhile


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## deansie26 (Apr 28, 2009)

*nice*

very nice, great colours and super pics:2thumb:


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## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

I believe these died of Chytrid.


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## Bearnandos (Nov 24, 2009)

NOW those are stunning toads!!! hmmmmmm more thumbnails or toads......arrgggg......never kept toads before.....must read up!


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## richie.b (Oct 27, 2008)

ipreferaflan said:


> I believe these died of Chytrid.


you believe what died of chytrid?


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## axoemz (Mar 1, 2010)

Lovely pics!:flrt: Love the 2nd one, looks like he is getting ready to run a sprint race!:lol2:


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## ipreferaflan (Oct 8, 2009)

richie.b said:


> you believe what died of chytrid?


Saedcantas's toads.
These are the ones she got from dartfrog, but they died. Or so I believe.
Look at the date on the original post. It's a revived thread.


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## richie.b (Oct 27, 2008)

oh right all very confusing i thought she had these before, yes i think your right she did warn me about mine in all fairness, but i got mine later from a different batch and were ok


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## Alex M (May 28, 2008)

ipreferaflan said:


> Saedcantas's toads.
> These are the ones she got from dartfrog, but they died. Or so I believe.
> Look at the date on the original post. It's a revived thread.


Just to clarify, this thread wasn't revived by myself to re-open a chytrid debate (as i don't believe it was mentioned before today on here), merely Lotte added this link to 'the' chytrid post today and i replied due to her chronic OCD haha (see photo's i quoted), that's all. She needs help! Al

P.s, And Richie - i will call you mate - i'm exhausted after alot of emails and phonecalls over the last couple of days or so, so am being proper (and unexcusably) leisurely!.


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## richie.b (Oct 27, 2008)

Alex M said:


> Just to clarify, this thread wasn't revived by myself to re-open a chytrid debate (as i don't believe it was mentioned before today on here), merely Lotte added this link to 'the' chytrid post today and i replied due to her chronic OCD haha (see photo's i quoted), that's all. She needs help! Al
> 
> P.s, And Richie - i will call you mate - i'm exhausted after alot of emails and phonecalls over the last couple of days or so, so am being proper (and unexcusably) leisurely!.



No worries Al see if i care if you dont want to talk to me:Na_Na_Na_Na:


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## LIZARD (Oct 31, 2007)

when i first spotted these i was WOW, and now u have some im LIKE WOW WOW WOW congrats:2thumb::2thumb::2thumb:


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

I just wanted to show that these animals did infact arrive in Feb 09 as I had stated (not three years ago...) and they are indeed long dead and gone.
They died as a result of the treatment for Chytrid as opposed to the actual Chytrid itself. The treatment and Quarantine was run as stress and disturbance free as possible, this delicate species however simply could not withstand the process.
These specimens and the others that arrived with them showed absolutely no symptoms of Chytrid whatsoever (for those subscribing to the idea that published incubation times can rule out Chytrid in individual cases) 

If it had been Dendrobatids instead for instance, they would likely have had no problem and would be here today.

To prevent further speculation! If anyone wants to discuss this, they are welcome to PM me, but I'll close this as the "congrats!" and "they're so gorgeous" messages are a bit heartbreaking!!!


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

Alex M said:


> R.e Your photo's above...
> 
> I've seen some severe cases of OCD in the past Lotte (look no further than my fridge), but you my dear need help


P.S: is it because I even counted the leaves out? had two pebbles in each water dish and ensured an even mix of larger and smaller leaves in each one??? :whistling2::2thumb:
Oh well!


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## Tehanu (Nov 12, 2006)

One last thing.

I have seen a statement on a particular website, which claims the only known instance of Chytrid from them was 3 years ago.
As everyone can plainly see, these animals came into my possession in Feb '09 as evidenced by this topic. The person making the statement on their website knows this as I emailed them recently with our previous correspondence from Jan '09 to ensure their memory was jogged.

These animals were swabbed on arrival before they were placed into double boxed high quarantine. Those swabs were tested positive by ZSL and I have the email confirmation still in my inbox.

Just so we all know!
Lotte***


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