# Just spotted the first Fire-bellied toad eggs of the season.



## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

I didn't raise any FBTs last year- had too much else going on- but this year I've decided to go for it again :2thumb:


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## grizzlymonkyboy (Jan 15, 2011)

Congrats mate get some pics up 


Thanks 
Dane


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## DONTLOOKATME (Apr 5, 2013)

Something I've been meaning to get since I first got into the hobby..
One of these years!
Best of luck, Ron! :2thumb:


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## HforHERP (Feb 12, 2013)

Good stuff! Keep us posted 


Also, PICS!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

There are some fuzzy pics of the first years brood on my profile I think- never got round to mastering Photo:censor:it! :lol2:

They are pretty easy to raise, although I wasn't too happy with the belly colour on that lot- gonna try a different feeding regime this time. The main thing is to hoik the tadpoles out before the adults eat them!


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## Tenaki2427 (Dec 1, 2013)

Awesome:2thumb:
Any tips on getting them to breed? I have a trio that often croak at night but I think the female is too young to breed yet.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Tenaki2427 said:


> Awesome:2thumb:
> Any tips on getting them to breed? I have a trio that often croak at night but I think the female is too young to breed yet.


The first trick is getting females in the first place! Males seem to outnumber females greatly in captivity- I've shared my theories as to why, a few times before.

Assuming you *do *have a mix of sexes, males are pretty much 'up for it' at any time of year, but females need some cues to get into potentially expensive breading condition ('expensive' in the sense that it takes a lot more resources and energy to produce eggs than it does sperm; a female that doesn't get the right signals won't waste the effort). A cooling period definitely helps- my flat never gets really cold, but there is clearly quite a seasonal variation in the tank, which I never heat anyway. Longer periods of daylight and higher Spring temperatures seem to stimulate both sexes to take it seriously. Keeping them in smallish groups seems to help too- they tend to stimulate each other, as well as raising the chances that some of them will be female, of course.


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Best wishes bro.

Ron I mentioned the NLS phib pellets last time,but that obviously didn't pan out,have a two fold dig on repashy superpig and naturose if those don't already figure in your pondering. Regarding naturose which is possibly prohibitively expensive,there might be another option,i'll have a dig later if it's of interest to you.

best

Stu


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

soundstounite said:


> Best wishes bro.
> 
> Ron I mentioned the NLS phib pellets last time,but that obviously didn't pan out,have a two fold dig on repashy superpig and naturose if those don't already figure in your pondering. Regarding naturose which is possibly prohibitively expensive,there might be another option,i'll have a dig later if it's of interest to you.
> 
> ...


Thanks mate- I tried to get hold of the Zoomed stuff as well, but my petshop couldn't find a stockist. I have some plans in mind, but any leads will be *most* appreciated! :2thumb:


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## RhianB87 (Oct 25, 2009)

Can you please have words with mine :whistling2:
I am sure I have 7 bloody males!! URGHH

Also good luck with your lot!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

RhianB87 said:


> Can you please have words with mine :whistling2:
> I am sure I have 7 bloody males!! URGHH
> 
> Also good luck with your lot!


Thanks- it's quite possible you *do* have seven males, unfortunately, although in a largish group it can be hard to pick out which ones aren't calling or clasping- of my eight adults, I only have two I'm sure are female.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Bah! Two of my tadpole-rearing tanks have sprung leaks- I'll have to get a couple of cheapo plastic tanks from Wilkos, come pay day. On the positve side, spotted some more eggs this morning! :2thumb:


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Woohoo! First tadpole! :2thumb::no1::2thumb:


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## johne.ev (Sep 14, 2008)

Nice one Ron.
Always fancied keeping these myself at some stage.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

johne.ev said:


> Nice one Ron.
> Always fancied keeping these myself at some stage.


I often feel that they are under-valued, because they are fairly readily available, not expensive, and not hard to keep, if you know the basic principles. On the other hand, they are colourful and endlessly entertaining! :2thumb:


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## johne.ev (Sep 14, 2008)

Ron Magpie said:


> I often feel that they are under-valued, because they are fairly readily available, not expensive, and not hard to keep, if you know the basic principles. On the other hand, they are colourful and endlessly entertaining! :2thumb:


Yes mate, all the above reasons why i will one day get some.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

well done Ron!

this is such good news. As you rightly say this is an awesome species and one that would almost disappear if W.C imports were stopped. We need you and lots of people like you to secure supplies for future generations of toad keepers to enjoy.

I wonder how many of us started out with B. orientalis? I know I did

Id love to see this thread carry on with images,

one question I have is do the toadlets morph out full colour and then the colour goes or do C.B toads have less colour than wild ones? I am convinced that by increasing the Beta carotene levels in the diet that the reds can be maintained.

I just wonder of a lack of colour is passed from parent to young?

again well done!

John,


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Arcadiajohn said:


> well done Ron!
> 
> this is such good news. As you rightly say this is an awesome species and one that would almost disappear if W.C imports were stopped. We need you and lots of people like you to secure supplies for future generations of toad keepers to enjoy.
> 
> ...


Thanks John. Yep, in FBTs the colour is acquired (while, in complete contrast to darts, the toxin is self-generated, and not dependent on the food!). This was my problem last time, although my toadlets were colour-fed, and did colour up, it wasn't with the desired intensity, so I'm going to try different foods this time. I believe Zoomed do a specific FBT colour food, but I haven't been able to get it.


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Well said John:no1: both on the need for CB and hunches on the carrotenoids too!!

Ron again regarding colour and unfortunately in this case my input is dart related

I'm reading more and more implications for carrotenoids to feature more highly in my frogs diets,there are some papers implicating health benefits ,not just colour,enhancing. 

Here's a link to Naturose for starters

Astaxanthin

a link to a thread Nicky posted on his forum regarding colour,you'll see a product Ben uses there too mate,maybe worth looking at

Naturose - Feeding & Supplements - PoisonFrog



and some health stuff cause I'm just bloody helpful:Na_Na_Na_Na::lol2:


Carotenoid study shows Probiotic effect on the skin of Frogs! - Dendroboard

Ron as before Naturose is somewhat pricey,but I'm seriously pondering an order now,can you tell me just when you might need some,I'm musinga cost share or suchlike, if you think it might help,you might not need much,but I'm figuring adding some to ff cultures,plus occassional food dusting so you wouldn't have to have much only what you need as we and the hoard will go through it fairly rapidly,I would imagine.

Sorry kiddo musing out loud:whistling2:

I think old john's on to something here mate and it's applications are possibly wider reaching than just colour or darts for that matter. We are already using superpig(repashy) in various ways,but maybe there is a need for more,ha i've been digging on this slowly for a while now kiddo,my applications may be different to yours,but I think there are some common factors here worthy of consideration

bring it on:mf_dribble:

Stu

ps bugger...grats on the tads mate


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

I keep colour canaries also you see. I use a powder that you mix in water to increase reds or even yellows now.

I don't use the old harsh chemicals of old but after I researched B.C so much for this new book it really got me thinking. B.C is converted to vit A among hundreds of other uses safely in the body in a regulated way. we know how vital A is to Amphibs and that a pure or synthetic source has a toxic level and one that "may" be linked to spindly leg syndrome if under or may over provided. I would like to see a definitive answer on that but I feel we are a number of years away.

anyway, I use a carotenoid powder. So I give it once a week in a very small dose in the drinking water of all of my birds and actually with my reptiles. I have seen no adverse reactions at all as I would expect. its natural and as such the body would simply deal with it naturally. Its early days! but I have a problem royal. A captive farmed/wild Ghana yellow belly that has NEVER shed properly. It just cant do it. I notice that this shed it had less issues and I had to intervene less. It may of course be pure coincidence but I do wonder if these carotenoids do far more for skin, eye and brain health than they do for colouration?

early days! I wonder if live foods fed/watered to fire belly's or darts with a simple but natural avian colour food would have any impact on the colour. 

if the colour is effected we can safely assume that many other boxes are being ticked in the process.

I may be mad, it certainly would not surprise me!! but I wonder

I guess as I always bang on " all the secrets of great captive care are hidden in the wild animal" this simply means that all we have to do is copy nature as closely as possible and see the improvement. we know that F.B have a very varied diet and this diet has a direct impact on the colour, so if we get the diet right the colour should be right and all of the internal things that we cant see should function as nature intended. Red worms maybe the key here!

John,


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Thanks, both. yes I did give foods containing carretonoids, but obviously not especially effective ones! It also seems that receiving the pigments in the tadpole stage is crucial- so gutloading toadlet prey is not sufficient. I'm looking at the various brand foods now. Keep 'em coming!


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Arcadiajohn said:


> I keep colour canaries also you see. I use a powder that you mix in water to increase reds or even yellows now.
> 
> I don't use the old harsh chemicals of old but after I researched B.C so much for this new book it really got me thinking. B.C is converted to vit A among hundreds of other uses safely in the body in a regulated way. we know how vital A is to Amphibs and that a pure or synthetic source has a toxic level and one that "may" be linked to spindly leg syndrome if under or may over provided. I would like to see a definitive answer on that but I feel we are a number of years away.
> 
> ...


Good to have a chin wag with ya bro,this is fascinating!!

John we are approaching this in several ways,first up we are adding extra carrotenoids(superpig) to our fly media,basically trying to up the nutritive quality of the actual flies. Second is adding superpig into the vit rotation. Thiird is trying to gut load some prey items such as ff maggots,by adding another repashy product bug burger,again loaded with 5% superpig. the bug burger is actually a feeding station for the frogs,especially kids. I'm not really a fan of feeding stations prefrring the frogs to work for their grub,but I have my reasons. The bugburger attracts mites and also the ff breed on it,before getting munched. So first up possibly a higher % of mites get into the diet,which are said to be rich in C(=carrotenoids) anyway,but have the superpig to help make sure. The frogs munch on any ff maggots that hatch in the bug burger,which are naturally gut loaded aswell. I'm also pondering spirulina as this might contain another set of C's in the ff mix.

John interesting thoughts on the snake,one does wonder about the skin,with the link I forwarded,all be it relative to phibs.who knows.My only red frogs being oophaga I haven't been able to feed blood worm to them as tads But it's definitely of use to Ron for the FBT's tads,it's a shame he lives where he does,because I'd always prefer the option of still living food,if the tads will take it.

Interesting thoughts on the canaries and their colour enhancement and yet another set of C's I guess.

Walks away pondering

Stu


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> Thanks, both. yes I did give foods containing carretonoids, but obviously not especially effective ones! It also seems that receiving the pigments in the tadpole stage is crucial- so gutloading toadlet prey is not sufficient. I'm looking at the various brand foods now. Keep 'em coming!


Ron two questions,what C's did you use,was it only what was in the NLS pellets and how do you know about the tads needing the C's ,you've used the word crucial so it seems you are very sure on this.

I hope our musings haven't derailed too much mate

Stu


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

I used one of the spectrum foods for the tads, and also as an ingredient for the 'colour mash' I used to gutload crickets- with this, granular canary colour food and cooked carrot, all beaten together in a pestle and morter! :lol2:

As I said, the spectrum stuff obviously wasn't enough, and the gut-loading was probably a waste of time; once the toadlets developed their basic colours, the gut-loading seemed to make no difference whatsoever- so my only conclusion had to be that the colour is 'set' by the diet of the tadpoles. I may be wrong somewhere in all this theorising, but I can't see where.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

Hi Stu and Ron,

I have just remembered that I may have access to a French, organic algae that has 7x more C than that which is commonly available.

I wonder if I can get hold of some???

I will PM you if I can. This could make a very interesting experiment

John


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

Ron, Carophyll red in the water. They will be positively "atomic " red afterwards. : victory:

Or you could try them out in the garden in a vivarium for a few months if you can. They turn red then with natural foodstuffs.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Arcadiajohn said:


> Hi Stu and Ron,
> 
> I have just remembered that I may have access to a French, organic algae that has 7x more C than that which is commonly available.
> 
> ...


Definitely interested!



colinm said:


> Ron, *Carophyll red in the water. They will be positively "atomic " red afterwards*. : victory:
> 
> Or you could try them out in the garden in a vivarium for a few months if you can. They turn red then with natural foodstuffs.


I was wondering about that from what John said earlier :2thumb:

A garden isn't an option anymore, unfortunately.

Thanks again, peeps!


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

colinm said:


> Ron, Carophyll red in the water. They will be positively "atomic " red afterwards. : victory:
> 
> Or you could try them out in the garden in a vivarium for a few months if you can. They turn red then with natural foodstuffs.


Colin,you've been about for yonks so presuming you have done this,i'm just fishing because I'm interested mate,but you seem to be saying even at an adult stage the right colour enhancer,even just the wild stuff,can make a FBT regain it's colour,am I correct in that assumption?

Many thanks

Stu


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## colinm (Sep 20, 2008)

Stu I did it a long time ago with captive bred youngsters and they coloured up very well. The only thing that would worry me now is how safe Carophyll red is to amphibians. But then again what do they put as the colour enhancers in all of the supplements?


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Thanks Colin!!

Canthaxathin seems to be the active ingredient ,that also features in Superpig at least,so it would be down to what other ingredients are in carophyll red I guess regarding any harmful side effects. I can't find anything to say the product could be harmful,but that said I'm no damn expert.so my opinion is somewhat void. Ron canthaxanthin,doesn't feature in the NLS fomula,unless it's listed under beta carrotenoids.

Ron what's the colour like on the adults now,is it as vibrant as it could/should be,I'm pondering superpig added to adults to see if there is any colour change(I know that's safe),plus it seems to have a goodly few C's in it,see here:

Repashy Superpig :: Reptiles Super Foods :: Pigment Enhancement Formula

So if that isn't the exact C needed one might get lucky on one of the others it contains. Musing further,damn I sound like a repashy sales guy:blush: Re your hunch on feeding t ads you might be able to incorporate that into something like Soilent green,I'm reading some good reports about this repashy product as a tad food,(obviously again darts) but some form of powder that gels might be a way of incorporating a higher level of pigment earlier in the lifecycle.

Tell ya what kiddo I'd speak to Allen Repashy,he's lovely to chat too plus so damn clever on all this,it wouldn't surprise me if someone stateside has already messed with this and he might just be able to give you a head start on a possible cocktail that might be useful

seeya

Stu


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

colinm said:


> Stu I did it a long time ago with captive bred youngsters and they coloured up very well. The only thing that would worry me now is how safe Carophyll red is to amphibians. But then again what do they put as the colour enhancers in all of the supplements?


Having done a search on it's use, it seems that in birds, an overdose is simply not absorbed- as you say, this may not be the same for 'phibs, but I can't find any toxic effects listed in its normal use- in fact it seems to be actually beneficial, in ways similar to those John was talking about earlier.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Stu, you're not the only Repashy Apostle; I've seen a lot of people rave about his stuff. Doesn't seem to be availble in retail outlets, though.

It could all be academic anyway, of course- there don't seem to be any new eggs this evening, and if any of the initial tadples have escaped the adults, they are *very* sensibly hiding in the weed! I'm not worried (much!) yet, though- for the last two years the adults have produced a steady stream of young through the spring and most of the summer- these were just the first.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

HI Ron and Stu

I have a plan, well more than a plan really!

I have had product shipped overnight that really does tick every box that I can think of in terms of tad nutrition and carotenoid boosting! 

Ideally I would like to speak to you over the phone,

If you are interested in finding out more can you PM me your numbers and a convenient time to call and I will call you

: victory:

I just love it when a plan starts to come together, especially if it means that we can potentially fill another void in the care of captive animals.

john


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## Caleb (Oct 21, 2009)

I've come a bit late to this, but I can add a bit more-

The active ingredient in carophyll red is canthaxanthin. Carophyll red 'powder' is 10% canthaxanthin, sealed in tiny gelatin/carbohydrate/starch granules. Carophyll pink is a similar preparation of astaxanthin.

Excess canthaxanthin in humans has been linked to deposits in the eye. Because of this, the EU has restricted its use in salmon feed (it's used to make farmed salmon pink) to 25mg/kg (0.0025%). Astaxanthin is restricted to 100mg/kg (0.01%). Excess canthaxanthin has also been linked to liver damage.


The common plant carotenoids (e.g. beta-carotene, zeaxanthin) are unlikely to do much to improve colour. Even pale yellow toads have appreciable amounts of beta-carotene, and they'll get plenty from any vegetable matter they eat. As pure beta-carotene and zeaxanthin are dark orange, they'll not give any red colours even at high concentrations in toad's skin.

Pure astaxanthin is dark red, and canthaxanthin is purple; these are much likely to give toads deep red colours. 

Lots of aquatic crustaceans, e.g. Daphnia, Gammarus, Artemia, can convert beta-carotene and zeaxanthin to canthaxanthin and astaxanthin respectively. Algae contain large amounts of beta-carotene and zeaxanthin, and are eaten by these crustaceans, giving them good concentrations of canthaxanthin and astaxanthin. Incidentally, these crustaceans can't make their own carotenoids- they must come from their diet.


My own experience (based on B. variegata, orientalis and maxima) is that yes, adults will colour up- but not as fast as the juveniles. They can also lose colour over time. 

My best colour improvements using 'natural' materials have been:
1. Feeding yearling B. variegata almost exclusively on wild-caught Gammarus for several months- their bellies were deep orange for some time after this.

2. Feeding Cynops pyrrhogaster larvae on Daphnia that I cultured using Spirulina powder- the juveniles had very red bellies.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

yes I agree,

The food that we are trailing is a super boosted powdered algae and protein mix that is meant to be used as a livefood gutloader and stays in suspension in water and as such can be ingested as a part of a full and varied diet directly and as a processed form after livefood ingestion. 


time will tell as always

john





Caleb said:


> I've come a bit late to this, but I can add a bit more-
> 
> The active ingredient in carophyll red is canthaxanthin. Carophyll red 'powder' is 10% canthaxanthin, sealed in tiny gelatin/carbohydrate/starch granules. Carophyll pink is a similar preparation of astaxanthin.
> 
> ...


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Well, after a long break, they've started laying again- but this time round, either it is *very* small amounts of eggs at a time, or the adults have caught on to the free food and are snaffling them as fast as they apppear- I'm not seeing more than three or four tadpoles at any one time. I'm doing my best to catch them up in a cup everytime I see them and transfer to the rearing tank- this way I'll at least end up with a few. It's deffo Sod's Law- the first time I'm actually _prepared_ for an influx, they muck me about! :lol2:


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Ron Magpie said:


> Well, after a long break, they've started laying again- but this time round, either it is *very* small amounts of eggs at a time, or the adults have caught on to the free food and are snaffling them as fast as they apppear- I'm not seeing more than three or four tadpoles at any one time. I'm doing my best to catch them up in a cup everytime I see them and transfer to the rearing tank- this way I'll at least end up with a few. It's deffo Sod's Law- the first time I'm actually _prepared_ for an influx, they muck me about! :lol2:


The first time you're prepared,they muck ya about

heard of this somewhere Ron ,it's called phib keeping I think,might be wrong though:lol2:

Ahh mate I'm sorry it just struck my as VERY VERY funny,,it actually might be a good thing though,rather than all the eggs in one basket,ie better control of numbers

which ever way good luck mate

Stu


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

soundstounite said:


> The first time you're prepared,they muck ya about
> 
> heard of this somewhere Ron ,it's called phib keeping I think,might be wrong though:lol2:
> 
> ...


That's true- the first year I reared them, I had them coming out of my ears- a smaller number is definitely more manageable.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

Any news Ron?


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Only eight or ten tadpoles in the rearing tank at the mo- although the adults are definitely getting active again, so we shall see. The tadpoles seem to like the new food *very* much...


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## gwnm (Apr 14, 2014)

ron, just a thought, 
me and my reading again lol, but i have no idea where these come from but i was reading something about copper being needed for pigmentation and wondered if they lived somewhere where there was natural levels of copper in the insects they ate through them eating plants with high copper, like in the usa you get plants that are naturally rich in selenium cause of the soil there 

does that make sense or am i talking in circles again


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

gwnm said:


> ron, just a thought,
> me and my reading again lol, but i have no idea where these come from but i was reading something about copper being needed for pigmentation and wondered if they lived somewhere where there was natural levels of copper in the insects they ate through them eating plants with high copper, like in the usa you get plants that are naturally rich in selenium cause of the soil there
> 
> does that make sense or am i talking in circles again


Honestly no clue- but it's an interesting thought!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

The tads have grown fat and sassy on their 'special food', and now have tiny hind legs. :2thumb:

No sign of colouration yet, but that usually happens some time after metamorphosis.


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

thanks for the update,

It is great that they take the food so well! Lets just hope that the carotenoid inclusion does have a pull through on the visible colour and Vit A levels.

Time will tell

John





Ron Magpie said:


> The tads have grown fat and sassy on their 'special food', and now have tiny hind legs. :2thumb:
> 
> No sign of colouration yet, but that usually happens some time after metamorphosis.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Had a bit of a scare yesterday evening when I came in- one tad dead and the rest nearly comotose. 
Sometimes I am an idiot: with the hot weather coming in, I've been using my usual trick of putting a frozen bottle of water in the tank for the adults, but never thought to do it for the tadpoles! :bash:

The remaining ones seem much better and more active today, so I'm clearly thinking along the right lines!


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## Tenaki2427 (Dec 1, 2013)

Well I'm glad you saved them . It's hard raising amphibian babies for me, they don't need a lot of maintenance but I just forget to do vital stuff sometimes.
Anyone know whether you can keep this species outdoors? I'm assuming I have the Korean Green form which, considering their native country, can survive a mild British Winter? I could get them a larger tank outside, and they would get more of a temperature through the seasons.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Tenaki2427 said:


> Well I'm glad you saved them . It's hard raising amphibian babies for me, they don't need a lot of maintenance but I just forget to do vital stuff sometimes.
> Anyone know whether you can keep this species outdoors? I'm assuming I have the Korean Green form which, considering their native country, can survive a mild British Winter? I could get them a larger tank outside, and they would get more of a temperature through the seasons.


A few people have had success with greenhouses- and I can't see any reason why they shouldn't do well in a properly-made outdoor enclosure, with appropriate hibernation shelter.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Just spotted the first one with tiny front legs- time to start lowering the water level! :2thumb:


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## berksmike (Jan 2, 2008)

I use the NLS pellets for the brightly coloured species I have Ron but also supplemented on micro worms. I add spirulina powder and paprika to the cultures and think this has helped
Could be my wishful eyes tho lol


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Disaster has struck. All but one of the tadpoles/toadlets has suddenly died, for no apparent reason- one day they were active and seemed healthy, including one who was already hopping about on land, the next dead. I can speculate that it's connected to the ongoing muggy weather, but I really don't know. The remaining individual, who is still in 'leggy tadpole' phase seems fine (in fresh water as a precaution), but so did they all, till yesterday, so I'm not getting my hopes up. Gutted.


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## Meefloaf (Mar 24, 2013)

so sorry to hear this Ron


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Thanks, mate, it's really upsetting. I can only hope the adults breed again- but not much sign of that at the mo. :-( They *really* don't seem to like this weather.


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## Meefloaf (Mar 24, 2013)

its not too bad here, but im hearing round your way is silly hot today


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Meefloaf said:


> its not too bad here, but im hearing round your way is silly hot today


Yep, got ice bottles in with the adults and the remaining tadpole.


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## plasma234 (Feb 27, 2013)

Sorry to hear the news ron.


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

plasma234 said:


> Sorry to hear the news ron.


It happens- and of course metamorphosis is when they are most vulnerable. Thanks for the good thoughts, though!


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## gwnm (Apr 14, 2014)

sorry to hear about the froglets ron


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## Arcadiajohn (Jan 30, 2011)

Ahh sorry to hear this :-( could be anything. Temp or even air born toxins, I will send you a terrarium polyfilter, which will remove this factor

John


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Arcadiajohn said:


> Ahh sorry to hear this :-( could be anything. Temp or even air born toxins, I will send you a terrarium polyfilter, which will remove this factor
> 
> John


I'd never even heard of this stuff, John- had to look it up on your site. It does look useful for tadpoles!


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## Ron Magpie (Oct 11, 2009)

Well, 'Sprog' is now a teeny, tiny toadlet, and is eating white woodlice and gut-loaded hatchling crickets. No sign of colouring up yet, but that usually takes a while. He seems to appreciate the ice bottle!


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## soundstounite (Sep 6, 2009)

Hey buddy how ya doing?

Ron I'm so sorry,you know very very what I'm like about these little chaps,I'm really gutted to have read this today. Sorry I didn't clock it earlier my friend,so busy of late. 

Ron it's a double shame because I was so hoping for the Carotenoids provivded by john to give you the required colour you have been searching for and only one doesn't give that much to go on.

Ahh mate I'm sorry,this heat is pretty extreme for blighty I'm sure that has been a factor,I think you won't be the only one that will struggle with meta morphs leaving the water now. We are just so fortunate to have that north facing room,but even so I'm watching the temps like a bloody hawk

best

Stu


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