Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So all these past 2 months or so I have had my pair of Imitators laying eggs that were infertile that I could see. I was wondering if the male would ever get it done! I was standing by the tank and he was doing his usual calling like mad for the female and I just thought that they were gettin' on for some duds again! But then, out of the corner of my eye I saw the male with a lump of something on his back. I thought, dude, ya can't let the wife take a dump on y...oh, my goodness its moving! I took a closer look and low and behold the poop had eyes and a tail. I rubbed my eyes just a bit to make sure it wasn't dust bunnies I woke up with or something and then the little poop on the back twitched! I then saw the plump little son of a gun's internal organs or something through his/her gelatinous body. While I stared frozen with elation, I saw him carry the offspring to the axil of the highest brom in the tank a Fireball. He's been there with the tad and calling for the mom since. Now what? Do you think there is more then one, and he has already deposited them? What can I do to help the tads be more healthy? What do the parents need from me now? Thanks-Maggie

WOW very cool, I so hope mine lay some eggs. I am still not 100% if I have a pair. I am going to get more just to make sure...
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Kyle
www.kylesphotos.com
Dart Links - still a work in progress
1.2.0 D. leucomelas
1.1.0 D. azureus
1.0.1 D. imitators

Congrats,
You can leave it in there and let them take care of it or remove it from the brom axil.I'd give it a few days in it.The way I have my broms mounted is I drilled holes in my corkbark and shoved the stem of the brom into it.When I noticed a tad I just took the brom out and dumped the tad into a deli cup and raised it with Omega 3 fish flakes.I have recently swiitched to Patrick N. tadpole powder and it works great.I have 6 tads I'm raising in deli cups on his powder now.I let my pair raise a tad in a brom axil last summer just to see how it did and now it is a nice little male.It is cool watching them take care of them.It gave me a good idea on how to do it when I get my green pums this spring.Good luck
Mark W.

Maggie,
Sounds like we are in the same boat right now. My male has dropped the tad off some where and I can't seem to find it. All the eggs they are laying are infertile too. I guess these are to feed the tad. Anyway I guess one day I will wake up to 3 imitators in my tank and have to chase one down and remove it.They are sneaky little frogs. They love to hide their young, and they do a good job of it too. Congratulations on the tad.

TonyT
1.1 Azureus
1.2 Imitators M Wilson line
0.1 Mint Terribillis
1.0 Citronella
3.2 G&B Auratus C/R
2.2 Luecs
0.0.4 Oyapoks
0.0.4 Alanis
0.0.3 Yellow backs
0.0.4 Red Vitattus

Maggie: You are now the grandmother. The parents don't need anything but food from you. Sit back and enjoy the show. Dad will call mom, who will squat and feed infertile eggs to the tad. You may not see the tad in the brome for a long time. They tend to hide, but pretty soon he will be splashing up. For a first experience, I wouldn't try to remove him and raise him myself. Seeing how the real parents do it is awesome. It's supposedly more efficient to find the tad and raise it yourself, but let the real parents do the first one. They know how-- well sometimes, they know how, but that's a different story. Some parents are dumber than others. Yours aren't though. I think the first show is worth letting them do it by themselves. You aren't breeding commercially, and watching how they do it is fun. Don't interfere except to keep the brome cups well full of spring water from misting. Don't use distilled!! Enjoy watching your grandtadpole turn into a grandfroglet.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
3 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
4 D. leukomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus pending

wish I could pass out cigars or something ah, the dad is calling even as I write! Yes, I plan on them doing everything, I can't imagine me messing something up! So, I'm just gonna watch and keep the viv, food source the way they like it. Hey, so no distilled water???? RO is Ok right, and you say Spring? Thanks for that! I didn't know that!!!

Yeah, I can't see the tad at all, it worried me a bit. But I guess, they can be secretive. Hey, will they lay more fertile eggs while they have some tads in the water, or do they wait?

Maggie

Maggie,
Last summer when mine were feeding the tad in the water they didn't lay any fertile eggs.But,this was in about June so they were slowing down laying then anyway.It is a rush watching this all happen.I remember the day I noticed they weren't going to the brom the tad was in.I knew it was getting big but hadn't checked it for awhile.I was going to go get a flashlight to check the axil in the Neo.olens the tads was in and saw it had morphed out!! I couldn't get it out of the brom,it went head down into on of the margins in one of the leaves so I ended up destroying the brom to get it out.Small price for a imitator froglet in my opinion.My wife named it "Tiny" because it was,well,tiny,LOL.I had to feed it springtails for about 2weeks then it started on the melonogasters.Tiny turned out to be a male and is now paired up with one of his siblings from a prior clutch.They are very,very cool frogs.
Enjoy the show,
Mark W.

Thats fantastic! Now, I can imagine what it might be like to watch this process. Did you remove him so you can feed him better? Will I need to do that when he morphs? You know, I don't know where the male took the tad to. How did you find the tad and now I can't remember how long they take to morph out. Thanks-Maggie