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Stuart Philpott

Stuart Philpott

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Found this little guy today........a few of you might have latched on to the fact We keep a few frogs.dart frogs to be precise. I guess i've personally bumbled about with phibs since childhood,i've mentioned a few of my misdemaners over the years but never really shared any pics here before maybe one?

Anyways this ickle bumble of joy is pricless to me,he's a little strawberry poison frog Oophaga pumillio their kin the morph hail from the isle of Bastimentos in the Bocas Del Toro Archipeligo ( sp?) he comes from one specific beach now a tourist resort,called ironically red frog beach.....they used to be uncountably numerous but now sadly they aren't. We have had them here for years now

We bred his mum years back but i've been trying to get a kidlet out of his dad for eons........hopefully we will rear him or her. and those new genes will be of huge benefit, I'd love him to be male This is literally just as he leaves the water not quite fully formed ( you can see that in little guys mouth but just snippet away from becoming a frog not a tadpole little fella is maybe 5mm snout to vent His dad I call bruiser he's a damn big frog for a tiny tiny thing

Oophaga........that means egg eater......it refers to their life cycle........................essentially you are looking at an offspring of one of the most sophisticated parental care regimes in amphiibia.......

..Mum and dad get together and lay some eggs on land......they guard them and keep them moist, so the tiny eggs don't dry out or get predated......when the tadpoles hatch mum sticks her bum into the jelly mass and the little tads swim up her back...usually one at a time....................................Seriously not joking for once........she then carries them off on her back to a bromeliad ( usually) like the one in piccy, and dumps little tad in a tiny body of water.

The amazing bit is that she remembers where she puts each one ..............this is a frog full grown maybe an inch long and she might have possibly 6 on the go plausibly 200foot up different trees...and she remembers that exact location.

See a brom is a cool place for a baby not so many chances of predation,but it's a tiny scrap of water.......so where does the food come from for little tad......well she goes back to each one regularly and lays them unfertilized eggs.........oophagy I guess.(scratches head). But yup that's their life cycle stunningly amazing isn't it.

Ha, you are looking right now at something so so special, I'm not actually sure how many red frog beach are here in blighty not many that's for sure, I hope little one might be the first of many the genes might just mean I can finally spread them about time will tell. funny isn't it what can happen in a converted unused bedroom..............

I'll never be able to undo what is happening at red frog beach never be able to put back......... and sure exotic animals in captivity breeds a whole host of deeply passionate view points, but this little guy is just a tiny tiny bit special..all digits crossed he grows up just like his dad

cheers for reading Breath takingly stunning isn't it:)

stu

_S2I0895 Frst brreath Tdn smj by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr
 
Very interesting Stu. The varied life styles of amphibians are extraordiary aren’t they, but they’ve been at it for a looong time. I guess the tadpoles/froglets supplement the eggs with an occasional gnat or similar, looking for somewhere to lay its eggs?

Fingers crossed for you and him her it :).
 
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HNY Rich. :) ........ yup incredible adaptations and lifestyles,metamorphosis alone is simply staggering to me. The egg eating is only in the tad stage mate, right at the time this pic is made is where the parental care stops an little 'un is on it's own , which in it's self is also sort of bewildering to me. How something so so tiny and bright red can survive in the wild is astounding.

Ha mum Shaz will take over now Rich too funny . Pums....pumillio are also very bright intelligence wise for amphibian ,which is essentially perplexing as they are a simple life form really:,I am not anthromorphizing ( god sorry about my spelling writing just can't see the letters this morn everything is jumbled it's driving me nuts UGG). I suspect how bright they are is tied into that parental care

Rich, what I'm trying to get out is we will rear ...start feeding this froglet springtails, We culture vast quantities......... when we feed there's the usual stockmans banter, you know what I mean, rabbiting on quietly too 'em most animal keepers do it,sure they don't understand a word of it ,but it's sort of calming and birds and beasties respond. I know there's a madness talking to blummin frogs an all but as a bird/dog keeper your self you have to have some grasp on my madness What's astounding to me is if things work out ( this is a tricky time bro much to go wrong and also run to course. This little teeny tiny thing will learn a voice and come out to be fed by somewhere around the end of it#s first week OOTW. I know it sounds bonkers but we see it repeatedly.

Mate pums the Stawberry poison frog are one of the most diverse species on the planet, they have all these localized and isolated populations and range in colour from red to yellow to green to cream to blue brown almost every colour of the raiinbow oftentimes with spots, not always and also combinations of colours..we call 'em morphs, not man made basically the early stages of the road to becoming separate species ...... speciation The bocas ilses are very young in the big scheme I believe around 8- 10 000 years old and yet already each little island has it's own unique little population of these remarkable little frogs.

We also keep another morph from bastimentos, Rich ( we do not mix the two morphs) They are called the cemetary morph ha or to most "bastis" and come on a much more diverse range of colours and markings than the RFB. RFB are basically red or orange. Bastis red orange yellow brown lines spots you name it almost

Sorry for waffling mate a deep deep passion that stems from childhood also blummin hard work getting the words down again forgive me if it's hard going

Ha I need it to be a him Rich;)
 
HNY Stu. Yes, I agree about babbling to animals having calming influence, the only thing is, in my case it carries over talking to spiders or bees — I think I draw the line at the Diptera — which is a bit imponderable :thinking: :LOL: .
 
Fascinating and lovely to see. Fingers crossed for the little critter.

HNY bud.
 
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Dale and you me olde mate truly so have a stormer with your kingfisher bud ....fella looks strong Dale...the initial worry with young darts especially Oophaga is diet which manifests it'self as poorly developed front legs little one's are good bro..........little steps buddy ha there's a few years at play here mate

Rich OMG ya have to talk to bees. :LOL: .I've a tale for ya mate....................hopefully i'll come back tonight, need to apply some glue to some mad overhead lockers. for me toggiin bus that look like bread bins too funny......
must dash lads
 
Once upon a............:LOL:...i'm around 20 and some morons have knocked over the bee hives next door, sadly the bee keeper had recently passed.. I found out later.I guess I should have told them that but I didn't know just wanted them back right anall

.So I got it into my head that I'm make a smoker fing out of an old oil can and a load of cardboard and put things back to rights. Have have to laugh Rich the insanity of youth, but I was convinced they would know . Stood all the hives back up, bees all ways and all the time witteriing away to 'em all quiet like ha ha like a mad thing...we're all right girls I ain't gone harm ya, we'll get ya back right and other such cobblers never got stung once..

HOW??

Meh Shaz talks to her fruit flies( our principal frog food.................. but thankfully she doesn't name them anymore :exit:

you do realize the populous here now thinks we are both slightly tapped mate....that's ok init:LOL::LOL::LOL:
 
Back on topic and problem of your bad sex ratio … I don’t suppose your frogs are one of the ones that change sex? I think some populations of frogs adjust the balance and produce more of the deficient sex. I guess you can’t keep all yours (maybe don’t have big numbers anyway) together or they’d probably eat the small ones :LOL: but if it works on pheromones I guess you could circulate air or water?

Not really a question, just curious. Having just looked up sex determination in amphibia, I see it is a nightmare of complexity before you get to sex change :(.
 
No bud don't change sex..............they are just damn hard to sex and breed in incredibly small numbers.. due to the extraordinary level of parental care............ see mum maybe only lays 10 eggs max( that's a BIG clutch.)................. then she's feeding those tads, for a couple or 3 months...................so one might only get 3 or 4 clutches of eggs in a year and she might not carry all the tads........ maybe only one or 2......it's really selective Rich, then one adds in the short falls of captivity . So with the low numbers....sex ratios can easily be one way or the other.......big scheme they'll come out around 50% although pums oft seem male high in captivity. There's an irony to me hoping thiis little thing is a boy, it's not the norm usually folks are scratching for a female in captivity

Buddy without blowing me trumpet ha this is Shaz's work (y) and me interfering I take little credit just wanted to share cause it's special and stunning and thought folks here might be interested ( i've me head down right now grafting i've a hand in it sure but this is my lass's work:cool: ) You really are looking at something quite special there are a fair few pums beiing bred in blighty but not many of these............... if any I'd guess,,,,if they are out there frankly I'd love to know and work with said keeper or zoo simple as..........

Ha I went up to give it some grub an hour before bed ( lights out) and there was dad almost stood guard over it watching it they really are fascinating.

On the numbers Rich and the parental care, equate a Rana temporia clutch sizes or bufo bufo to what i've just told you above, each tadpole is an astoundiing investment in amphibian terms hard to comprehend when you see what our native amphibia do.

These tads have special mouth part purely adapted for the egg eating lark but rarely do two get deposited ini the same body of water anyway so sompetion is basically ruled out and there's no predation of smaller by bigger frogs in this genus......competition yeah sure but predation no. So We'll rear with parents largely without issue until some stage of maturity...then things become different.............Actually it seem best not to move them until they are well grown, moving them too early can cause all manner of problems simply it seems to be they can't cope and fade. there's a bit of an art in these little guys mate and a hell of a lot of dedication,
 
Rich......a little update,so ickle fin went AWOL for a while but we have seen it and think it's ok,it's still hairy mate fine lines life and death stuff ,but the odds are increasing,ha we spent a while tonight just snapping and taking stock because it's been a tad ( sorry) hectic of late. So little RFB might be 2,we aren't sure yet ,but it's likely. Our other pumillio might be 5 the cemetery morph from bastimentos. Spread across 2vivs and a couple of lines

In the best traditions of blue peter...........here's a SOOC jpeg of one we made ealier,well mummy and daddy froggy did,we just did some custodian stuff. I didn't really have time to prat about editing as I've got to go back to varnishing in a mo, but I did manage a new brom for the RFB to carry their new clutch of eggs to,so that's ok init ??

Well it might not be but I think it is :LOL: :D

_S2I1099 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr
 
Nice one. If you are varnishing the frogs, that‘ll be why they are vanishing :LOL:.
 
:LOL: Nah mate varnishing the bread bins.aka my incredibly slowly made cuvry overhead lockers for my darlin's and stu's campy toggin van..we are gonna have holidays make piccies and get sleep Rich....ruddy 'eck mate ain't they been hard to make.....OMG ain't they!! :banghead:

ha but if ya don't know ya can't do something then maybe ya can.............. so ya dig in and it happens............. and one day despite a LOT of incredibly choice language no photographer would ever use, they are sat there hanging rock solid in the bus and then one spends all the spare minutes in a day smothering 'em in varnish.................. got walnut edging rubbish pulled from a bonfire mad home made catches all manner of madness, why couldn't I just be simple and go square or prefab :banghead: :banghead:



as an aside varnish is water based me olde mate,ickle froggies being barometer species and stupidly sensitive i'm slightly thoughtful on such things ;)


..anyways here's why there might be two..........left side of jaw Rich.............. marking is wrong? Leastways I think so :)

_S2I1049 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

I'm a busy bean bro....mum and dad have a fine clutch of eggs, so they now have a smokey new brom that we have been watching like hawks these last weeks: that it holds water. that will give then a cool place to stash and rear the next lot of kids.

It's the little things the details that make a stockman ain't it kiddo, not alot different from making an image of a sketchy thing really, a shed load of observation and then hopefully jumping to the right conclusion and making the right move at the right time

.
 
Defintitely two I would say.

Surely you can’t leave these unattended while you go swanning off in your camper?
 
Gav don't be daft lovely too have the comments, thanks so much for jumping in buddy.. ha they are so cool are they not.

Rich yes we can basically because of two things...first up planned vacations are short, leastways for the foreseeable. Second Because we keep them in these live living tanks,ie a biosphere if ya like. So we have live plants which feed on the frog waste as it breaks down.............the break down process is aided by an in vivarium population of woodlice and also spring tails......which are also froggy food.

See that's how we suddenly become aware of a new little face that's two 3 weeks or even older and it's thriving without any extra special stockman's "moves" from us. Buddy we top up the viv say 2 times a week with fruit flies (FF) , which also get a dusting of vitamins. We get vits in in various ways actually mate but I'll try and stay simplistic for the mo. to answer your Q

We can also add a small FF culture that's about too hatch if we were away for say a week. So yup they'll be fine. Mate the camper is about the golden hour really, and grabbing enough sleep my hope is we'll nip away on a friday shoot dusk be up early for dawn ha and then probably go back to bed for a couple of hours again shoot the eve following dawn crash and drive home sunday. Back to the grind monday. It takes out a hell of a lot of driving or trying to burn the candle both ends in the summer and me ending up like a sleep deprived moron

Well that's a base outline of how Rich. Ha mate as you know like yourself I've kept a few beasties, a huge amount of birds but also cows and piggy pigs and sheep an goats, the coolest thing about these frogs is there is no mucking out,one set's up a tank and give it a couple of months and they run for years largely..........We have to replace the odd plant bit's of wood clean glass doors and we add leaves IE to form leaf litter fairly regular, but it's so different to the other animals and birds,because of this mini ecosystem in a glass box. I'd suspect some of these vivs maybe 10years plus old now buddy.

It's a fascinating process really mate,does that explain how a little van integrates with a mad couple that also want to steal some souls of wildlife and keep froggies? :)
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Gav don't be daft lovely too have the comments, thanks so much for jumping in buddy.. ha they are so cool are they not.

Rich yes we can basically because of two things...first up planned vacations are short, leastways for the foreseeable. Second Because we keep them in these live living tanks,ie a biosphere if ya like. So we have live plants which feed on the frog waste as it breaks down.............the break down process is aided by an in vivarium population of woodlice and also spring tails......which are also froggy food.

See that's how we suddenly become aware of a new little face that's two 3 weeks or even older and it's thriving without any extra special stockman's "moves" from us. Buddy we top up the viv say 2 times a week with fruit flies (FF) , which also get a dusting of vitamins. We get vits in in various ways actually mate but I'll try and stay simplistic for the mo. to answer your Q

We can also add a small FF culture that's about too hatch if we were away for say a week. So yup they'll be fine. Mate the camper is about the golden hour really, and grabbing enough sleep my hope is we'll nip away on a friday shoot dusk be up early for dawn ha and then probably go back to bed for a couple of hours again shoot the eve following dawn crash and drive home sunday. Back to the grind monday. It takes out a hell of a lot of driving or trying to burn the candle both ends in the summer and me ending up like a sleep deprived moron

Well that's a base outline of how Rich. Ha mate as you know like yourself I've kept a few beasties, a huge amount of birds but also cows and piggy pigs and sheep an goats, the coolest thing about these frogs is there is no mucking out,one set's up a tank and give it a couple of months and they run for years largely..........We have to replace the odd plant bit's of wood clean glass doors and we add leaves IE to form leaf litter fairly regular, but it's so different to the other animals and birds,because of this mini ecosystem in a glass box. I'd suspect some of these vivs maybe 10years plus old now buddy.

It's a fascinating process really mate,does that explain how a little van integrates with a mad couple that also want to steal some souls of wildlife and keep froggies? :)
Click to expand...
That’s very impressive and interesting, thanks for taking the time to reply. It seems that in that respect they’re easier than fish and definitely poultry or dogs!

Being able to keep & breed them more or less naturally bodes well for people who may want to reintroduce them into the wild.
 
I remember chatting with you about your frogs , you really don`t get the credit you deserve for all your efforts for these little critters . Been a long time since we caught up , life has been bitchy to us both so will blame that . I hope all is good with you and Shaz and the rest of your family .
Kind Regards Mark .
 
Not really work Gav more a joy than work, see that first image that's pretty special seeing a new face staring back at ya.... and to watch the life cycle, they have an intelligence they really shouldn't for something so small and basically a fairly simple life form....'ere mate did I mention they carry tadpoles around on their backs... ha ha probably but they really do,as I say a joy really Gav a few generations back my first mum RFB on her way to find a little pool to stash her kidlet

IMG_5516 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr



Mark lovely to hear from you bud,life can be harsh huh, I guess all one can hope for better keep one's head up and weather the storm, ha that little face in the first image mate the joy of it,I guess keeping very busy and being able to focus on the little things is the way through. Hope you and yours are well too bro, miss our chats,but so damn busy right now clattering the camper I barely look at emails or post here i've barely been out mate...but not for ever...............AGAIN cool to hear from ya bro hope things are picking up.

Rich............ha you are so utterly welcome buddy.................the graft the grind with dart frogs is producing their food........this is why they aren't so widespread. like say tropical fish We culture vast quantities of food and that is where the time is, where the work is. They don't eat anything dead, so one has to produce or relie on others which is sketchy at beast. It's all but an art form culturing food mate.......I think we spent nearly a couple of years without keeping a frog ,just slowly learning the ropes. of food production............. I'm not really fast at things Rich mind a slow approach seems to work , so i'm not for changing

Mate I don't know if someone like me can be part of re introduction .......I'm pragmatic I guess one has to have a place to reintroduce too !!:(and captive bred don't experience predation and paracites like their wild bretheren......but maybe we can help a teeny tiny bit.. keep them going.................... really that kind of thing is the ownership of boffins and zoos right?

Mark eluded to something i've never really told anyone certainly not here, I only knew of this world first because my mum rang my up all excited:banana: Darling i've sent you a news paper cutting.look what Paignton zoo have done. you'll love this .................oh cool was my reply they got 'em going.......that Zoo is special to me Rich I grew up there was there every chance I got as a child and learnt brit woodland in Hurbut Whiitelys ( so?) woods

biaza.org.uk

Zoo’s poison frog world first | Biaza

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) is the professional body representing the best zoos and aquariums in the UK and Ireland.
biaza.org.uk

It's a tiny thing of loveliness mate that the parents of that first were bred up stairs... in a hovel in the midlands

.here's an image from 2015

IMG_7783 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

The credit doesn't lie with me Rich..it belongs to a guy called Mark Pepper of Understory enterprises from Canada.

Little guy's like me and Shaz can't do amazing grand things like re introdution but maybe very humbly and quietly we can help............ keep stuff going for the clever folks to tap into

Apart from my glee my JOY at that tiny red froglet Rich I posted for awareness of amphibians,

The biggest global loss since the dinosaurs walked this earth bud ...............in our lifetime...so many just don't know that

Oh and they are so so cool................. an inch frog carrying maybe 6 tadpoles 200 foot up trees to a tiny bit of water

an then she remembers where she put each one

an goes back finds it feeds each one

astounding !!
 
I find it's always a pleasure with animals no matter what the job :)
love the frogs, watched alot of documentries on them, colours and the life they live is great, shame so many are almost gone :(
Thanks for sharing (y)
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Not really work Gav more a joy than work, see that first image that's pretty special seeing a new face staring back at ya.... and to watch the life cycle, they have an intelligence they really shouldn't for something so small and basically a fairly simple life form....'ere mate did I mention they carry tadpoles around on their backs... ha ha probably but they really do,as I say a joy really Gav a few generations back my first mum RFB on her way to find a little pool to stash her kidlet

IMG_5516 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr



Mark lovely to hear from you bud,life can be harsh huh, I guess all one can hope for better keep one's head up and weather the storm, ha that little face in the first image mate the joy of it,I guess keeping very busy and being able to focus on the little things is the way through. Hope you and yours are well too bro, miss our chats,but so damn busy right now clattering the camper I barely look at emails or post here i've barely been out mate...but not for ever...............AGAIN cool to hear from ya bro hope things are picking up.

Rich............ha you are so utterly welcome buddy.................the graft the grind with dart frogs is producing their food........this is why they aren't so widespread. like say tropical fish We culture vast quantities of food and that is where the time is, where the work is. They don't eat anything dead, so one has to produce or relie on others which is sketchy at beast. It's all but an art form culturing food mate.......I think we spent nearly a couple of years without keeping a frog ,just slowly learning the ropes. of food production............. I'm not really fast at things Rich mind a slow approach seems to work , so i'm not for changing

Mate I don't know if someone like me can be part of re introduction .......I'm pragmatic I guess one has to have a place to reintroduce too !!:(and captive bred don't experience predation and paracites like their wild bretheren......but maybe we can help a teeny tiny bit.. keep them going.................... really that kind of thing is the ownership of boffins and zoos right?

Mark eluded to something i've never really told anyone certainly not here, I only knew of this world first because my mum rang my up all excited:banana: Darling i've sent you a news paper cutting.look what Paignton zoo have done. you'll love this .................oh cool was my reply they got 'em going.......that Zoo is special to me Rich I grew up there was there every chance I got as a child and learnt brit woodland in Hurbut Whiitelys ( so?) woods

biaza.org.uk

Zoo’s poison frog world first | Biaza

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) is the professional body representing the best zoos and aquariums in the UK and Ireland.
biaza.org.uk

It's a tiny thing of loveliness mate that the parents of that first were bred up stairs... in a hovel in the midlands

.here's an image from 2015

IMG_7783 by Stuart Philpott, on Flickr

The credit doesn't lie with me Rich..it belongs to a guy called Mark Pepper of Understory enterprises from Canada.

Little guy's like me and Shaz can't do amazing grand things like re introdution but maybe very humbly and quietly we can help............ keep stuff going for the clever folks to tap into

Apart from my glee my JOY at that tiny red froglet Rich I posted for awareness of amphibians,

The biggest global loss since the dinosaurs walked this earth bud ...............in our lifetime...so many just don't know that

Oh and they are so so cool................. an inch frog carrying maybe 6 tadpoles 200 foot up trees to a tiny bit of water

an then she remembers where she put each one

an goes back finds it feeds each one

astounding !!
Click to expand...
More interesting stuff Stu. I don’t know many people would be actally breeding the likes of those as opposed to just keeping them as “pets”. I guess people doing conservation/reintroductions would be interested in hearing of successful rearing.
 
Gav have you seen Sir David A's series life in cold blood? There's some fantastic footage there of Ranitmeya imitator egg feeding if I recollect...........R summersi has in imitator ( they call it R imitator intermedius ,they live sympatrically spelling Gav I'm not good with letters, ie together and look all but alike but don't interbreed ............ Imis imatators are non obligate egg feeders, IE their kids can eat other stuff..........whereas the oophaga are obligate egg feeders ie their tads are soley dependent on mum's eggs
So so much gone bro so so much is going :(
Too many big words Gav I'll see myself out :LOL: :exit:
 
Stuart Philpott said:
Gav have you seen Sir David A's series life in cold blood? There's some fantastic footage there of Ranitmeya imitator egg feeding if I recollect...........R summersi has in imitator ( they call it R imitator intermedius ,they live sympatrically spelling Gav I'm not good with letters, ie together and look all but alike but don't interbreed ............ Imis imatators are non obligate egg feeders, IE their kids can eat other stuff..........whereas the oophaga are obligate egg feeders ie their tads are soley dependent on mum's eggs
So so much gone bro so so much is going :(
Too many big words Gav I'll see myself out :LOL: :exit:
Click to expand...
Hi Stu, we've watched all of Sir David A's doc's, Life in cold blood was special! :)
I know what you mean about big words :LOL:
Take it easy and hope all goes well (y)
 
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