Malaysian leaf frog success!

Carlton

Chameleon Enthusiast
I have been keeping and attempting to breed Malaysian leaf frogs for years. The number of successful captive breeding attempts is less than 5 worldwide. Well, after caring for a 4.3 group for about 4 years, lots of speculation about how to trigger spawning and eggs, in cooperation with a frog breeder in OR and the Virginia Aquarium I sent my group from AK to VA just this week. The curator just informed me that one pair was in amplexus for 24 hours after arrival and they now have 200+ beautiful eggs!!

We won't know for a while if they are viable, but this is still a huge step forward cracking the code to establishing this frog in captivity. I am so THRILLED and hopeful! Also a bit sad and jealous that my beloved frogs needed this long risky trip across the US to be successful. The most important thing is that they spawned safely and could become the founders in US zoos.
 
Congrats- those are really cool frogs!

So, what was the secret to success?

Well, another frog breeder and I have been speculating about needing a significant drop in barometric pressure to trigger spawning, but haven't been able to reproduce just the right level in captive setups. A trans-continental jet trip can trigger breeding condition in other species but we hadn't totally verified it in nasuta. This may have done it. But there's a long way to go... the eggs could still be infertile or not develop fully if the adults were not maintained perfectly too. The tads are very fussy...I only know of two clutches successfully raised to this point worldwide. And, chytrid fungal infections could still kill the mature tads as they morph. My frogs have all been treated for chytrid but it can still be present.

Talk about counting your frogs before they hatch! I know it's too early to tell, but I just couldn't help sharing the good news!
 
WOW! Fantastic news! Grats for the result, hope you gonna get further sucess to estabilish the captive colony! Keep us posted how the project going on!
All the best luck!!!!
 
leaf frog update

WOOHOO!!!! congratz man...i hope for the best...awsome lookin frogs:cool:

I wanted give you an update on the leaf frog egg development. Most of the eggs were fertile and began to develop. As of 12/21 some of the tadpoles are free swimming! They stay tads for a long time and a lot could still go wrong, but this is still very good news for them. I know they are not "my" frogs now, but I am still in close contact with the aquarium staff.
 
leaf frog tadpole update

I got an email from the aquarium curator this week...they have 426 free swimming Megophrys tadpoles! They are growing, active, with few losses so far. I know they have months to go before they start trying to morph and that's when most of the mortality can/will happen (that's when any hidden nutrional or metabolic problems really surface). Chytrid fungus can be latent with the tads but hit the froglets really fast. Still, the chance that my females may have provided the founder population for US institutions would be a huge joy.
 
That is just such wonderful news!! Will you be able to get any of the frogs back when they grow up? I am always thrilled by people who care enough to spend all that time to help save any species that is threatened. What a excellent person you are.
 
That is just such wonderful news!! Will you be able to get any of the frogs back when they grow up? I am always thrilled by people who care enough to spend all that time to help save any species that is threatened. What a excellent person you are.

Blush:eek: Thanks!

All I really did was acclimate the wc frogs, keep them healthy for years (tried breeding with no luck), stay in communication with a few other leaf frog lovers, try to think outside the box, so when this opportunity came up they were ready to spawn in just the right conditions. All I hope is that the aquarium carries through with the project, gets any surviving froglets into responsible hands, so we can end wild collection. If I manage to do nothing else notable in my life, providing the basic founder population of this frog in the USA would be enough. Funny, this was the first and only frog species I've kept. Something about them just clicked with me and I found myself devoted to them.

Technically I have rights to one "viable offspring" for each frog donated. Whether this means a tadpole or a morphed frog isn't clear but I'm sure we would figure that out in future. Shipping my frogs to them was stressful enough! Getting any delicate juveniles back again might be worse.
 
I got an email from the aquarium curator this week...they have 426 free swimming Megophrys tadpoles! They are growing, active, with few losses so far. I know they have months to go before they start trying to morph and that's when most of the mortality can/will happen (that's when any hidden nutrional or metabolic problems really surface). Chytrid fungus can be latent with the tads but hit the froglets really fast. Still, the chance that my females may have provided the founder population for US institutions would be a huge joy.

Very neat!!!! Lets hope for large success!!
 
Back
Top Bottom