honking leaf frogs!

[Carlton]

After missing my Malaysian leaf frogs for 5 years I finally bought a pair of males. They are in transit to Juneau now. The local pet shop will receive them for me and take them to the air taxi that serves my little boony town. Can't wait to meet them and start chatting via honks once again. So, scrambling to set up all the feeder bins and the "big" display terrarium before they arrive. Here's a pic of a couple of my previous frogs...

 

[lovelychams]

They are so cute! Can you hold them? What do they eat?

 

[Carlton]

They are so cute! Can you hold them? What do they eat?

Well, like any frog they are shy, secretive, and don't really like to be held. You need to be careful...wash your hands free of salt, soap, lotions, etc before picking them up. They are insectivores and would eat most of what our chams will.

 

[little leaf]

Cute !!!!!! :d

 

[repdog]

I just saw them posted for sale. Showed my husband and he said they look neat but no more reptiles.

 

[laurie]

Carlton they look very unique. I like that, not the same as the rest. I will enjoy watching them grow. Do they get very big?

 

[Blink]

These guys are so cool!

I just saw them posted for sale. Showed my husband and he said they look neat but no more reptiles.

Well... they aren't technically REPTILES...

 

[Carlton]

Carlton they look very unique. I like that, not the same as the rest. I will enjoy watching them grow. Do they get very big?

Yes, they are quite unique. Their leaf mimicry is pretty amazing. When something touches their head they do this sort of bow and curl the horns over their eyes. They are terrestrial...not good swimmers at all. The pics are of full adults. Males are about 3-4", females get larger, up to about 5-6" STL. I think the new ones are adults or close to it. Tracking showed the package is now in Seattle.

 

[Carlton]

I just saw them posted for sale. Showed my husband and he said they look neat but no more reptiles.

Where did you see them? I saw the ad from e2exotics in MS. So far they have been great and their frogs look quite good. M. nasuta are not very commonly available these days but it's probably seasonal. The males are easy to collect during breeding season as they gather at streams and call all night. Females are very difficult to find as they don't call and probably stay farther from the rivers until ready to spawn. They can and do eat males. Most sellers try to offer "pairs" but don't really know what they have unless there's a huge one in the group. If they say they are sexed, be cautious...if there isn't a size difference you really can't tell. Many of the new imports now arrive infected with chytrid fungus so you need to know the symptoms and be prepared to treat them. Its super contagious.

 

[zlew]

How is their care in terms of difficulty when compared to chams? Or are they not really comparable?

 

[Carlton]

How is their care in terms of difficulty when compared to chams? Or are they not really comparable?

I think they are easier unless you have to deal with water quality or treatment issues. They don't need UV light exposure so nutrition is a little simpler. They are terrestrial so don't need as much of a temp gradient. They would prefer a much more stable humidity level so you can use simpler enclosures. They are not as active as a cham so don't need as much space. They are not as aggressively territorial so can share the correct size of living space. But, they are more complex as far as chemical, water quality, and osmotic sensitivity, can have more skin problems, and are much more difficult to treat medically.

 

[zlew]

Do people take their amphibians to the vet? How would an examination like that go? I'm imagining spray bottles all around because of their skin.

 

[Carlton]

Do people take their amphibians to the vet? How would an examination like that go? I'm imagining spray bottles all around because of their skin.

I've only taken one of mine to a vet to get a specific med it needs or to get a culture of something. I usually suggest what's needed to the vet, not vice versa. If you use wet nitrile exam gloves you can handle them without harm. Even clean wet bare hands if you need to keep a grip on one.

BTW, the frogs have arrived and are honking! They seemed to handle their trip just fine, but they were obviously healthy and well cared for to begin with. Now they are getting tested for chytrid fungal infections and ranavirus before going in to their large permanent terrarium. Thank goodness Josh's Frogs now offers testing kits for both pathogens! Very easy to do and the cost for the tests have dropped a lot. Everyone who buys amphibians these days should do this to protect their pets as well as all the native amphibians downstream of septic systems, drainfields, etc.

 

[leedragon]

the first picture should be put on a black metal album cover, nice frogs mann

 

[Carlton]

the first picture should be put on a black metal album cover, nice frogs mann

Funny, face pictures of these guys look so fierce but the frogs themselves are quite shy and gentle...unless you are food.

 

[leedragon]

Funny, face pictures of these guys look so fierce but the frogs themselves are quite shy and gentle...unless you are food.

haha I can imagen

 

[Carlton]

Good news! I just got lab results back on these frogs. Checked for chytrid fungus and ranavirus using the handy little testing kit from Josh's Frogs. Anyone buying, capturing, or selling amphibians should consider doing this on recent arrivals. Especially if you don't sterilize terrarium waste and water before dumping it down your drain. The last thing the planet needs is spreading either of these diseases any further.

 

[spawn]

What were the results? Did they have chytrid?

 

[Carlton]

What were the results? Did they have chytrid?

Ooops, I forgot that little fact. Too excited I guess. Both frogs tested negative for chytrid and ranavirus. Very good news! I've treated frogs for chytrid before and hoped it wouldn't be necessary again.