[*GREASER*]

Most pumilio loose a great deal of there color in captivity. So I imagine that the red Almirante will be turning more orange or washed out like what happens to the blue jeans. How long will this take and will paprika help this.

 

[rmelancon]

I actually have some WC Almirante that were quite orange when I got them. The red ones will probably tend to fade in time. I have a blue jean that is 3 or 4 years WC and it is still pretty red.

 

[bbrock]

Hmm, my experience is that it isn't that hard to keep color on WC blue jeans but getting the offspring to color up is a challenge. I got my 1.2 blue jeans as adult wc in 1999 and the male has always been orange (still is) but the females are brilliant red. I'm reluctant to mention this but I've used VERY low doses of canthoxanthin to keep the color on when I can't feed meadow plankton (which also does the trick).

As for coloring up babies, I'm still working on it but may be gaining. I'm starting to think that getting the pigment set during development may be pretty important because it seems to be harder to color up dull frogs than to keep them bright. However, I've also had froglets that get pretty good color and then fade. I've been reluctant to do much with canthaxanthin on froglets because of the potential problems with hypervitaminosis, especially in a very small frog. But lately I've been leaving the froglets in the breedig viv with the parents much longer than normal. I mixed about a fingernail full of canthoxanthin with a 4 oz. jar of vitamin powder and have been dusting with that powder once a week to feed the adults. Since the juvie is getting the same diet, it also gets these low dose flies. The latest froglet is about half grown and yesterday I saw it next to a female and was pleased to see a bright crimson color just like the adult. It's too early to say whether the color will stay but this is the best one I've produced yet.

I'm also hoping to set up some red spider mite cultures to see if they help with the coloring. I know from experience that using meadow plankton as a staple really helps maintain color but it would be nice to find a few culturable insects that could do the same thing.

 

[Guest]

I'm also hoping to set up some red spider mite cultures t

Are these the tiny red bugs I've only ever seen on concrete (during the summer months)? Bout the size of a pinhead?

How are you going to culture them?

-Tad

 

[*GREASER*]

Cultureing the spider mites is a great idea. I thought that they would make a great feeder for froglets and I imagine they would do the trick in bring out the reds in our frogs. I always just kind of clumped them into the springtail catagory but I know nothing about there enviormental needs.