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I have 1.2 auratus, and they have been attempting to breed for a while now, recently finding success. (First tadpole hatched today and there's at least 20 more embryos developing.) So this isn't new for the male.
But today I saw something I'd never seen before. All three frogs were in the cocohut for quite a while -- the females are sort of working through their competitive issues -- and the male was the first one out. I couldn't tell whether it happened immediately, but once the females were out and I could compare (about an hour later), it was clear something had happened to him. They are turquoise & bronze, all from the same clutch, but the male had actually turned a lighter shade of green, just like the green & blacks. The light can change their color, but he was right next to a female and they were quite visibly different colors.
In addition, he seemed a little bloated or swollen, which might have been the primary problem with the color change a result of that. Other than those two things, everything -- behavior, movement -- was completely normal. All three frogs were socializing as usual and he snapped up flies with delight. After that I didn't see him for a while, which is usual for him that time of day. When he re-emerged (which isn't all that common), he was completely back to normal: right color, right size, visible muscle definition. He spent the rest of the day doing his usual acrobatics around the viv and even calling some more. If anything he was more energetic than usual towards the end of the day.
I cannot find anything describing this. Has anyone else seen something like it? It is possible that that was the longest time he's spent in that hut with the two females, so was it possibly stress? Do male frogs bloat under reproductive stress? Because while I realize that isn't funny, to this female human it's kind of funny.
But today I saw something I'd never seen before. All three frogs were in the cocohut for quite a while -- the females are sort of working through their competitive issues -- and the male was the first one out. I couldn't tell whether it happened immediately, but once the females were out and I could compare (about an hour later), it was clear something had happened to him. They are turquoise & bronze, all from the same clutch, but the male had actually turned a lighter shade of green, just like the green & blacks. The light can change their color, but he was right next to a female and they were quite visibly different colors.
In addition, he seemed a little bloated or swollen, which might have been the primary problem with the color change a result of that. Other than those two things, everything -- behavior, movement -- was completely normal. All three frogs were socializing as usual and he snapped up flies with delight. After that I didn't see him for a while, which is usual for him that time of day. When he re-emerged (which isn't all that common), he was completely back to normal: right color, right size, visible muscle definition. He spent the rest of the day doing his usual acrobatics around the viv and even calling some more. If anything he was more energetic than usual towards the end of the day.
I cannot find anything describing this. Has anyone else seen something like it? It is possible that that was the longest time he's spent in that hut with the two females, so was it possibly stress? Do male frogs bloat under reproductive stress? Because while I realize that isn't funny, to this female human it's kind of funny.
