[kyle1745]

Dendrobates leucomelas:

• Difficulty: Novice
  [/*:m:gghjh61t]
• Location & History – Venezuela, northern Brazil, Both Guyana's and the south east of Colombia (1)
  [/*:m:gghjh61t]
• Descriptions & Behavior: A Mid-sized, bold, and social frog. Males have a loud bird like call. There are currently three morphs available in the hobby:
  
  Note: These morphs represent unique subpopulations in the wild that share general physical characterisitics, and for that reason different morphs should not be mixed.
  
  Standard - this includes the "orange", "yellow", and "green foot" which are just bloodlines and variation within the morph, and in some cases line breeding has occurred to make these traits more predictable. Also part of this morph is the "Chocolate" selectively bred genetic form (aka "Albino", "Vanishing Jewels"). Originally from Venezuela.
  
  Fine Spotted - a slightly smaller (if i remember correctly) morph than the Standard, with the bandeds of orange broken up by a lot of fine spots, giving an over all netted pattern on the back. Uncommon in the hobby, and may be more difficult to breed than the standard morph.
  
  Banded - from British Guyana - These are recent introductions, with the first and only importation from the wild occuring in 2005. Size is significantly larger than standard, color ranging from yellow to orange like standard, and animals have more solid bands of color, rarely broken by spotting like standards (they look like juvenile standards pattern wise). They have proven much harder to breed, with only a few groups of froglets to date. Much more challenging than standards as their breeding triggers are still unknown.
  [/*:m:gghjh61t]
• General Care:
  Temperature range of 70-80º F during the day.
  
  Leucs do well when kept in groups as long as enough room is allowed.
  
  Horizontal or vertical enclosures both work well, as they do like to climb and the males often call from the top of the tank. 20H and 29H are good tanks to use for a small group of frogs.
  [/*:m:gghjh61t]
• Breeding & tadpole Care:
  Males will begin calling as early as 5-6 months of age, but females generally take longer to attain sexual maturity. Call can be louder than others and maybe too loud for some areas of your home.
  
  Petri dishes under coco huts and large leaves are often utilized as laying sites.
  
  Clutches range in size from 5-10 eggs.
  
  Tadpoles may exhibit cannibalism and should be housed individually. (2) Tadpoles can be fed fish flakes, detritus (decaying leaves and dead FFs), and algae based foods.
  [/*:m:gghjh61t]
• Pictures:
  Standard:
  
  
  Banded:
  
  
  Banded:
  
  
  Fine spot:
  
  [/*:m:gghjh61t]

References:
(1) http://www.poison-frogs.com/
(2) http://www.natures-web.org - Tor Linbo

Contributers:
Corey Wickliffe (kerokero)
Kyle Kopp (kyle1745)
Oz (rozdaboff)
Picture of Fine spotted Leuc courtesy of Tom Popovich (TPopovich)


If you would like to see any updates or modifications to this care sheet please let myself or a moderator know.

Last updated 12/29/2006

 

[rozdaboff]

Behavior: "Mid-sized" ??? bold, social frog

 

[KeroKero]

Morphs:
- Standard - this includes the "orange", "yellow", and "green foot" are just bloodlines and variation within the morph. Originally from Ven.
- Fine Spotted - a slightly smaller (if i remember correctly) morph than the Standard, with the bandeds of orange broken up by a lot of fine spots, giving an over all netted pattern on the back. Uncommon in the hobby... I think these might be harder to breed than the standards
- Banded - from British Guyana - These are recent introductions, with the first and only importation from the wild occuring in 2005. Size is significantly larger than standard, color ranging from yellow to orange like standard, and animals have more solid bands of color, rarely broken by spotting like standards (they look like juvenile standards pattern wise). They have proven much harder to breed, with only a few tadpoles to date. Much more challenging than standards as their breeding triggers are still unknown.

 

[kyle1745]

Updated wit the morph info...

 

[KeroKero]

Here are pics of the bandeds/BG, the first two are the best, the 3rd is crappy but shows probibly the max amount of "spotting" seen in the morph, and a more orange example.

 

[kyle1745]

Pictures updated and just used the first 2.

 

[npaull]

Breeding locations and habits: Leucomelas are sometimes a fickle, seasonal breeder. Success for some comes after a period of cooling/drying, followed by an increase in temperatures and heavy misting.

*I think this is worth adding, as I believe this cycling is more pronounced/important with leucs than with most other darts in the same group...

 

[KeroKero]

I also think this might be important to add, as it may be a key to the two rarer morphs.

Here is my favorite standard leuc pic (watermark will be added soon):

 

[kyle1745]

This one is also about done any other ideas?

 

[rozdaboff]

Updated format and filled in missing sections.

Dendrobates leucomelas:

• Difficulty: Novice
  [/*:m:2hjkfcjp]
• Location & History – Venezuela, northern Brazil, Both Guyana's and the south east of Colombia (1)
  [/*:m:2hjkfcjp]
• Descriptions & Behavior: A Mid-sized, bold, and social frog. Males have a loud bird like call. There are currently three morphs available in the hobby:
  
  Note: These morphs represent unique subpopulations in the wild that share general physical characterisitics, and for that reason different morphs should not be mixed.
  
  Standard - this includes the "orange", "yellow", and "green foot" are just bloodlines and variation within the morph. Originally from Venezuala.
  
  Fine Spotted - a slightly smaller (if i remember correctly) morph than the Standard, with the bandeds of orange broken up by a lot of fine spots, giving an over all netted pattern on the back. Uncommon in the hobby, and may be more difficult to breed than the standard morph.
  
  Banded - from British Guyana - These are recent introductions, with the first and only importation from the wild occuring in 2005. Size is significantly larger than standard, color ranging from yellow to orange like standard, and animals have more solid bands of color, rarely broken by spotting like standards (they look like juvenile standards pattern wise). They have proven much harder to breed, with only a few tadpoles to date. Much more challenging than standards as their breeding triggers are still unknown.
  [/*:m:2hjkfcjp]
• General Care:
  Temperature range of 70-80º F during the day.
  
  Leucs do well when kept in groups as long as enough room is allowed.
  
  Horizontal or vertical enclosures both work well, as they do like to climb and the males often call from the top of the tank. 20H and 29H are good tanks to use for a small group of frogs.
  [/*:m:2hjkfcjp]
• Breeding & tadpole Care:
  Males will begin calling as early as 5-6 months of age, but females generally take longer to attain sexual maturity. Call can be louder than others and maybe too loud for some areas of your home.
  
  Petri dishes under coco huts and large leaves are often utilized as laying sites.
  
  Clutches range in size from 5-10 eggs.
  
  Tadpoles may exhibit cannibalism and should be housed individually. (2) Tadpoles can be fed fish flakes, detritus (decaying leaves and dead FFs), and algae based foods.
  [/*:m:2hjkfcjp]
• Pictures:
  Standard:
  
  
  Banded:
  
  
  Banded:
  
  
  Fine spot:
  
  [/*:m:2hjkfcjp]

References:
(1) http://www.poison-frogs.com/
(2) http://www.natures-web.org - Tor Linbo

Contributers:
Corey Wickliffe (kerokero)
Kyle Kopp (kyle1745)
Oz (rozdaboff)
Picture of Fine spotted Leuc courtesy of Tom Popovich (TPopovich)


If you would like to see any updates or modifications to this care sheet please let myself or a moderator know.

 

[rozdaboff]

We should see if we can find a pic of a fine spotted - I think TPopovich just posted one in the Member's frogs and vivs section

 

[rozdaboff]

Bump - any changes for this one? I think it should be about ready to go.

 

[kyle1745]

I agree it would be nice to get a fine spotted pic.

 

[rozdaboff]

I PM'd TPopovich to see if he had a close up pic, and if he wouldn't mind us using it.

 

[kyle1745]

Corrected picture size and made a couple formating changes. I agree this is about ready to go.

 

[kyle1745]

Minor update to explain the loudness of the call. Im going to go ahead and post this one and we can always make changes.

 

[rozdaboff]

Added a pic of a fine spotted Leuc that TPopovich sent me. It is a little blurry - but at 300X300 it isn't too bad.

If you guys like it, then we can update it to the live version.

 

[kyle1745]

Ya not the best pic but it will work.

 

[kyle1745]

Done updated and added the Note about mixing morphs... what are your thoughts on that and its wording?

 

[rozdaboff]

I think it is a very important disclaimer that we should add to all sheets that we mention morphs in.

As for the wording - maybe we should include the definition of morph as it is (will be) in the glossary - followed by the do not mix statement:

NB: These morphs represent unique subpopulations in the wild that share general physical characterisitics, and for that reason different morphs should not be mixed.