[aapuzzo]

I have a trio with one confirmed male I have seen call but is a loaner. The other 2 appear to be participating in breeding behavior with one back scratching the other and nicely following each other around. I have received received one clutch of 5 eggs with many empty jellies and a second clutch of 7 eggs with some empty jellies 5 days apart. Today 2 days later than the last clutch of 7 eggs I see an empty egg jelly in the clean petri dish.

I thought Auratus go 2 weeks between clutches so can it be 5 days? Based one the one loaner frog calling and the behavior of the other I would think I have a total of 2 males and 1 female. I seem to be getting too many clutches for this scenario. My eggs so far have not been viable (molding) except for a single clutch I had a month ago with 1 egg I decided not to keep because I figured more larger clutches would soon follow.

Can I have 2 males with such a short time between clutches? Do they ever attempt to breed with the same sex?

 

[Encyclia]

That seems like pretty tight timing, but I might not draw any conclusions until you get a longer record. Breeding can be strange for dart frogs, especially at first. Things seem to settle out into a rhythm over time. If you continue to get less than one week between clutches, you might have more than one female. Been a while since I have had Highlands, though, and I have no Auratus now, so my memory or info might be faulty.

Mark

 

[macg]

2 weeks is about right for 1 male 1 female for me. I had 1 male with 2 females once and they could produce a clutch every 7 days (I do not recommend this).

 

[aapuzzo]

That seems like pretty tight timing, but I might not draw any conclusions until you get a longer record. Breeding can be strange for dart frogs, especially at first. Things seem to settle out into a rhythm over time. If you continue to get less than one week between clutches, you might have more than one female. Been a while since I have had Highlands, though, and I have no Auratus now, so my memory or info might be faulty.

Mark

Thanks that is what I thought. Mine aren't highlands just standard Panama Green and Bronze but I can't see highlands being very different. I'll move the coco hunt so I can peak in without lifting it. All my eggs lately have been duds except the very first single egg. Do they ever show breeding behavior with the same gender?

 

[Encyclia]

Sorry, must have been confusing your post with a different one mentioning Highlands. Yeah, should be pretty similar. Good call on the coco hut. Very occasionally I have seen a female lay without a male, but it's very rare for me. I think you have males and females. Takes a while for them to get things figured out sometimes, though, especially when they are young/inexperienced. Make sure you have your supplementation down, too. Bad eggs can come from poor supplementation, as well.

Mark

 

[aapuzzo]

Sorry, must have been confusing your post with a different one mentioning Highlands. Yeah, should be pretty similar. Good call on the coco hut. Very occasionally I have seen a female lay without a male, but it's very rare for me. I think you have males and females. Takes a while for them to get things figured out sometimes, though, especially when they are young/inexperienced. Make sure you have your supplementation down, too. Bad eggs can come from poor supplementation, as well.

Mark

I definitely have a male and a female because I hear calling and the first egg they ever produced was viable I just didn't keep it because I didn't want to raise just one in a certain stage because I thought many were soon to follow. Regretting that choice now. I was just wondering if I have 2 female trying to breed together due to the time between clutches and the guaranteed male not participating in the mating behavior.

 

[Encyclia]

It's a logical conclusion, but I think unlikely, especially in the presence of a male. I think what you are seeing is a new group figuring things out. Just give them time and again, make sure your supplementation is correct. Clutches can be infertile due to vitamin deficiencies, too. Just be patient. It will all work out eventually.

Mark

 

[aapuzzo]

I dust every time with Repashy Calcium Plus and Culture with Repashy Superfly. Anything else I should be using? My Santa Isabels produce viable clutches non stop.

 

[Encyclia]

Some folks add in Repashy Vitamin A Plus every couple of weeks for breeding frogs and some use Superpig, too, but Calcium Plus should be enough for the time being. Just make sure you refrigerate your supplements and discard after 6 months. Other than that, I think it's just a waiting game. You already have a male and a female (at least) and they seem interested in breeding. You should be fine after they figure things out.

Mark

 

[aapuzzo]

Some folks add in Repashy Vitamin A Plus every couple of weeks for breeding frogs and some use Superpig, too, but Calcium Plus should be enough for the time being. Just make sure you refrigerate your supplements and discard after 6 months. Other than that, I think it's just a waiting game. You already have a male and a female (at least) and they seem interested in breeding. You should be fine after they figure things out.

Mark

So one egg in the last clutch actually started developing and today another clutch was just laid. This time I saw the mating behavior/back scratching taking place and watched the 90% female doing the scratching follow the smaller frog that never calls into the coconut hut. I never saw the smaller frog that lead the way hop up on her back like I do with my Santa Isabels but I have a clutch of eggs now. All this time the big male frog that calls was calling off in the distance looking annoyed. All she did was scratch the small frogs back while they walked in a circle for an hour. She is in the hut laying eggs now by herself. If I have another clutch of eggs in a few days I'm going to be extremely confused.

 

[bssknox]

Seems to me like you have a 2.1 with a very prolific female. Might be best to give her a break.

 

[aapuzzo]

Seems to me like you have a 2.1 with a very prolific female. Might be best to give her a break.

I may try removing the smaller most likely a male frog if this last clutch doesn't produce because it appears he isn't getting with the program to see if she will try the bigger male that actually calls. This female only started laying a month ago for the first time and I understand they can take a little while to learn. Either I have 2 females or a male not doing his job. If he isn't hoping on her back I would think the issue isn't a supplement problem.
I'm going to try and get an updated picture of all 3 frogs.

 

[aapuzzo]

Much easier to upload photos now.

This is the loaner male that calls but isn't involved in the mating behavior. He has the biggest arch to his back out of any of the frogs. Not sure with Auratus but with tincs I thought females have the bigger arch.

This is the mystery frog and one I have been calling the possible smaller/shorter male that doesn't call and in on the receiving end of the back scratching and leads the way to the coco hut. This frog is visibly much smaller than the other 2 in width and length. This was the one I always thought would be the male while the one I originally thought was a female during the start of this thread ended up being the one that called. This is the only frog that doesn't have much of a back arch and has an obviously different shape. Due to the time period between clutches 5 days with infertile eggs I am questioning if this frog is a female too.

This is the one I am almost positive is a female this frog was doing the back scratching and this picture was taken right after the mystery frog left the hut after not hopping on her back. Eggs were just laid while she scratched the mystery frogs back walking in a circle. This frog until a few weeks ago had the same Identical body shape as the loaner male with the same back structure. The weird thing is I would expect this frog to look deflated after laying a decent clutch. My Santa Isabels almost look like males after laying a clutch. I almost swear the mystery frog actually looked smaller.

With my Santa Isabels the male always sits by the eggs. Not sure if this behavior is displayed in Auratus which surprised me the mystery frog left and the most likely female was still there.

Hope these photos help sort things out. I would love to get to the bottom of this as they are really nice looking frogs that I believe look healthy. If this continues I will buy a small macro camera online that can fit in a coco hut and see if I can record the behavior. I searched online and couldn't find a single video of a dart frog actively laying eggs.

 

[aapuzzo]

Update. At this point it has been about every 2 weeks I get a new batch of eggs and I finally have some that all 8 are developing!!

 

[aapuzzo]

I am going to post an update today as I thought I had it figured out. I have consistently been getting fertile eggs every 2 weeks since the first few clutches that were only 1 week. It's been this way for the last 2+ months. Well today I just saw something that blew my mind.

It's only been 1 week and I went to go place a Petri dish under the coco hut. I figured why place one in there all the time when I have 2 males and 1 female since I confirmed the frogs in photo 2 and 3 above produce fertile eggs. I have watched them go into the hut together stay in there a few hours and I removed the petri dish to get good eggs. As stated previously the frog in photo 1 is the noisy one that I never saw participate in a breeding behavior besides calling. This is the frog that always calls and I can see the area under his chin fill up like a balloon when this happens so I am not mistaking who is doing the calling.

Well today I went to place a clean petri dish in since it's only been 1 week. When I removed the coco hunt to my amazement I saw the frog in photo 2 on top of the frog in photo 1 that's always calls in the mating position with a clutch of eggs on top of a dirty leaf.

WTH???

Is it possible the Female in photo 3 laid the eggs and the calling frog in photo 1 went in there after the act causing the frog in photo 2 to jump on his back in defense and stay like that for a while? The frog 2 was clearly gripped onto frog 1s back. Frog 3 which I am 100% sure is a female was on the other side of the vivarium.

Based on the way the frogs look I always thought frog 1 was a female due to the shape and size and it is very similar to frog 3. Frog 2 is actually the one that is about 30% smaller.