[Guest]

Hi,

I've been lurking here for several months and decided to make my first post. I have a pair of man creek (aka almirante) pumilio that I bought from the first shipment. They have been kept in a 10 gallon vertical which is heavy planted with creeping fig, 3 medium size neoregelia and pilea aluminum. The vivarium is also riddled with a dozen film canisters/medicine bottles of various volumes and colors (most are white or black). When I first acquired these frogs the male 'chirped' a few times when introduced to the female and the female would 'wiggle' and dance a bit when the male was very close. She followed him around for a week or so. The male has not called since (that I've heard). Both of these frogs are very shy and are quick to hide when I approach them. They are being kept in a spare bedroom which is only visited by myself 3 - 4 times daily for feeding and misting. The temperature range of this vivarium is in the low to mid 70's during the day and 68-70 at night. The humidity is around 100% as there is no ventilation besides being opened a few times a day.
I had kept bastimentos pumilio some years ago and had great luck with them being in my living room (in the middle of all commotion). The male was very noisy and would practically call from around 6 in the morning to late in the evening daily. A handful of offspring were produced by them. As far as techniques and protocals, Im pretty much doing the same thing I did with them, with my man creek pumilio with the exception of them being in a more secluded part of the house. Does anyone have any suggestions on getting the male to bolden up and start claiming his territory? The female is even more shy then he which I suspect is due to him not strutting his stuff and defending his home. Any advice is appreciated!

-AB

p.s I have even considered placing another male pumilio (bruno) in with them for a few hours in hopes of sparking some territorism in the man creek. All of them have been in my care since the first shipment (months ago). Bad or good idea?

 

[bbrock]

p.s I have even considered placing another male pumilio (bruno) in with them for a few hours in hopes of sparking some territorism in the man creek. All of them have been in my care since the first shipment (months ago). Bad or good idea?

I tried exactly this to juice up some cb blue jeans that haven't called much. It hasn't worked. I also tried throwing in a fresh female but still no go. I think the temps are actually a little too warm in my case.

Playing with blue jeans I've found the following things that seem to influence the males:

Temperature - try getting yours into the upper 70's during the day and see if that helps.

Rain - Try increasing or decreasing the misting. Sometimes if you really let it rain a lot it gets them jazzed up. That's not easy without an automated system. But also, sometimes letting them dry out seems to bring them into the sunshine.

Light - I'm a believer in UV light, especially with pumilio. Even UVA I think influences their "mood".

Another thing you could try is pull the femal out for a few weeks and reintroduce her. But I think male pumilios should be calling everyday regardless if the conditions are right.

My guess is the shyness is just because they are in a spare room which is good. I've found that frogs out where the people action is tend to habituate and appear to be more bold while those kept in quiet places react to our intrusions.

Good luck!

 

[snmreptiles]

I have also heard, and please tell me if this is wrong, that pumilio don't like 100% humidity. That their tanks should dry out about an hour after being sprayed?! Is there any truth to that. We acquired a pair of the almirante and put them into a tank that had the vent covered up, but after hearing that we uncovered it. The male calls away and they seem to be doing fine, but if they should have more humidity I would like to know. Thanks for any input.

-Shelley

 

[bbrock]

I have also heard, and please tell me if this is wrong, that pumilio don't like 100% humidity. That their tanks should dry out about an hour after being sprayed?! Is there any truth to that.

I think it's both true and false. Pumilio as a species have a pretty large range through Central America and the climate of tropics is not uniformly hot and wet. Blue jeans, for example, tend to come from some pretty wet areas and I was tipped off by a few top froggers who have traveled the tropics that frogs from wetter areas may not have the egg tending skills of frogs from dryer areas. So I started keeping my blue jeans very wet and sure enough, it paid off. For other populations from areas that dry a bit more the males may just say "crap, it's raining again. No point i courting."

I think researching the habitat our frogs come from to the best of our ability and experimenting with conditions until we have things dialed in is the best we can do.

That said, it's my understanding that bastis like it a little dryer and more open (I've never worked with them myself). I think most people producing blue jeans agree they need it a bit wetter and do fine in heavily planted vivs. I don't know about these new imports.

 

[Randy]

The vivariums that I house my pumilio in don't allow much ventilation. The humidity hovers around 90% most of the time, but I usually let them "dry out" a little by not misting for 2 or more days. When I haven't seen much breeding activity, I usually go "more dry" rather than "more wet." I do this by not misting for 2-3 weeks, but in order to not disturb any parents that may be taking care of tads, I still fill the brom axils and breeding cups every few days. This way, the only thing that really changes is the humidity levels. This method has worked very well for me, although I think just about any climactic change (wet OR dry) can stimulate pumilio, especially calling males.

 

[booboo]

I have heard there are some concoctions you can use to feed pumilio tads with but its not as succesful as real infertile eggs have you pumilio owners herd of it or tryed it?If so how do you feed them?

 

[Guest]

I have 2 pair of Shepards Island green pumilios and keep both pairs in 20high verts with swing down doors and the vivs have screens on the top that Ben Green made for me.
My mister is set to run 4x's a day with 2 minutes in at 9 am, 1 minute at 11am, 1 minute at 3 pm and 2 more minutes at 7 pm.They seem very happy with how it is setup and call quite a bit.
I plan on putting one pair in a very large viv this summer so I can see how they react to more space and leaf litter.For the most part, they like spending most of their time on the leaf litter and seem to be a more terrestrial compared to other pumilios for what other have told me.
For the most part the males seem to stay up in the bromeliads more compared to the females.
Mark W.

 

[snmreptiles]

I have 2 pair of Shepards Island green pumilios and keep both pairs in 20high verts with swing down doors and the vivs have screens on the top that Ben Green made for me.
My mister is set to run 4x's a day with 2 minutes in at 9 am, 1 minute at 11am, 1 minute at 3 pm and 2 more minutes at 7 pm.They seem very happy with how it is setup and call quite a bit.
I plan on putting one pair in a very large viv this summer so I can see how they react to more space and leaf litter.For the most part, they like spending most of their time on the leaf litter and seem to be a more terrestrial compared to other pumilios for what other have told me.
For the most part the males seem to stay up in the bromeliads more compared to the females.
Mark W.

Cool, that is the same way that my tank is set up. Well, minus the mister. I only wish that we had misters for all of our tanks, someday. I try to mist ours three times a day, and boy do they love it. The male does anyway. He will usually call like mad after they get sprayed.

-Shelley