[snake5891]

Mt ranitomeya variabilis layed a clutch of eggs in a deli cup at the bottom of their enclosure, the temps in my home are fairly cool so I figured I would leave them there for 7-10 days before transferring them to a larger deli cup to hatch out. Today I checked up on them to move them to another cup when I noticed that there were a couple of flies stuck to the outside of the jelly mass on the eggs. The flies were molding pretty good and now I am worried that they will cause the eggs themselves to mold. I planned on brewing some additional tadpole tea (boiling some almond leaves in spring water) for a bit to make some extra acidic tea in the hopes that this would stop the mold. Would the eggs be OK if I placed them in fresh tadpole tea? I wouldn't want them being shocked or anything. I'm also thinking about going to a fish shop and picking up some methylene blue to add as well as trying to pick out the dead flies with a razor blade (I am worried, however, of breaking the jelly barrier as I am sure it helps protect the eggs from mold and such).

These are my first eggs so I'd really hate to lose them, hopefully I'm overreacting.

 

[illinoisfrogs]

I would try to remove them.....the jelly is harder to break than you would think, however. Also, you don't put the eggs in tadpole tea......you put the tadpoles in it once they hatch from the eggs. (unless you are talking about just misting the eggs).....you don't want to submerge the eggs.

 

[snake5891]

I tried to remove them but it seems like they were attached pretty good. The fungus on the flies seems like it has fused to the outside of the jelly but not the eggs as they're still developing properly. I decided to just leave them and add a few more crushed almond leaf bits to their water in the hopes that it would make it slightly more acidic and less hospitable for the mold. I have also floated the egg container inside of a heated aquarium in the hopes that they'll develop faster, the viv they were in is cooling into the low 60's at night and goes up to 72 during the day, the tank is 72 all of the time. I realize this will cause the fungus to grow faster as well.

 

[JimO]

I've gotten a couple hundred eggs from my variabilis group over the past 18 months. It is rare that they will mold over once they start developing. If they look ok, I'd leave them until they are ready to hatch. I have done everything from pulling mine as soon as I find them to leaving them to develop almost to hatching in the viv. Both work, but I have found that the parents seem to prefer the same film canister, so they'll lay multiple clutches in the same one. This is hard on the developing eggs because when all five frogs pack into the canister for several hours and thrash around, the older eggs can take a beating and become submerged.

Here's an example of one of their "frog parties".

The eggs are more durable than it would seem, though, and even if this clutch doesn't hatch, once they start, you'll likely get regular clutches.

Good luck and post some photos of the tads.

 

[snake5891]

Thanks a lot. I figured it would be best to leave them alone and watch for dead flies in the future, being sure to take them out before they mold.