daedae
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- Mar 21, 2012
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- Location
- Lafayette, Louisiana
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- United States
I went to New Orleans a few weeks ago to give my sister a tour of the city while she visited from Arizona, I live about an hour and a half from the Big Easy. After perusing the French Quarter, and taking her to a nice lunch, we took a short walk down the Mississippi and to the Audubon Aquarium.
While everyone stood googly eyed at stingrays and seahorses, I was making my way to the herps! The sizes and condition of their amphibian displays were pitiful. Nearly all of their displays contained mixed species and many of the species were in set ups unsuited to them. One of the larger displays contained a few Firebelly Toads, some large burrowing Toad I couldn't recognize, and squeezed up near the top of the glass were little Milk Frogs,Trachycephalus resinifictrix . All of this in one tank. There were clay hydroton balls as substrate with moss thrown on top, the poor toad was trying to burrow into the balls
I mean, you'd never put a buffalo in a jungle exhibit with a whale as his mate? They also had a large bullfrog chilling in some water, he was kind of properly cared for at least.
In the dendrobates display they had mixed D. azureus with D. leucomelas and a few auratus too. Every dart frog display I've seen in zoos always mix them Granted, I've only seen about 4 or 5 in person, I don't have a lot of experience to pool from, but that seems ridiculous for people who should know what they're doing.
They had no caudates from what I saw, though they did have window through to some kind of behind the scene keeper station that had a few marked and unmarked tanks, a pair of red eyes in a 20 long, and i think a pair of Phyllobates terribilis.
I did like that they had a fact board up explaining chytrid, and the importance of amphibians as bio-indicators. Their Mississippi River and Amazon Basin walk through habitats are pretty neat, and well kept(except for one sickly looking arapaima.) Seeing male seahorses giving birth was pretty neat too, and I wish I had time for the insectarium. I just wish I could write the amphib keepers long notes, or at least give them links to easily found information regarding the species they keep and proper housing and husbandry, but alas!
While everyone stood googly eyed at stingrays and seahorses, I was making my way to the herps! The sizes and condition of their amphibian displays were pitiful. Nearly all of their displays contained mixed species and many of the species were in set ups unsuited to them. One of the larger displays contained a few Firebelly Toads, some large burrowing Toad I couldn't recognize, and squeezed up near the top of the glass were little Milk Frogs,Trachycephalus resinifictrix . All of this in one tank. There were clay hydroton balls as substrate with moss thrown on top, the poor toad was trying to burrow into the balls
I mean, you'd never put a buffalo in a jungle exhibit with a whale as his mate? They also had a large bullfrog chilling in some water, he was kind of properly cared for at least.In the dendrobates display they had mixed D. azureus with D. leucomelas and a few auratus too. Every dart frog display I've seen in zoos always mix them
Granted, I've only seen about 4 or 5 in person, I don't have a lot of experience to pool from, but that seems ridiculous for people who should know what they're doing. They had no caudates from what I saw, though they did have window through to some kind of behind the scene keeper station that had a few marked and unmarked tanks, a pair of red eyes in a 20 long, and i think a pair of Phyllobates terribilis.
I did like that they had a fact board up explaining chytrid, and the importance of amphibians as bio-indicators. Their Mississippi River and Amazon Basin walk through habitats are pretty neat, and well kept(except for one sickly looking arapaima.) Seeing male seahorses giving birth was pretty neat too, and I wish I had time for the insectarium. I just wish I could write the amphib keepers long notes, or at least give them links to easily found information regarding the species they keep and proper housing and husbandry, but alas!