Yay - Xenopus eggs!!

[SnakeDancer]

Last night around midnight I found my two larger Xenopus amplexed - the albino female, Tonga, and the larger gray male, Virunga. (The little male, Congo, was staying out of the way.) I was a bit surprised, since I think they're still a bit small and young, but I guess they know when they're ready! I also had moved them to a larger basin and added some floating hornwort a few days previously, so maybe that set the romantic scene.

Anyway, this morning, I have eggs. I've moved them to their own enclosure, so will have to wait and see if they're fertile now. Keeping fingers crossed!

 

[SnakeDancer]

And ... they've hatched! They started to hatch yesterday, in fact, and I think all that are going to hatch have done so by today. They look like tiny little white fluke-like things, mostly motionless, except for an occasional brief bout of wriggling. Today I can see eyes on them, very tiny. All the books say to wait a week before adding food, since they're still absorbing their yolk sac, but they seem to be developing pretty fast due to the warm temperatures in the room. So I'll give them a couple of days yet and then start adding some liquified food.

Since one parent is albino and the other wild-type, they should all be gray (unless Virunga is het for albino), but so far the only pigment I see on them are the eyes.

Let's see if I can raise these guys successfully!

 

[SnakeDancer]

Today they've developed color. Looks like all will be gray, but of course they're het for albino. They're still "hanging around" and not yet in a food-search stage, but I've dropped in some greenwater just to get them started. They're more active today also, doing an occasional brief swim from one stationary spot to the next. I'm guessing there are about 40 tads.

 

[Bowl of seeds]

Congradulations on the eggs :happy:

 

[SnakeDancer]

Update: they're very active now, and I've been feeding them hard-boiled egg yolk and powdered fish food dissolved in some greenwater. I hope they're eating ... I don't see them come clustering to the food when I drop it in, but they're definitely in search mode now.

One of my books also recommends powdered stinging nettle as a good food source. I do grow a pot of stinging nettles (they are a great medicinal plant), but they've been slow to come up this year, and are only now just starting. So it will have to be egg yolk and fish food for a while longer.

 

[SnakeDancer]

Minor update: they are doing well, seem to be growing, though it's hard for me to tell, since I see them on a daily basis. They're quite active, and I've only seen 2-3 dead ones very early on, before I moved them to a larger enclosure. The rest are fine. I continue feeding them my hardboiled-egg-yolk/powdered-fishfood/greenwater mix, a few drops twice a day, sometimes 3 times if I think of it. I don't have any filter or even airstone in their basin right now, trying to mimic the natural conditions under which they would live (stagnant quiet water), though I do a partial water change every day. Also have some live plants in there with them: hornwort, and a trace of duckweed and crystalwort.

 

[SnakeDancer]

Another update: they are active and doing well. They must be eating what I'm giving them, because they do look bigger, even though they never swarm toward the food when I drop it in. I feed them whenever I think of it, and am starting to feel like that guy in the Dunkin Donuts commercial who wakes up at 4 A.M. mumbling "Time to make the donuts..." For me it's, "The tadpoles ... time to feed the tadpoles...."

 

[vincent]

Yo I hope this helps you out I,ve got about 80 tads on the go at the moment growing well not cleaned them out or water change yet ,they look in really good condition had them 2 weeks. STOP messing about with powderd this and powderd that use Liqifry No1 for egglayers it is a very very fine food in a liquid suspension.GENTLY allow the drops touch the water surface and it dissapates evenly over the water surface ,an air stone helps spread it about Hope this helps you out but be carefull how many you raise not everyone likes them You should be able to buy Liquifry at a good aquarist shop. Once raised over 150 in one go but no one wanted them I think I sold ten to a pet shop.They are a bit like marmite you can buy in England you either really love it or loathe it! Using Liquifry I usually get around 80% to frog success rate, hope you have enough room for 32 more for a while. Have fun

 

[SnakeDancer]

Hey Vincent, thanks for the reply! I know LiquiFry is an option, but mine seem to be doing well on the stuff I've got around the house at the moment. It does make me change the water more often, though, so that's probably the big advantage to using LiquiFry instead.

They have definitely grown now, as I can see some are quite a bit bigger than the rest! I'm actually glad I only have 30 or so, because I should be able to place them without too much trouble. Not sure what I'd do with 150!

Hope yours do well also.

 

[vincent]

Hey Vincent, thanks for the reply! I know LiquiFry is an option, but mine seem to be doing well on the stuff I've got around the house at the moment. It does make me change the water more often, though, so that's probably the big advantage to using LiquiFry instead.

They have definitely grown now, as I can see some are quite a bit bigger than the rest! I'm actually glad I only have 30 or so, because I should be able to place them without too much trouble. Not sure what I'd do with 150!

Hope yours do well also.

Hi hope every thing still going well with the tads I tried using other stuff ,but I found liquifry gave abetter mortality rate.
Thing is it is so simple especially if you breed lots of other amphibs and it doesnt mess the water up .One guy used pureed peas water change every feed. I had to introduce some of the 150 to Mr and Mrs Hognose and Mr and Mrs Grasssnake Seems awful but they make good food when tads and frogs ,for all sorts of things ,my baby Italian crested newts really grow on the tads. Cheaper than mice and crickets Had a recount as mine are albino they don't show up very well yet but I've got well over 100 so I'm keeping 20 this time I've got a buyer for the others, I NEEDTHE MONEY to buy more equipment. HAVE FUN :happy:

 

[SnakeDancer]

I had to introduce some of the 150 to Mr and Mrs Hognose and Mr and Mrs Grasssnake Seems awful but they make good food when tads and frogs ,for all sorts of things ,my baby Italian crested newts really grow on the tads.

Oh, absolutely, if I had amphibian-eating snakes at the moment, the extras would definitely be a food supply. (Right now I have only rodent- bird- and lizard-eaters.) I have Italian crested newts too, so I'll keep that in mind about any excess tadpoles in the future. I have no doubt my pair will lay eggs again.

Are your grass snakes Natrix natrix? I sure wish we could get those on this side of the pond, but I've never seen them for sale....

 

[John]

Interesting report. Keep up the good work and good luck to you both!

 

[vincent]

Are your grass snakes Natrix natrix? I sure wish we could get those on this side of the pond, but I've never seen them for sale....

They were, but I let them go as I got them given as eggs found in a compost heap just had to hatch them to see how they went on

 

[SnakeDancer]

Legs - they have legs!

Well, some of the largest ones have legs, and they probably sprouted a few days ago, but I was gone over the weekend at a dog show and then was so busy catching up that I didn't look too closely until yesterday. No front legs yet, just hind legs, but they're already starting to make swimming motions with them. They also come to the surface for an occasional gulp of air.

I was worried about being gone a few days, since I had been feeding them several times a day - but they came through fine. I just did a complete water change before I left and dropped them some food. No casualties.

There's quite a range of size differences among the tads. The smallest ones have no trace of legs yet, and some of the biggest ones are huge!

 

[SnakeDancer]

And now they have front legs - at least, the 3 biggest ones do. Still with long tails, and there are some who don't even have hind legs yet. Wish I had a camera that could take decent close-up pictures, because it would have been fun to document the development in photos. I'll have to stick with text for now, though.

 

[John]

Photos!

 

[vincent]

And now they have front legs - at least, the 3 biggest ones do. Still with long tails, and there are some who don't even have hind legs yet. Wish I had a camera that could take decent close-up pictures, because it would have been fun to document the development in photos. I'll have to stick with text for now, though.

Great its nice when they start to come through into frogs :happy:.Still not cleaned mine out yet now I'm on liquifry no3 got over100 but every thing else has started to spawn :happy: Im up to my eyes with alpine newts and spanish ribbed newts and this morning over100 eggs from my yellow bellied toads my orientalis spawned last week and my grey treefrogs are in amplexus so fingers crossed with them as all the spawn went off, the first time they spawned ,but it is not just me! loads of people I know are losing spawn this year. So its nice to have some success. Try feeding them freeze dried brine shrimp they get a pinky tinge when they are small. they loose it when they start eating other foods.

 

[SnakeDancer]

Try feeding them freeze dried brine shrimp they get a pinky tinge when they are small. they loose it when they start eating other foods.

Good idea - that would be a nice variation for them. I'll be happy when they actually become frogs and only need to eat once a day, instead of multiple times. With Spring upon us here, there's plenty of live food to be had, lots of earthworms, mosquito larvae (though they probably won't last long in my pond, now that I put some fish out), and blackworms breeding in my shrimp tank.

Some of the tads already look distinctly frog-shaped, the head shape is changing from that great big filter-feeding head to a more tapered look. And the hind legs are becoming muscular and functional. But still with the long tail. I think they have a couple of weeks to go still.

When do they start eating adult food, in your experience? When the tail is completely gone, or do they start earlier?

I'll try to coax my old digital camera into taking some pics, but I'm not sure it can focus in that close.

 

[SnakeDancer]

I've got about 10 now who are basically frogs, some with only the tiniest bit of tail left, and some with mid-length to short tails. The ones with the shortest tails started eating whiteworms yesterday. They're already using the characteristic adult hand motions of "shovel food into your mouth as fast as you can."

Found one dead this morning. Still had a mid-sized tail, so I'm guessing the metamorphosis went awry. The rest are doing well.

Most are still essentially tadpoles with legs. With the one casualty, I've got exactly 29 right now.

 

[vincent]

Good idea - that would be a nice variation for them. I'll be happy when they actually become frogs and only need to eat once a day, instead of multiple times. With Spring upon us here, there's plenty of live food to be had, lots of earthworms, mosquito larvae (though they probably won't last long in my pond, now that I put some fish out),

When do they start eating adult food, in your experience? When the tail is completely gone, or do they start earlier?QUOTE]

Wait till they look like little frogs then start to feed small food stuff.I've got some brine shrimp that comes in a paste form and you squeeze it ,out it really colours them up pink.Still got over 100 left quite a few have now got their back legs, so now I will divide them up so they dont start biting each other when they turn into frogs, catfish sinker pellets puts size on them quick if you need to move them on fast,they are really nice when they are small, in big groups all interacting.
HAVE FUN:happy: