# Frogs & Toads > Dart Frogs (Dendrobatidae) > Breeding, Eggs, Tadpoles, etc >  Update:  My D. tinctorius azureus tadpoles

## Happy Frog

I hope the New  Year finds you all well and good...Someone had asked to be updated on the progress of these tadpoles, but the holidays kept me busy and this is the first chance I've had.

One of my tadpoles finally developed all four legs.



As soon as this tadpole starts climbing out of the water I'll post an update on this thread to show how I keep tadpoles, in case there is someone that's curious as to how it's done.

Oh - I almost forgot. :Big Applause:

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DigitalPunk

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## Carlos

Great pics Bryan, thanks for sharing  :Smile:  !

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## Happy Frog

Here are some pics of the first tadpole to come out of the water and the rearing container.  The tadpole seems like it's taking on the mother's coloring.  That's her in the first picture.  

After the tadpoles develop all four legs I move them into these Sterilite containers.  I learned this from a poster on DD.  I like this method because I could never figure out the logistics of setting up tilted fruit fly cups.  I can also stack these.  I normally keep the tadpoles in plastic food containers from the dollar store or in 16 oz. cups till they pop out all four legs.

After I see the tadpole climbing up on the side of the container I leave it in there for another day or two and remove it once the tail is a nub.

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## Carlos

Hi Bryan!  The tads look good and the mom's coloration is awesome  :Big Applause:  !  I went ahead and removed the out of focus photo from attachment file  :Smile:  .

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## Happy Frog

> Hi Bryan!  The tads look good and the mom's coloration is awesome  !  I went ahead and removed the out of focus photo from attachment file  .



Thanks.

I forgot to mention that as soon as the tadpoles develop four legs and I move them into that container, I only add enough water to conver them.  Maybe about a 1/2".  Also, I build up a little bank of spaghnum moss on one side.  In the picture above, all that's in there is the moss, Indian almond leaves and Java moss.  The leaves and Java moss are only in there for cover and for the froglet to crawl up on.  Once the tads develop all four legs they have already stopped eating and their mouth structure has slowly been changing from a rasping tadpole mouth to a frog mouth.

This is how I've been doing it for all my Leucs and now my Azureus.  No deaths, no diseases, no SLS, nothing but healthy froglets.  I have taken the rearing methods from a number of experienced breeders and combined them into something that works for me.  I currently have around thirty azureus tadpoles, five of which are about to come out of the water any day now.  I do something most experienced dart froggers don't do though, and that is I change their water completely every two to three days.  I use my own home brew tadpole tea made from spring water and Live Oak leaves.  There are some breeders that never change the water from the time right after the tadpole breaks out of the egg till it crawls out of the water.

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## Happy Frog

Here are some of my Azureus froglets.  I had to take them out of their enclosure to count them and make sure they were all there.  I have three others in another enclosure.  I still have lots of tadpoles.  Today I start pulling eggs because I already have 35 tadpoles/froglets and that's the limit I can take care of properly up thru 3-4 months.

I've been updating so you can see the progression from newly laid eggs thru 3-4 month old froglets.

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## AuntieK

They look great  :Smile: 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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## Paul

They look great Bryan! Will you be offering them up for sale when they are ready?

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## Happy Frog

> They look great 
> 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Thanks.  I should mention that the lighter greenish coloration will go away as the froglet grows.  I've read this occurs when you feed the tadpoles a algae rich diet with a lot of spirulina.  The froglets you see in the pictures are now blue with none of that lighter coloring.

Paul,  I already have a buyer for them but I can hold some back.  It wouldn't be till the end of March.  Over the next couple of days I'm going to try and post some new close-ups of the froglets.

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## Happy Frog

This is going to be my last post on this thread.  I wanted to show you how I raise my froglets up to 3 months.  The little one in the dish is 1 month oow and he is one of the froglets in the post above that had the greenish white on it's head.  As you can see it has worked itself out to pure blue.

I was trying to get the container build in sequential order but I'm just going to leave the pictures as is.

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## Paul

They look awesome! I won't be ready for any new frogs in march, but I hope they all go to someone who will love them!

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## ukfan1976

Wow so cool!  They are so tiny!  They look very well taken care of   :Smile:   Leaf litter is the one thing I haven't added to my Viv yet but am going to very soon!  They look like they love it!  :Smile:

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## Happy Frog

> Wow so cool!  They are so tiny!  They look very well taken care of    Leaf litter is the one thing I haven't added to my Viv yet but am going to very soon!  They look like they love it!


I said I wasn't going to post again but I remembered you had azureus.

I build up these containers just like a vivarium including springtails, and for light I use a small flourescent striplight.  I already have three of them made and as the froglets get larger and more come out of the water I move them around.  I have a smaller Tupperware that I keep froglets in that have just come out of the water.  I usually keep them in the smaller one for a week so I can see that they have started eating flies.  

Like I said before, leaf litter is really important.  They hide in it, they sleep in it, they breed and lay eggs in it...it's especially important for froglets because it helps them feel secure.  I have a trio of Leucs and they will actually get under the leaf litter and crawl from front to back and from one side to the other in their enclosure.

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