# Frogs & Toads > Tomato Frogs, Painted Frogs & Microhylids >  New arrivals.

## Kurt

Tonight I picked up a pair of _Phrynomantis bifaciatus_. So now I have three of them and my old one has a few new friends. The picture below is just to illustrate what this species looks like. It is not of any of my frogs.

I posted here because they are Microhylids just like tomato and chubby frogs.

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## John Clare

Quite an interesting frog.  About how big are they?  The photo makes that one look rather large.

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## Kurt

I would say about two inched S-V. According to the field guide, males grow up to 53 mm and females grow to 65 mm. They do pump themselves up when threatened just like a tomato frog or a Bufonid.

I feed them mostly fruit flies, but they will take small crickets. I fed them some fruit flies tonight and one is already eating. Of course the one that I bought in 2007 was chowing down on them tonight as well.

Its funny all my Microhylids will eat fruit flies regardless of the size they are. My tomatos love them, which is a good thing as I am up to my eyes in fruit flies. Hey, that rhymes  :Big Grin:

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## justin shockey

thats good i love new pets

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## Kurt

Thanks me too. I am going to hit them with metronidazole tonight.

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## Crazy Frog

It cute doh...between i have seen them at a shop before but they seem rather expensive in my country doh... how much are they for at ur side?
and it WC ones right?

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## nat31

those are beautiful frogs

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## Kurt

They are wild caught and sell for $10 - $20. Not that expensive at all.

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## RikoAustria

Sweet! Congrats on the pickup

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## Kurt

Thanks. Unfortunately, I have noticed some sores on the underside of one of them. I was planning on seeing the vet tomorrow, so these guys will be coming along too. 

I have treated them with metronidazole for protozoan parasites and I will have the vet treat them for worms with fenbendazole. Plus have him look at those sores.

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## justin shockey

i hope there OK

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## Kurt

They are fine. The one with the sore is on an antibiotic and the sore appear to be healing. They don't look as angry as they did. Last Sunday they went to the vet and he found worms in the stool, so they were treated with fenbendazole. 

All new frogs, especially wild caught ones, I get are treated with fenbendazole and metronidazole for gastrointestinal parasites. Its just standard operating procedure in my collection.

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## justin shockey

i think that is a great thing but there are no frog vets near me that i now av i just have to do the best i can on my own

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## Kurt

You're in Boxborough, Massachusetts, right? My vet is in Weymouth, MA. He is maybe an hours drive form you. Greg Mertz, "The Odd Pet Vet", works out of the New England Wildlife Center in Weymouth. http://www.newildlife.com/ (781) 682 - 4878

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## justin shockey

thanks

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## Kurt

You're welcome

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## justin shockey

now i can get my frogs cheat out

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## Kurt

You mean checked out?

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## justin shockey

ya sorry

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## Kurt

No biggie.

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## justin shockey

how are the new little guy Agustin

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## Kurt

How are they adjusting? Fine thus far. All have been hit with metronidazole. Next round of drugs with be some fenbendazole.

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## justin shockey

good i hope they thrive

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## Kurt

Me too.

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## Username

Cool! How old are they now? They look like interesting frogs to have!

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## Kurt

They are doing great. I did pick up another pair after this was posted, but one has died. So now I have four of them, with the most recently purchased one still in quarantine. I do want to breed them, but I have to get my but in gear and build another rain chamber.

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## Tom

Just curious. How expensive were those guys? Cause i really like them.

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## Kurt

Red-banded rubber frogs are usually under $20. They are all wild caught, but I am hoping I can change that. Just got to get my but in gear and try to breed them.

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## Tom

Good luck would like if you kept us updated.

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## Kurt

Thanks. When I do manage to breed them, I will write an article on it.

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## Tom

Thanks

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## Kurt

You're welcome and good luck getting some rubber frogs of your own. I love mine. Would love to get some of the species that you don't get to see in the pet trade, like _affinis_ and _annectens_. Maybe _somalicus_ as well, though I have no idea what looks like.

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## thejolta

Are rain chambers required to mate all kinds of frogs?  Because I have a pair of Green tree frogs 1 female and 1 male and was wondering if they'd be mating anytime soon.

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## Kurt

I think amphibians need some sort of rain chamber to get going in that department. Rain is usually the factor that starts up the breeding season, whether its the first warm rains in the temperate zones or the first rains of the wet seasons in the tropics. Its weather that plays a major role in amphibian reproduction.

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## John Clare

> I think amphibians need some sort of rain chamber to get going in that department. Rain is usually the factor that starts up the breeding season, whether its the first warm rains in the temperate zones or the first rains of the wet seasons in the tropics. Its weather that plays a major role in amphibian reproduction.


I would like to point out that rain is only an important factor to species that live in areas that experience droughts or low rain fall for extended periods of time, and also for species that only breed in temporary bodies of water.

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## Kurt

Well, that what I was thinking about when I wrote that, vernal pond and savanah types mostly. But rain does stimulate red-eyes to breed and they are rain forest types.

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## Ebony

Hi Kurt, Your Red banded Rubber Frogs are a beautiful vibrant colour. Good luck with your breeding.

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## Kurt

Thanks. Like I have said before, just got to get off my butt and away from this computer.

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## Buck Rogers

Hi Kurt, what age (or size) more or less are your banded rubber frogs? Mine are around 8 months old now and the largest female is 1.2inces (3cm) and I am under the impression that they need to be over a year to be able to breed, what are your thoughts on this?

They are really amazing frogs don't you think? I love how they always doing something, I have 5 and keeping them in a very simple enclosure (for now) and at night they are always out and about walking around and looking for food, and they have such a great apatite that they are a pleasure to work with.

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## Kurt

Truth be told, I have no idea how old they are. I got the first one at least two years ago. The others last spring. One of the new ones is huge, relatively speaking of course. Its got to be female.

They are fun to watch. The other night I went to feed them and my "oldest" popped his head out of the hide box and saw me. He then came running out, I think he has figured out where the food comes from. I have seen this in lizards, turtles, snakes, and tiger salamanders. Rarely have I seen it in frogs. I think my White's and fire-bellied toads have figured  it out as well, but I am not 100 % sure.

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## Buck Rogers

Do you have photo's of the set-up you keeping them in or can you describe to me how you are housing them (trying to get different ideas). You know that trunking (sorry don't know if it is an international or South African word) that you use to house cables? I have being using that as a hide for them, its like a PVC tube except square and they love to all squeeze into that. But it amazes me how they come running out whenever I throw in some fruit flies.

Kurt have you heard any of them calling yet? They have a beautiful whistle when they call that is amazing.

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## Kurt

I have not heard any calling from them yet. I did have a listen to a WAV file of _microps_, so I am assuming _bifasciatus_ may have similar call.
They are kept in a large critter keeper in which I have made a false bottom. (See my red-eye article on how to make a false bottom) The substrate is sphagnum over "hydro-balls" or LECA. They have a few plastic plants and a PVC cap with holes drilled it, it serves as a hide box, they barely use it these days. There is a water bowl with a fake plant in it. Thats pretty much it.

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## Buck Rogers

I have had trouble in the past with false bottoms, but in all fairness I did not construct it properly. This weekend I am putting their cage together, I am using a 2ft fish tank and will have perlite at the bottom with screen mesh over the perlite, then I will pile a mixture of local sands (sandy type soil) and peat moss together and pile it on top of the mesh, using a normal ceramic water bowl, and will add some water plants and a fern with some logs. I am not keen to add the logs as I fear they wil spend too much time buried under the logs but will try this for a week or so and see how it goes.

How does that sound to you?

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## Kurt

I would think it would work. I use shpagnum as a substrate, which is impossible for these frogs to swallow. I do have reservations about using any sand. If these frogs naturally occur in this type of soil, then I feel it should be ok for them in captivity.

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## Buck Rogers

Hi Kurt

I wanted to give you an update of my banded frogs on this side. A week ago I took a 2foot fishtank with a vented lid and converted it to their new viv. I mixed a ration of 50-50 top soil and play pen sand with water and then added 1/3 peat moss and mixed it all together. I placed a layer of perlite on the bottom and then covered it with screen mesh and then piled the soil mix on top of that. Added a normal house fern and a log and a water bowl with some stones around it and some sphagnum moss to the set up and here is a pic of their enviroment:



Sorry if the pic is not 100% clear but it gives a clear indication of what I am talking about.

So far this has proved really successful, I have the 3 females in here at the moment and want to fatten the males up a bit before moving them over, but they have made good use of their enviroment. They have burrowed under the log and wedge themselves in the grooves of the log as well which is a great start. I added an extra heating pad to get the temps to mid 20 degress celcius (metric sorry) and this has pumped up their activity. Reason why I did this is because coming into summer they would experience extremely high day time temps and cooler night time temps so trying my best to recreat this as possible.

Last week we had some small rains and straight away all three females were in the water bowl waiting, so this to me indicates that already they may be ready for mating and want to get the males up to a decent size to see if anything happens. The other night I was sure that I heard one of the males calling but couldn't be sure, have you heard yours calling?

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## Kurt

Not at all, but I am hoping once I throw them in a rain chamber for a few days that will change. I lost one recently. I notice when I fed them that one was having trouble trying to catch food. The tongue barely came out of it's mouth, so I made up a slurry with a vitamin supplement, vitamin A being one of them. I administered it to the frog, but a few days later I found him dead. I am hoping it was a vitamin A deficiency as I first suspected and not something else that will end up killing the other frogs.

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## Buck Rogers

I'm so sorry to hear about the loss Kurt, I lost a Tokay Gecko this weekend after I bought it malnourished and dehydrated from a neglecting pet shop in an attempt to save it - I know its a stupid thing to do.

Last night we had our first Summer thunder storms in the Highveld and man alive they came down hard!!! I missed the frogs enclosure quite heavily last night but they seemed irritated with the water, I would like to see if you experience this same thing when you put yours in the rain chamber. The temperature dropped very low today so I kept their viv cooler as well just to try keep it as natural as possible outside.

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## Kurt

> I'm so sorry to hear about the loss Kurt, I lost a Tokay Gecko this weekend after I bought it malnourished and dehydrated from a neglecting pet shop in an attempt to save it - I know its a stupid thing to do.


Your heart was in the right place. 

Thanks. I watched them eat last night one was a little reluctant to eat, but it did eat. The crickets were heavily duested with vitamins and calcium, so I at least got some nutrition in him/her. My original and my biggest went to town of the crickets.

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## Buck Rogers

That's great, what size crickets are yours on?

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## Kurt

1/8". They are also eating fruit flies and bean weevils.

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## Buck Rogers

Hi Kurt, an update from my side. Of the 5 that I got earlier this year 2 of the females (the one that lost the foot) have doubled in size and are almost fully grown. The other female is growing a bit slower and the one male is still tiny. But unfortunately I lost one of the small males, he was looking very sluggish and skinny a few weeks back, so I isolated him in a separate tub and started feeding him, he started feeding nicely and gaining some healthy weight, but in the last week he suddenly lost a lot of weight around his limbs and was very weak and wouldn't even flick his tongue out at any food infront of him, and on Sunday morning I came in to see him dead. Could not tell you why he died, the other frogs are fine so was not a virus or any illnesses, I think it was nothing more than weak genes, he wasn't growing from when I first got him and the others had already grown 5x larger. Sad to have lost him as I had so much faith and hope when he started coming right.

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## Kurt

I still have three out of the original 5. One of those three being my original male (assuming he's male because of his size) whom I have had for two+ years. The other two I assume are females. One is quite large, fat, with good color. The other is a little thinner, but no dangerously so. Her color is a bit on the faded side. I should also mention the original frog also has good color and good body weight. All three feed well. I have not attempted to breed these frogs as of yet.

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