# Frogs & Toads > Dart Frogs (Dendrobatidae) > Breeding, Eggs, Tadpoles, etc >  Varadero tadpoles metamorphosing

## John Clare

"It's morphin' time"....

This tadpole is the first offspring of this pair of "Varadero" race _Ranitmeya imitator_ frogs.

This first photo was taken in the terrarium on June 29th.  The tadpole is in a white film canister attached to the side of the terrarium with a suction cup:



This was taken on the night of July 7th 2010 in a small deli cup (*Click the photo to enlarge*):



You can see the colors of the frog coming in - even the legs are starting to get a little.  I'll admit I'm quite worried about this tadpole because, being the first, it's the most likely to have Spindly Leg Syndrome (SLS), a malformation of the front limbs caused by a nutritional deficiency in young dart frog parents, often seen in their first few tadpoles.  Keep your fingers crossed.

I'll keep you updated.

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## Ebony

Very nice photo's John, The colouring is really prominent. I can see the arms are going to pop out soon. I hope you are worrying for nothing.

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## John Clare

For comparison, here's that last photo again:



And now the same tadpole 48 hours later (taken just a few minutes ago):

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## Ebony

Looks to me like the arms and legs have grown significantly. It might be the photo but the colouring seems brighter too. Looking pretty positive I think.  :Smile:  Mind you, that's going by what frogs I breed. How long does it take for these tadpoles to morph?

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## John Clare

Yes, the colors are starting to come through now, definitely - the blue on the legs is more noticeable.  The front right arm is bigger too.  They take a while to metamorphose.  He will probably pop the legs in the next 48 hours, then it'll be 4 more days or so I think.

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## Kurt

Very cool.

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## John Clare

Now, 24 hours later:



There are quite a few subtle differences, such as the coloration on the legs becoming bolder, the body coloration becoming more clearly defined, the bulge around the right front leg is larger and the eyes are starting to bulge out (compare to previous photo).

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## John Clare

2 days later (today) - click the photo for a larger version:



The arms broke through the skin in the last 18 hours or so and the froglet is breathing air.  The colors are much better defined and the froglet is developing the classic 2-piece "mustache" characteristic of the species (though the froglet's mother lacks these markings).

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## Kurt

Its amazing that the color is so defined and vivid at this stage of development. Red-eyes at this stage are brown and drab.

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## Jace

*The colouring is absolutely amazing.  How long until you know about SLS?  Is there any way to treat it if the froglet does have it?*

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## Ebony

Looks beautiful John.  :Frog Smile:  I would also like to know about Jace's questions.

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## John Clare

SLS is easy to see once the legs pop - this frog is fine.  It can't be treated though.  The smaller froglet here has SLS:

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## John Clare

24 hours after last photo, here are three more:

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## Jace

*They truly are beautiful, John.  I can definitely see the difference between the healthy frogs and the one that has SLS.  Is there anyway the froglet can survive with this condition?  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of your tadpole develop normally. *

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## John Clare

> *Is there anyway the froglet can survive with this condition?*


*
*The problem is that they can't hold their body up correctly so they can't feed and the whole thing stresses them out because they know something's not right.  Those that can't hold themselves up are done for.




> *I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rest of your tadpole develop normally. *


Thanks.  Going on my own experience and what others have told me, SLS is pretty rare in _R. imitator_ in comparison to other dart frogs, so I think if the first one is fine then the rest should be alright too.

I'm going to take more photos tonight - just looking at him in his canister I can see right away that his tail has decreased greatly in size over night and he's looking much more frog-like.

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## Kiwi Photography

Oh WOW.
_Gorgeous_ colouring; truly stunning.
Looks ike he's doing very well(:
Congratulations!

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## Jace

*Will these new froglets eventually join your breeding program?  Compared to American Bullfrog tadpoles, these guys seem to morph overnight!  I can't wait to see more pictures.  Thanks for sharing all of this with us.*

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## Ebony

Yes John, thanks  for sharing the process with us. They look beautiful and im still amazed on how their colouring is so apparent during metamorphosis. :Frog Smile:

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## John Clare

If you think that color is early, look at the tadpole photo from Phil Tan of a _Ranitomeya lamasi_ tadpole - note it has no legs so it's relatively young.

.

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## Ebony

Yes, they are really striking, I guess it must be easy to identify these guy's  :Big Grin: .  I get blown away by the colouring of the frogs you can keep in your side of the world so for me to get the opportunity to see this is awesome. Thanks  :Frog Smile:

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## John Clare

Here he is 2 days later:



And here is the second tadpole in line to metamorphose:



And here is the third tadpole in line to metamorphose:



There's a big gap between these and the next ones due to my big move - the next ones just hatched yesterday and I saw father jumping around the terrarium with a tadpole on his back yesterday.

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## Jace

*So, from when they hatch, to being completely morhped, how long does that typically take?  Have you discovered any SLS?  Fingers still crossed that all of them are healthy....*

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## John Clare

No SLS yet.  Hatch to metamorphosis can be anywhere between 50 and 75 days.

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## John Clare

Here are two stills shot remotely from a web cam this evening.  The first photo shows the male calling (he's trying to get the female out of the lower bromeliad so she can follow him to feed other tadpoles).  You can also see a froglet (one of the later tadpoles in the previous shots in this thread).  The second shot shows the female following the male to the upper bromeliad to feed some tadpoles.

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## Skulldroog

VERY cool. I look forward to seeing more frog porno!  :Big Grin:

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## Ebony

Nice John, Thanks for sharing. :Frog Smile:

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## JimO

Great looking froglets.  That's the most exciting part to me.

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## John Clare

Here's the first tadpole, now the first froglet, 9 days after his last photo:

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## Kurt

Wow, so beautiful.

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## JimO

Gorgeous froglets and incredible photography.  Nice!

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## John Clare

Here's the first froglet at 8 weeks:



It's about 2/3 grown and looks to be female. 

Here are the other 2 tadpoles, now 7-8 weeks out of the water:

Probable male:


Female? :


Here's the Varadero assembly line photographed last week:

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