NEWS103
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Thebrandnew ‘Apricot’cultivated formof
Ceratophryscranwelli
.
contains 89 species and is widespread in
South and Central America (including the
Lesser Antilles). It even extends to North
America, with
Leptodactylus fragilis
in the
extremesouthofTexas.
Thesimilarity to the frogsof thegenus
Rana
is, however, confusing at first glance. Tomy
eye these dainty frogs – they are currently
around 4 cm long, while maximum size is
given as around 5- 5.5 cm – look like a
mixtureof
Ranaarvalis
, thenativeEuropean
MoorFrog,and
Ptychadena
,the long-legged
ridged frogs fromAfrica.
The ecology of
Leptodactylus
is also very
similar to these frogs.They live in thevicinity
of water, without being directly associated
withopenareasofwater.
Leptodactylus fuscus
has a truly vast
distribution in South America and inhabits
savannahsfromPanamasouththroughallof
South America east of the Andes. In the
south the species extends into southern
Brazil,Bolivia,Paraguay,andArgentina.
Whether justonespecies isactually involved
ismore thanquestionable,and it isprobable
that we are instead dealing with a large
speciescomplex.
The breeding behavior of
L. fuscus
is very
interesting. Specifically, the species spawns
not only inwater but also on land, digging
burrows in which a bubblenest is
constructed. The frogs spawn in this
bubblenest. At high water the spawning
burrows are flooded, so that the tadpoles
end up in a body of water where they
develop into little frogs.
Themaintenanceof
L.fuscus
thus requires a
moderately damp terrarium with a deep
substrate composed of a sand/peat/leaf-
moldmix,whichmustbe loose-packed so it
canbe excavated.A shallowwater dishwill
suffice forbathing.
Leptodactylus
are sometimes known as
piping frogs .Some species canbeveritable
alarm-clockswith theirmonotonous calls.
L.
fuscus
isn’t as bad – the call is somewhat
reminiscentof thesqueakingofguineapigs,
but isn’tparticularly loud.
Horned frog‘Apricot’
Inaddition to the twowild-caught imports,
World Reptiles recently also had another
new frog on its stock list: the ‘Apricot’
cultivated formof
Ceratophryscranwelli
.
Untila fewyearsago the“PacmanFrog”was
hardly ever bred. But the pet trade
discovered this frog for itself and with
increasingdemandbreeding thembecame
economically interesting. Nowadays the
majorityof these frogs offered in the trade
originate fromcaptive-bredpopulations.
Because frogs– just like fishes–haveavast
reproductive potential (one can obtain
several thousand offspring from a single
pair within a short time), it was only a
matter of time before color mutations
appearedonthemarket.Initiallythesewere
albinos, but since then numerous color
formshavebeenbred,aboveall inJapan.As
usual such individuals cost a considerably
more that the “normal” form – it is always
somewhat more expensive to indulge a
special taste.
Themaintenanceof these frogs isveryeasy
and therearegood reasonswhy theyareso
popularaspets.Firstly,theyhave littleorno
flight reflex and thus appear “tame” to the
layman. And secondly, they will grab
anything that moves in front of their
mouths,be it the fingerof acarelessowner
or a deep-frozen (but thawed) food insect.
This makes feeding them very easy and
independentof live food,which isnormally
indispensable in themaintenanceof frogs.
