African Clawed Frogs

[capsicum]

Well, I just got home from dropping off some pet rats at a local pet store, and while they were getting the paper work done, I was nosying around looking at the reptiles and amphibians. I noticed 2 african clawed frogs, one normal and one albino. They were each about $25 Canadian, and was thinking how cool they looked. Anyone know anything about these guys?

TK

[thunder]

this was my first herp. i have been breeding them for ten years. where to start? i love frogs. these guys are particularly easy to care for as adults, since they stay in the water and dont require any cage furniture of any kind. they will eat a wide variety of things and i have produced many color and pattern morphs. easy to breed, altho u have to know what ur doin, and taking care of the tadpoles can be slightly tricky, but ull get the hang of it. i can probably answer any question about this species that u could ask. currently i am not breeding them as they are illegal in the state of california (i used to live in illinois). they can be housed in groups providing that all the individuals are the same size, but u hafta make sure that they are all eating well. ocassionally, when they are in a feeding frenzy (i love those feeding frenzies), one will accidentally grab the limb of another and try to eat it, if this lasts more than a few seconds, i break it up with a stick or some such tool. basically, if u can care for a fish u can care for a xenopus. the albino trait as i have worked with it (u might have another strain) is simple recessive. but many of the normals sold are hets. other morphs include: solid black (recessive), one that i call a "marbled gold" (recessive), patternless green (co dom), leucistic (codom), ocellated (codom), granite (co dom), and plenty of linebred traits. since they breed quickly, they can be line bred to extremes with great ease, not just in pigment but with changes to their anatomy. after a few dozen generations of linebreeding for reduced eye size, i produced animals with no decernable eyes at all. since they cant see very well anyway, they were not negatively affected.

an interesting note: this species is born with both sets of reproductive organs and can change its gender. some individuals dont change (altho they could), and some are usually one gender, and some individuals switch often. the switch has to do with the sex ration in the enclosure, it tends to be 2:1, altho temp manipulation is a factor as well. these guys are very tolerant of temperature extremes, when i lived in illinois i did not use any temp regulation of any kind.

[capsicum]

WOW...I had no idea they were so fascinating! I am deffinately interested in getting one or two. The two I saw were relatively the same size (the albino was a bit large, but both were the size of my palm).

I have a 50g octagon tank, would this be suitable for them? I have nothing in it yet, it's just sitting is storage. It was used 5 months ago for large goldfish.

They look absolutely awesome! What do they eat? I have never had frogs before (pardon me, I had one aquatic frog that croaked after 3 months :p ).

What about temperatures, ph levels, lightings (uvb?), etc?

Thanks so much for replying! Greatly appreciated!!!!

TK

[thunder]

they need no lighting and do fine at room temp. as for ph, whatever comes out of your tap is fine but it must must must must must (must), be treated with a dechlorine of some kind. the stuff u use for fish works fine, so does stress coat. they will eat many things, there is food made specifically for them, but variety is good so here are the things that mine have eaten in the past (tho not every individual will take all of these things): aquatic turtle food (a good staple), food made for newts, food for carnivorous fish, reptimin, beta food (this must be supplemented with more protein), tubefix (live or freezedried), crickets, live fish, other floating and struggling insects, pinkie (only if frog is very big), brine shrimp (frozen), other amphibians (including their own species). of the aforementioned foods, only the fish foods are not good staples. basically, when evaluating a product for them to eat look for: high protein content, the ability to float.

do not get a pleco to clean the cage, as they will harass it constantly. i went thru a lot of plecos before realizing that the frogs were basically stressing them out until they died.

also, except while feeding or breeding, these frogs tend to remain motionless, often in the same position for so long that they appear to be dead. they can remain underwater for hours, dont be alarmed. u will know when one of them has died, because cage mates will begin to eat it.

50 gallons is plenty. if u give them that much space, expect them to grow huge. it is not unusual for adult females to be more than six inches long. males tend to be smaller.

[capsicum]

Thanks! I was also wondering about filtration, what kind is best? I will have to buy a pump first (I was thinking one of the waterfall types), but am deffinately going to get at least 1!!!

TK who is totally psyched!!
:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:

[thunder]

well, i didnt use filtration, i syphoned by hand. but i can understand that most people dont want to do that, so look for a filtration system that seems least likely for the frogs to stick their heads/limbs in it and die.

[capsicum]

That's awesome :) I don't mind filtration by hand. Thanks again!

TK

[672]

Do the males croak alot?

[thunder]

they make a creaking noise, like a rusty hinge.