Vietnamese Mossy Tree Frogs (Theloderma corticale) are fascinating and unique animals. They are not common pet frogs, so we wanted to let them shine a little this week. So read on and maybe you’ll discover something new about these neat little frogs.
1. Vietnamese Mossy Tree Frogs get their common name from their camouflage habits. Whether trying to blend in with moss on a tree, rock, or log, the texture of this frog’s skin combined with its green, brown, and black color palette makes it appear very moss-like to potential predators.
Notice the knobby texture of the frog’s skin. What a great camouflage tactic!
2. Because they are nocturnal and semi-aquatic, mossy frogs are active at night and should always have access to a pool of water in which they can fully submerge.
Naturally found in flooded caves and mountain streams in Vietnam, these frogs can be shy and secretive. Excessive handling is therefore not recommended.
This picture was taken at our facility and we can’t get enough of it!
3. When full-grown, mossy frogs will reach lengths of up to three and a half inches. The females are larger than the males.
Their lifespan in the wild is unknown, but on average they will live twelve to fifteen years in captivity.
4. Vietnamese Mossy Frogs breed readily in captivity and thus have become healthier and more common in the pet trade than they were some years ago.
They breed between April and June in rock cavities with water collected in the bottom or tree knot holes. The females lay the eggs on rocks or plants directly above a pool of water so that when the eggs hatch, the tadpoles will fall directly into the water.
The entire metamorphosis cycle from tadpole to mature frog takes about a year for the mossy frog.
Mossy tree frogs generally do extremely well in captivity–just make sure they don’t dry out.
5. Like all frogs, the Vietnamese Mossy Tree Frog has no hard palate in its mouth. Instead, when the frog chomps a tasty insect meal, it blinks in order to help it swallow the food down. With no roof of the mouth to help push the food against, the frog will close its eyes and essentially push the eyes down into the top of its mouth, which in turn forces the prey down the frog’s throat.
Backwater Reptiles has captive bred Vietnamese Mossy Tree Frogs for sale if you feel inclined to purchase your own after reading our fun little factoids.
Your hatchling Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene c. carolina) just arrived in the mail. Now you’re wondering how to care for your new little turtle friend. No worries – at Backwater Reptiles, we get loads of questions about how to best care for the animals we ship out, so we’re happy to tell you all about what we recommend in order to keep your little reptilian friend happy and healthy.
Right off the bat, your hatchling Eastern box turtle will obviously need a home in which to thrive. As they mature, the box turtles will do best when kept in outdoor pens (at least if you live where the weather permits this), but when they are under a year old, it is best to keep the little turtles in an indoor enclosure. Indoors they will be safe from neighborhood roaming pets, predatory birds, and other natural threats. Plus because they will be more sensitive to temperature fluctuations when young, you can better control their climate indoors. Another good reason to keep them indoors while they’re small is that you can better keep an eye on the food they are eating and make sure that they are getting the proper nutrients.
A cluster of our baby Eastern Box Turtles. Notice the shell pattern variation.
Baby Box turtle care
The hatchlings we sell at Backwater Reptiles are small enough to live in a ten or 20 gallon tank for the first year of their life. If you have multiple baby turtles in the same home, then the size of the enclosure will need to be bigger. You’ll need a proper heat lamp as well as a proper UV light, even if you take your turtle outdoors from time to time. Make sure that one side of their home is “sunny” with heat as well as a full-spectrum UV light.
If you’re new to reptile care and husbandry, it’s important that you know that the entire habitat cannot be hot and “sunny” – all reptiles need a cooler side of the enclosure to retreat to. You wouldn’t enjoy spending all your time in the heat and sun, would you? Neither will your baby box turtle. This allows them to thermoregulate their body temperature.
This is an adult Eastern Box Turtle. As they grow, their shell becomes more of a pronounced dome shape and they develop brighter colors.
Your hatchling box turtle will eat protein as well as veggies, but make sure that it has access to both. When they are little, they need more protein to allow them to grow, but they do still require plenty of leafy greens to supplement. Their diets tend to be more carnivorous at this young age.
As with many young reptiles, variety in the diet is important. You can feed the little turtle small crickets, turtle pellets, wax worms, meal worms, and any other insect that they can catch. As far as vegetation goes, dark leafy greens are always a good bet. Veggies like kale, collard greens, and spinach contain a lot of nutrients and your baby box turtle will love them.
These hatchlings are roughly the size of a silver dollar. Notice the variety in shell coloration.
It’s important to note that like human beings, baby box turtles don’t all look the same. They have color variations and their markings can appear different from turtle to turtle. Some will have very dark shells and some will have lighter shells with more visible yellow tones – it’s all normal box turtle coloring.
Making sure your baby Box turtle has a damp hide spot is extremely important–do not ignore this advice! If you allow them to become dry, their eyes will seal, and they will begin to dessicate (dehydrate). It can lead to their death quickly.
We provide damp sphagnum moss on the cool side of the enclosure–always make sure it’s quite damp, but not soaking wet. They will bury themselves in this for part of the day. They tend to eat in the morning, and retire for the rest of the day. As babies, they lose hydration very quickly and their shells haven’t completely hardened, and their skin isn’t as thick as it will be as they mature.
Backwater Reptiles currently has an assortment of hatchling Eastern Box Turtles for sale. We love knowing that they go to homes with educated owners, so ask us questions in the comments if you have any.
Are you wondering how to incubate chameleon eggs? One of the most rewarding experiences you can have as a reptile hobbyist is the successful hatching of an egg clutch. If you need help or suggestions as far as breeding goes, we have a very in depth blog article all about breeding Panther chameleons. But, for the purposes of this article, we’ll assume you’ve already got a clutch or two of your own incubating and we’ll focus specifically on what to do once your eggs are starting to hatch.
It all starts with this, right?! Here’s a pair of our Panther chameleons mating. The female will lay eggs about a month later.
At Backwater Reptiles, we incubate our eggs in shoebox sized plastic boxes. We don’t drill any holes or provide any special means of ventilation (they don’t get much air circulation in nature being buried 6-12 inches underground).
You can purchase these types of plastic boxes at any large department store. We fill the boxes with Perlite that is damp but certainly not dripping wet, label the boxes with the clutch date, close the lid, and store on a shelf at room temperature.
We make various notes on the incubation box, including date eggs were laid, species, quantity, and any miscellaneous notes. In this instance, we crossed a female Oustalet’s chameleon with a male Panther chameleon.
We’ve learned that the natural rise-and-fall of indoor temperatures provides the perfect environment for 90% of chameleons. We’ve hatched-out over 18 different species, and the only one that we don’t get strong hatch percentages with is the Carpet chameleon (Furcifer lateralis). We generally experience 100% hatch rates for Panther, Veiled, Sailfin, Flapneck, Oustelet’s, Pygmy, Verrucosus, Johnston’s, Two-horned, et al.
Many hobbyists purchase small pre-made incubators for their chameleon eggs, but we’ve found they are unstable and can experience sudden wide temperature fluctuations. If you take nothing else away from this article, remember this: quick temperature fluctuations are dangerous–very slow, gradual changes are far less so.
This is one of our chameleon egg incubation stations. As you can see, we stack them so that they won’t be disturbed.
Chameleon Eggs: Part Deux
The amount of time it takes for the eggs to hatch varies based on the chameleon species, but for the purposes of this article, we’re using a clutch of Sailfin (Trioceros cristatus) babies that we had hatch this week (our fourth clutch). This particular clutch was laid on March 3rd, and took a little over six months to hatch.
Once you notice a single baby in the Perlite, it’s best to keep it in the box for a while as the eggs seem to “communicate” and incite the rest of the eggs to hatch. Some scientists believe there is some type of chemical communication involved.
You’ll notice that your hatchlings are very timid, weak, and clumsy. This is all normal! Just like human babies, hatchling chameleons of any species, not just the Sailfins pictured, need to learn how to use their limbs.
Here’s the beginnings of a clutch of Sailfin chameleon (Trioceros cristatus) hatchlings. There are still a few eggs that will hatch, so the babies have not yet been moved to their new enclosure. We’ve learned that babies walking around inside the incubation chamber often somehow “trigger” or “message” the other eggs to know it’s time to hatch.
The babies will climb all over each other, use each other as stepping stools, and be generally awkward and bumbling for a few days. They might even curl up in little balls and appear for all intents and purposes to be dead, but it’s just the shock of the new world. Eventually they will snap out of it.
This sail fin hatchling doesn’t seem to realize its been born yet.
Once all of your eggs have hatched, it’s safe to move the babies to a separate home. We house our babies of a single species all together in small versions of adult cages. Keep the plant life and climbing materials in their cages minimal so that you don’t lose the little guys as they are very small! It’s also wise that your cage not be too tall as they stumble and fall often when they’re babies. Just like toddlers learning to walk, they have accidents and can fall off the plants/climbing materials and if you don’t want them to injure themselves, it’s best if they don’t have too far to fall.
They also need to be able to spot prey insects, and the more clutter you have in the enclosure, the more difficult it is for them. We usually affix a plastic plant to the top of the screen cage (near the UVB lighting–we use ReptiSun 5.0 bulbs), because the baby chameleons like soaking up the rays, and if you don’t provide a way for them to get off the top of the cage (by way of easily accessible leaves), sometimes they seem to be confused as to how to maneuver elsewhere.
This little guy is wary of the camera. :-P
We feed our hatchlings hydei fruit flies and pinhead crickets at birth once or twice a day. As they grow just a bit, you can increase the size of the prey items accordingly.
Baby chameleons need humidity, and plenty of it. Dessication (dehydrating) is their biggest enemy, and it’s an ever present threat. Mist, mist, and mist again. We have our’s set up with an automatic misting system, so that we don’t even have to think about it.
We hope you’ve enjoyed our article on how to incubate chameleon eggs! The Sailfin chameleon hatchlings from this post should be large enough to be shipped to new homes within about three months. They’re a wonderful species with a unique appearance, and they generally thrive in captivity, especially when you start with captive bred babies.
What’s the difference between Florida and Spiny softshell turtles? Here at Backwater Reptiles headquarters, we regularly ship out soft-shell turtles, but the two species that we have found to be the most popular (and prevalent) are the Florida Softshell Turtle (Apalone ferox) and the Spiny Softshell Turtle (Apalone spitfire). Read on if you want to learn about what makes these turtles similar and what makes them different.
Morphology & Appearance
As far as looks go, both species of turtle are semi-flat with soft shells – go figure, right? We’ve heard them described as wet, leathery pancake turtles before and don’t disagree. They also both have snooty little protruding snout noses, long necks, and paddle-like back feet.
Notice the yellow edging on this hatchling Florida soft shell’s shell.
What really makes these two turtles differ from one another in appearance most is the patterns and colors on their shells. The Florida softshell has orange markings on its head and edging its carapace. As it matures, these bright colors tend to fade into duller browns and olive green shades. The spiny softshell on the other hand, is a shade of brown, tan, or olive with darker speckles on the shell. Another distinguishing trait of the spiny softshell are the small spines that edge the circumference of the turtle’s shell.
Eating Habits
Both species of softshell turtle are carnivorous and eat prey items ranging from small crayfish to aquatic insects. In the wild, both are opportunistic feeders and will eat any animal that is small enough to fit in their mouth.
Notice how flat the shell is on this hatchling spiny soft-shell turtle.
In captivity, we feed ours crickets, canned insects, and even roaches. They can also eat small feeder fish from any pet store or varieties of frozen worm turtle pellets (i.e. bloodworm pellets).
Keeping Softshells in Captivity
Because their morphology is very similar, both the Florida softshell and the spiny softshell have very similar care requirements when kept in captivity.
The first thing to consider before purchasing a pet softshell is their size. For a turtle, they can grow quite large. The average size for a softshell is 12 inches, but it’s not unheard of for these guys to get up to two feet long. Large turtle = large enclosure, so keep that in mind when purchasing.
This photo provides a view of the Florida softshell turtle’s shell spots and yellow edging.
Softshells are also known for their attitudes. They have been known to bite not only handlers but other turtles. Make sure that they are not bullying their tank mates (if they have any).
Because both the Florida softshell and the spiny softshell are scooters and burrowers, they require a substrate that supports both these habits. Sand is best because in addition to being burrow-able, the turtles will scoot underneath it and exfoliate their shells, eliminating bacteria and fungi and stimulating new shell cell growth.
Due to the soft nature of their shells, hard, abrasive rocks and other decorative items need to be avoided because the turtles will scuff against them and injure themselves.
Although they are mainly aquatic, softshells are regular baskets as well, so an adequate basking area must be maintained. Make sure that they can safely get all the way out of the water and heat themselves as well as absorb the proper UV lights.
Are you overwhelmed by the litany of Leopard gecko morphs available? There are so many Leopard Gecko (Eublepharis macularis) morphs on the market that it can be hard to know what the names mean if you’re not an expert on the subject. In this article, we will show you photos of our most popular morphs and explain why or how that morph got its name.
Pinstripe Leopard Gecko
Commonly morphs are named after something they resembles in every day life, such as a fruit or a color. This particular morph is named because it causes the gecko’s spots to blend into lines or “pinstripes” on its body. Pretty straight forward.
Take note of the stripes on this pinstripe leopard gecko’s sides, one of many popular morphs.
Blazing Blizzard Leopard Gecko
The blazing blizzard morph is a variation on the standard blizzard morph. When a gecko is a blizzard, it lacks patterns (stripes, spots, or tail banding) and will range in color from grey to pure white. They also occasionally display yellow highlights.
Blazing Blizzard Leopard geckos are sensitive to light, which is why this guy was blinking in the photo.
The “blazing” added onto the blizzard gecko means that the animal is both albino and patternless. The main aesthetic difference between this morph and the standard blizzard is the lack of any grey tints. Both the blizzard and the blazing blizzard can have yellow highlights present.
Leucistic Leopard Gecko
Leucistic Leos are also known as patternless or “Murphy’s Patternless” morphs. This is because when the animal is leucistic, its genetic makeup causes it to lack certain types of pigment.
This photo makes it easy to see why the alternate name for this morph is “patternless.”
High Color Leopard Gecko
When referring to morphs and the names of reptiles, “high” indicates a particularly strong expression of a particular genetic trait. So, if a gecko is high color, it means that its colors are particularly vibrant.
A super high color morph Leopard gecko. Notice how most of its body lacks pigment, except for the tail and top of the head.
This morph is also referred to as hypomelanistic, which means that the gecko displays a greatly reduced amount of color in its body, but some spots may be present on the head and tail.
Snow Leopard Gecko
Also known as “Mack Snow,” this morph means that the gecko’s main body color will be white and any spots or markings will be black. Essentially, the gecko is black and white with little or no yellow or orange tones present.
This is a mack snow leopard gecko. Notice how there are extremely faint yellow undertones to his skin. This is what makes his morph different than the super snow morph.
Super Snow Leopard Gecko
The super snow or “super mack snow” morph is an exaggeration of the snow morph. The black and white contrast on these geckos is very noticeable and they have solid black eyes.
This is a super snow leopard gecko. This morph is created by breeding a mack snow to another mack snow.
Albino Leucistic Leopard Gecko
Albinism is the lack of the pigment that causes black tones in skin or scales, so any albino leopard gecko will lack black spots or tones. When the gecko is also leucistic, it lacks any discerning pattern. You could also call this morph “Albino Patternless.”
Albino leucistic or albino patternless leopard gecko morph.
Interesting side note on albinism in leopard geckos – it’s not necessary for the gecko to have red eyes in order for it to be considered albino.
Enigma Leopard Gecko
When they’re babies, leopard geckos of this morph are splotchy, but as they mature, the splotches become speckles. They also have white tails.
Notice how this enigma’s tail is nearly completely white.
This is a popular morph for breeders because when crossed with other traits, it tends to amplify the trait.
Super Giant Leopard Gecko
There are two forms of this morph. First, there is the giant leopard gecko, which grows to weight 80 to 110 grams and can display any combination of morphs that express color.
A male super giant albino leopard gecko with regenerated tail.
Next, there is the super giant, which is what we have pictured as an example. Naturally, the super giant gets larger than the giant.
Tangerine Leopard Gecko
If you haven’t guessed already, the tangerine morph displays a bright orange color that is quite stunning.
One of our super giant tangerine morph leopard gecko.
Please be aware that there are more morphs out there than the ones we discuss in this blog. These are the most popular and therefore most commonly bred morphs. Morphs can also be combined in specific instances depending on the lineage.
A collage of the various leopard gecko morphs we’ve discussed today.
