EDITOR Ron Skylstad Leaf Litter VOLUME 2 | ISSUE 2 ASSISTANT EDITORS Ed Kowalski 1 FROM THE EDITOR Nathanial Paull 3 EDITORIAL Jason Konopinski 5 FOLIUM 9 AMPHIBIAN HEALTH & NUTRITION LAYOUT Elizabeth Brock FEATURES 12 Herping In Anytown, USA • 15 Further Impressions from Tarapoto: EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Frogs and Art Ron Skylstad 19 When Father Chimborazo Took PROGRAMS DIRECTOR the Frogs Away Brent L. Brock 29 Notes on the Husbandry, Captive Reproduction, and Distinct Juvenile DIRECTOR OF PROJECT SUPPORT Form of Wallace’s Flying Frog, Marcos Osorno Rhacophorus nigropalmatus MISSION STATEMENT 41 Solace of Untouched Wilderness Tree Walkers International supports the protection, conservation, and restoration of wild amphibian populations through hands-on action both locally and internationally. We foster personal relationships between people and nature by providing opportunities for citizens of all ages to become directly involved in global amphibian conservation. Through this involvement, our volunteers become part of a growing and passionate advocacy for the protection and restoration of wild amphibian populations and the environmental on which they depend. COVER Rhacophorus nigropalmatus photo © Michael Ready from the editor When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. - John Muir - Connection. If we have eyes to see it, it’s everywhere: in the roles organisms play in their ecosystems, in the way our habits and decisions impact our environments (for better or worse) and the species that inhabit them, in the amphibians we choose to keep and the systems of trade and collection we inevitably support through our buying habits. This thread of connection, of interrelatedness and influence, is woven throughout this issue of Leaf Litter. In this issue we are introducing two regular installments. The first “Folium,” focuses on the topic of plants, including their natural history and physiology, and how we can use that information to successfully culture them in captive enclosures. The second, “Amphibian Health and Nutrition,” deals with the various health and dietary issues regarding the captive care of amphibians. In his editorial piece, Devin Edmonds reminds amphibian keepers that their animals do not originate in a vacuum and that their worth cannot simply be reduced to a price tag. He challenges hobbyists to expand their horizons of knowledge and awareness regarding the animals they keep. In an essay, I describe my personal experience on a field trip at the 2008 North American Amphibian Conference that was held in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. This was my introduction to both this particular region of the U.S. as well as the amphibian species that live there, and I returned home with a deeper level of insight that has changed how I understand my own native region and its amphibian species. Tracy Hicks concludes his three-part series about a trip he took to the Tarapoto region of central Peru. In this final installment he shares his personal impressions and catalytic moments of inspiration, those “Oh, wow!” instances of understanding and connection. Through his experiences, he shows us a deeper glimpse into the region from which many captive dendrobatids originate, including the people who live there and the jungle upon which they depend. Based on first-hand experiences with the species, John Simmons provides a detailed account of the now extinct Atelopus ignescens, looking not just at the niche it once filled in the high paramos of Ecuador, but also the cultural and social connections the people of this country have with it. Mike Ready shares with us his observations and notes from the first-known success of captively breeding Wallace’s Flying Frog, Rhacophorus nigropalmatus. This account not only provides much insight into the captive care and reproduction of this species, but reaches back to Alfred Russel Wallace himself—over a century and a half after his original description of this frog, we discover that we still have much to learn about its habits and morphology. >> from the editor | 1 Wrapping up this issue is an essay by high school student Emily Lisborg, who takes us along with her as she shares about a particular visit to a tropical forest on the island of St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands and the deep sense of connection she experienced there. It’s all connected: our desire for amphibians affects their wild populations and native habitat, affects the people who live there and how they interact with amphibians. Our relationship with amphibians can influence and shape our culture, from art to music to community festivals. Our understanding of their habits can help us more greatly appreciate them and the ecosystems in which they are found. Our knowledge of their care and reproductive habits can help us in the quest to more successfully maintain viable captive populations and put less pressure on the collection of wild ones. Our insight into their health and the mini-universes of microbes and bacteria that exist within them, as well as of the plants they naturally associate with in the wild, increases our understanding of the incredible and integral role these animals play in the biosphere. We can tug on a single frog, but when we do, we should be prepared to find it inextricably attached to the rest of the world. Sincerely, Ron Skylstad Editor-in-chief 2 | Leaf Litter :: Vol 2 Issue 2 Breaking the Glass Box an editorial by Devin Edmonds Poison dart frogs seemed out of place in Joliet. As one of held less weight. When I had the opportunity to go herping the fastest growing cities in Illinois, urban sprawl had wiped outdoors, the creatures I found under logs and in ponds were clear any former wetlands in the area. On the drive into town a separate type from the kind being sold in pet stores. They I didn’t pass through any lush tropical rainforests—the tree- came without a price tag, belonging solely to the world. In like telephone poles didn’t hang with bromeliads or other my mind, these wild amphibians were unrelated to the caged epiphytic plants. Leaf litter blew across Joliet’s streets, but ones at the store. They were a different sort. was outnumbered by fast food wrappers and plastic bags, The connection I originally failed to see between captive likely tossed out the window of passing cars. Nevertheless, amphibians and their wild counterparts eventually made in a place where concrete dominated the landscape, amongst itself known. I traveled abroad, photographing frogs in the White Castle and Wal-Mart, were hundreds of the world’s wild that I kept at home in terrariums. In Peru, I saw the effect most elegantly colored and exceptionally rare amphibians, on that smuggling has on wild frog populations. Here too, in the display and for sale at a Holiday depths of the Amazon rainforest, Inn. animals were equated with money. Midwest Frog Fest is held I also travelled in the U.S. to visit annually at a hotel in Joliet, large scale reptile and amphibian and the contrast between the importers. Wild-caught frogs conference room and the tropical came in by the boxful to these life contained within strikes me warehouses of live merchandise, every year. Dozens of species and were quickly piled into stock of captive-bred exotic frogs are tanks to await shipment to pet present, their bright aposematic stores or middlemen dealers. coloration radiating from vendor These wild frogs would end up tables like ornaments on a in the hands of hobbyists like me Christmas tree. The 2008 show who, in addition to supplying the had the most diverse selection demand that supports the trade, of species yet, with tree frogs, also produce the fine captive-bred toads, and newts alongside the offspring found for sale at frog usual dominating presence of shows. I mentally followed the poison dart frogs. As always, I was trail of these animals from their struck by the beauty of the frogs, and I could see that other origin to the terrariums in my bedroom, from the wild to attendees shared my experience. I have to wonder, though: captivity. The connection became clear. when amphibians are priced as goods at a frog show in a So what’s the point of keeping frogs when we are so hotel, how easily can they be viewed as part of the natural disconnected from nature that we can only appreciate their world? The disconnect I saw here should be obvious to all beauty inside a glass box? Where does this leave us? Those who attend this event, but I’m not so sure it was. When I who are not involved in the exotic animal hobby might believe first started attending reptile and amphibian shows, it wasn’t a person should have to get mud under their nails in order to apparent to me, either. view creatures as striking as the frogs we keep in our living I grew up observing nature in cages. Weekend trips to rooms. They might feel that we must climb mountains and the pet store were routine throughout my youth. As a child walk trees over rivers, get bitten by ants and stung by bees. conditioned to view exotic animals primarily as a fascinating I don’t disagree with this view. Although we can learn about commodity, a captive amphibian’s monetary value and care a frog’s behavior in captivity -- watching them breed, feed, requirements were most important to me. Information or defend territories -- to truly know a species we must also about their natural history, ecology, and conservation status experience the natural environment in which they live. Breaking the Glass Box | 3 Being in the field not only gives hobbyists a new appreciation for the amphibians we keep, it also liberates our minds from the concrete boundaries most of us live within daily.