Frog Friday! Ambrosia

With only a few hours of Friday left, it feels like I'm filing my report right against the deadline. This week, San Francisco somehow managed to crawl onto the mounted Ludisia discolor for a nice view of the vivarium and her fellow frogs. This is my second Ludisia from Michel Orchid Nursery and it's extra special. It's the clone 'Ambrosia' JC/AOS and the flowers have an incredible cinnamon smell. (You can buy your own here). I smelled 'Ambrosia' in bloom at the Kansas City Orchid Show and immediately knew I had to have it. I'm not sure if it's blooming size, but at least San Francisco is enjoying it in the meantime. The plant looks a little stressed and it might take a few more weeks to adjust to its new location, but the other Ludisia is the only orchid that hasn't died in vivarium so I'm going to stay the course for now. Happy Friday!

Frog Friday! San Francisco

We now have six frogs in our vivarium!  Trixie brought home our new fire-bellied toad, San Francisco, from the good people at Pet World.  We base our naming strategy on our favorite movie Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969), starring Natalie Wood and Robert Culp.  Horst, our fifth frog, is named after the German tennis instructor with whom Carol has an affair.  San Francisco is named after the woman with whom Bob has an affair when travels to the Bay Area for business. In the movie, the nameless woman is featured for only brief flash, running into the eponymous quad late in the film, and saying "hi Bob" with a flirty smile before walking past them.  Carol reads the situation with complete clarity, so when Alice asks "Who was that?" Carol answers "San Francisco" without skipping a beat.  Soon thereafter, we get the scene where Ted (played by Elliot Gould) wants to order a glass of water for Alice at the fast food drive-thru, but they keep trying to sell him bonus burgers and the like.  Riveting stuff, but I digress.

In one of the funnier lines, Bob defends San Francisco's intelligence: "she has a Master's from Berkeley." Much of the humor in Bob's line derives from its facial absurdity, the idea that possession of an advanced academic degree is proof of intelligence, even though Bob probably truly thinks that way.  Likewise, our San Francisco seems to be very thoughtful and open-minded -- an indigo frog, if you will -- but Horst will likely remain the brains behind the commune. Bob, meanwhile, will continue to gorge himself on crickets.

Have Trixie and I seen this movie too much?  Perhaps, but maybe you haven't seen it enough.  So, put it in your Netflix queue and give some thought as to what we should name our next frog. (Emilio the waiter?)

Frog Friday! Ludisia Edition

Horst and Bob stand on the jewel orchid (Ludisia discolor) I brought home from my orchid society.  Erich Michel is an accredited AOS judge with deep, deep, knowledge of multiple orchid genera.  He runs Michel Orchid Nursery where you can find crazy beautiful Habenerias.

Honestly, I regretted the purchase when I first brought it home.  It was potted in sphagnum moss and I always killed plants in sphagnum (that's negative thinking, I know, but it was also an empirical fact).  The first week was rough and it seemed all out of sorts with my watering routines.  A push and pull effect structures my watering: I water "when the plants need watering," but my regular life and work require some watering patterns slightly out of step with the plants' needs.  The Ludisia seemed to resent whatever I was doing.

I repotted it and placed it with the frogs.  Now, I absolutely love it.  The frogs also love it.  The crickets move along the coconut husk basket that houses the orchid, giving the frogs multiple points of attack.  Horst and Bob like to wait on top.  Carol, Alice, and Ted like to stay in the water around the basket to pick off the crickets that escape from above.  The plant appreciates the high humidity, and I like the fact that I can water it with a spray bottle.  I can definitely envision another jewel orchid in my future, and I think the frogs can, too.

 

Frog Friday! Sunbeam Style

Riley reaches over the Philodendron to bat at the frogs.  I'm painting the orchid room Sunbeam yellow and taking off the popcorn ceiling.  It's a Labor Day weekend project that's stretched into the week.  As a result, we've moved the orchids to the kitchen area and the frogs in the office.  This has given the cats unprecedented access to the frog vivarium and Riley, especially, is taking advantage of it.


I don't have natural home decorating impulses, so sometimes it takes some kind of interference or change for me to realize the ideal place for everything.  The reviews are in and the new location for the frogs is a big hit.  They're staying.  Riley will keep them in line.

Frog Friday!

 Carol is shown here moving past the Ceratostylis retisquama. It's recently sent out another leaf, but there are no signs of it flowering.  It's come a long way since the last time Carol struck this pose, but it has a lot more grow before it looks like this. It's in the frog's hands now....

Frog Friday! Double Rainbow Tribute Edition

Stop!  Spoiler Alert! There's a little viral video homework needed in order to appreciate fully this particular Frog Friday.  You first must join the millions of people who have seen the Crazy Double Rainbow Guy video (and you need to see the whole thing).  Then, you should treat yourself to the original Double Rainbow song.

All caught up?  Well, the Cats and Catts house has decided to join the Double Rainbow meme, Frog Friday style.  Our contribution is a montage of our fire-bellied toads Bob, Carol, Ted, Alice (not featured), and Horst having lunch. 

It’s set to my four favorite versions of the Double Rainbow song (originally performed by the sensational YouTube quartet schmoyoho).These versions include Pro2theXreeM’s haunting piano work, Details1 and his straight-ahead, heartfelt guitar/vocal version, Jeannette84xx’s  wonderful piano/vocal number, and Thecolourofinfinity’s up-tempo dance remix.  These videos (listed below) have brought the Cats and Catts family immense happiness in the last few days.  Here, we need to give credit to Paul Vasquez (aka “Yosemite Bear,” aka “Double Rainbow Guy”) who captured his raw emotions and shared them with the world. 

Changing the subject, you might wonder why are the crickets are white.  I dust the crickets with vitamin powder every week or so and it makes them chalky white.  It also makes them stand out nicely against the background.  I’m still working on getting a nice clear shot of the feeding process, but I hope the carnage and rainbows make up for the lack of film quality.  Thanks for watching!

Frog Friday! A Minute with Horst

In today's Frog Friday! Horst, the newest member of our fire-bellied toad commune, pursues a few crickets we've dropped within his range.  Some escape, while others meet a brutal fate -- it's a tense 60-plus seconds, all set to funky dance music.

Frog Friday! The Full Frog Clean

Bob stares through the wall of his temporary plastic cage and thinks about frolicking among the slipper orchids.  Once a month, I put the frogs in a temporary holding center and thoroughly clean their tank.  I wash and scrub the rocks, clean the glass, and reassemble the vivarium with fresh water.  

This is undoubtedly traumatic for the frogs, though it's a necessary part of their health and upkeep.  To make the process more humane, I've decided to place the temporary frog cage in with the orchids.  The frog have their own orchids, but the scenic distraction might be just what they need during their once-a-month room service.

Frog Friday! Crickets 1, Barkerias 0

Frogs were my original concern with growing miniature orchids in the vivarium.  I was worried that one of the fat ones like Bob or Alice would crush the delicate plants.  I didn't anticipate the cricket factor.

The frogs like small crickets, but sometimes the crickets grow up too fast and/or "medium" or "large" crickets sneak in with the "smalls." As Trixie explains, the crickets live on a strict diet of fruits and vegetables, but they're not opposed to eating air roots or plant leaves if it comes to it. 


Recently, some larger crickets infiltrated the vivarium and laid waste to the Barkerias.  It was brutal.  The Bulbophyllum flavescens and the Certostylis retisquama remain untouched and healthy, which is something I need to keep in mind when I buy more orchids for the vivarium.  Stick with what's working.  

I've struggled with the Barkerias in the recent past but the crickets ultimately sealed their fate.  Some orchid scientists, like Dr. Robert Marsh, think Barkerias will be the next big thing.  They might be.  The genus has a number of attractive features, but keep the crickets away!

Frog Friday! The Lost Frog Edition

Does Alice (left) ever think about extinction?  The supply of crickets must be constantly on her mind, but existential obliteration is probably too heavy to contemplate.

This week, Australian officials confirmed that a species of yellow-spotted bell frogs -- thought to have been extinct for thirty years -- was found in rural Australia.  Luke Pearce, a fisheries conservation officer, found one of the frogs in October 2008 while researching an endangered fish.  He returned to the spot a year later with a team of experts.  They found 100 of the yellow-spotted frogs in the same location.  The New South Wales Environment Minister compared the finding to the hypothetical rediscovery of the Tasmanian tiger.  Australian scientists have started a breeding program to revive the lost species.

Other frogs aren't so lucky.  About 170 frog species have disappeared in the last decade.  The continued survival of almost 2,000 species are threatened.  This is bad, not just for frogs and frog fans, but for science and medicine.  For instance, the Austrailian red-eyed tree frog (Litoria chloris) secretes peptides that block HIV infection of T cells.  Poison from an extremely cute-looking Ecuadoran frog called Epibpedobates tricolor has been used to develop new painkillers. 

Lan Lan mentioned that there's some kind of fungus that has devastated frogs and other amphibians across the globe.  I asked her about current conservation efforts, and I suspect she'll have a full report for us in a few weeks.   

Frog Friday! The Cricket Edition

Trixie has generously agreed to share her insights into the difficult task of maintaining the crickets:

Feeding and Care of the Frog Food 

by Trixie, February 2010 

When crickets arrive at the store, they are basically dry, hungry husks.  They need to be fattened up (aka “gut fed”) before they are fed to the frogs.  The frogs get all their nutrition from the baby cricks, so we need to make sure their bellies are full of fresh fruits and vegetables, and sometimes a little calcium powder on top, before they are fed to the frogs.

Healthy frogs are fat and round.  Our frogs are healthy, and growing plumper by the day.  Bob is our roundest frog, recently looking like he swallowed a half dollar.  Carol is the second fattest; a big, healthy gal.  Alice and Ted both appear the same size they were when they moved into our frog commune, months ago.  Horst is our tiniest frog, but he often grabs four crickets at one feeding.   Our other kids are typically satisfied with one or two baby crickets a day.  So, if you do the math, that’s about a dozen crickets a day.   Eighty-some a week.  

We started our adventure, we had Bob and Carol.  Their food needs were minimal. We bought our cricks two dozen at a time, in a little bag with some pieces of egg crate to keep them from stepping on each other and crushing their little dry bodies.   We kept them in a cute little cage.   We fed them carrots.  It was a simple time.  

Soon, we added Ted and Alice to our family.  But double the frogs equal double the crickets.   Suddenly, our cricket needs were in the dozens every week.  There were multiple learning moments while transferring the crickets from the bag to the boxes. The kitties loved the sudden opportunities for hunting, stalking, and pouncing on the escapees.   The lazy ones spent their short lives munching on carrots, safely nestled in a few pieces of egg crate.

  

But then, we added a fifth frog: Horst.  Horst is a very hungry hopper, often feasting on four cricks per feeding.  Suddenly, buying crickets by the dozen became impractical.  The wonderful employees at Pet World suggested that buying crickets by the thousand would be a cheaper and make for fewer trips to the pet store. 

Before we brought the box-o-thousand-crickets home, we created a bigger home.  My new research shows that our frogs require a more varied diet than just carrots, so I bought kale, potatoes, apples and carrots for the feeders.  I prepared a huge plastic bin with everything 1000 crickets could ever want.  I layered egg crates, empty toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, and cardboard scraps, ensuring that the cricks would have a safe and happy place to await their execution.  

Picking up 1000 crickets made me realize….that is a lot of crickets!  In a very tiny box.   I brought the box home, opened it, and promptly let loose a small army of crickets upon our office.  The carpet pulsed with crickety life.  After some serious attempts at capturing the runners, I left it to the cats to clean up my mess.  I need to develop a better system of transferring the load of crickets into the cage. 

The 950 some crickets that made the transfer without incident were undoubtedly delighted with the bounty I laid out for them.  They were gutted overnight, and the next day, the frogs were treated to the healthiest food this side of nature.  

Most mornings, we open the lid on the big bin of cricks, pull up a piece of egg crating that is full of live ones, and funnel them into a large beer glass.  They ate their last supper, and their lives end shortly after being unceremoniously dumped into the frog homestead.  

  Many are picked off immediately, courtesy of Horst.   Some head for the top of the bark, and get a brief reprieve.  But the five frogs can climb, and no cricket lives for long in the commune.  25 days later, the cycle starts again, with a new box of crickets.

 

Frog Friday!

Alice crawls past the Certostylis, away from the Onc. velutinum.  This photo was taken during September shortly after my purchase, back when it was looking hale.  Now, the Oncidium is on my RIP list after a tough few months.  It was difficult to figure out what it liked.  It needed consistent watering because it's mounted, but it was in a high humidity environment so maybe it didn't need as much watering as I thought.  Complicating matters, crickets ate chunks from the main leaves, hasting its death.  We experienced a short period where we had too many large crickets in with the frogs and they went after that plant in particular.  

In any case, I certainly couldn't trust Alice to watch over it.  She's only interested in crickets and the scenic view.

Frog Friday!

Above the fog, pushing her way past the Bulbophyllum, Alice contemplates jumping into the ultrasoinc mister. We have it set to bathe the frogs and the orchids at regular intervals for about four hours a day total. Almost all of the frogs have climbed up on the ledge and dropped into the foggy pool while the ultrasonic mister is on. It seems like the thing to do. The frogs and most of the orchids love it, but the one featured here is getting too much of a good thing. You can see rot begin to form on the bottom right root. It’s simply getting too much water in this location.

So, we moved it to a higher and drier place on the frog wall. The baby in question is a Barkeria whartoniana about two years from flowering. Barkeria whartoniana is very rare in the wild and is only found in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca Mexico. I bought mine from Clackamas Orchids. It grows on rocks in dry and hot conditions, so its initial placement on the frog wall invited all sorts of problems.  Barkerias also need to dry out during the winter.  I've mounted it on the other side of the orchid wall, away from the fogger, and it has recovered nicely.

Frog Friday!

This aerial shot shows all of the frogs out to play.  You'll notice that we've added a fifth. Horst is an European Fire-Bellied Toad (the others are Asian Fire-Bellied Toads).  Horst appears to be integrating into the commune nicely.  In the upper right corner, you can see the flowers of the Bulbophyllum flavescens, which made an appearance during the last Frog Friday.  It has fewer than ten flowers, but it's still pretty exciting.  I'm having a hard time adjusting my camera settings so I can focus on the flowers.  Until I figure it out, you can take a look at this photo from Orchidspecies.com for a closeup.  My Bulbophyllum flavescens gives me hope that the other miniatures are doing okay and -- like the fresh presence of Horst -- it's another fun and exotic element of the vivarium. 

Frog Friday!

In the photo on the left, Ted sits next to a Bulbophyllum flavescens. It’s a good spot because some of the crickets escape into the bark and moss during the morning feeding, and Ted definitely has the patience to wait until they emerge. We distinguish him from Bob because he has two green dots on his back that echo Elliot Gould’s hairy back (as seen in the film Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice). The Bulbophyllum flavescens is a miniature orchid found in the Philippines, Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, and the Cats and Catts vivarium. I purchased it from the good people at Clackamas Orchids. 

The photo on the right shows Ted sitting on the Pluerothallis, staring at the Bulbophyllum.  Maybe he's looking at the spike poke out underneath the left-most leaf of the Bulbophyllum? I was a little worried that Ted was going to crush these small plants during an afternoon cricket hunt but, as of this writing, he's left the spike alone, it's extended a couple of centimeters, and I think its tiny flowers are about to open.  Stay tuned . . . 

Frog Friday!

Here’s Carol negotiating the top of a Ceratostylis retisquama, a small orchid from the Philippines with bright orange flowers. Carol is an oriental fire-bellied toad from Pet World. In this photo, the plant is tied to the bark with string, but I’ve since replaced the string with netting to hold down the moss more effectively. At this point, I’m just hoping that it establishes itself in the bark and that it can live in harmony with the frogs.