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  1. #21
    BPnet Veteran AAronCap's Avatar
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    Re: The Woods Vivarium

    An update on the toads, plants, business meetings, and more...

    Before I start this update post on the upcoming 225 gallon (96x18x30), I just wanted to explain what I am trying to accomplish from an educational and entertaining perspective. I am pursuing a research degree in herpetology to work with my favorite animals frogs! My specific interest is in northeastern species especially the American toad, wood frog, and gray tree frog. I want to research reproduction, relationship, and habitat/behavior of these frogs and toad. I am very invested in the climate of the northeast with the diverse ecosystems and I am hard at work with conservation of these species as a citizen scientist and college student.

    I am very interested in working with and conserving the habitat just as much as the animals and I might minor or dabble in bog plants and conservation for bogs and wetlands. I am very interested in the plants and the invertebrates that are vital to the frogs and toads. I see so many incredible places, and get excited observing some plants and invertebrates almost as much as the frogs and toads. I believe the creatures I'm passionate about are misunderstood and if people could see them up close and develop a relationship with them they would care and maybe have a new perspective.

    I have a history of public speaking, video work, and even own a YouTube channel that I used at first to share my pets with the world just for fun. But then I started a conservation project I called "Frog Week" and realized that there is so much more that I can do while still enjoying my pet frogs. Since I have been working on the conservation project I realized how I could create stories to share with you and the world about the creatures and ecosystem that I am drawn to. I already had many pieces to create something special, so I kept thinking about how I could utilize my rescued pet toads and incorporate them into a captive based conservation project. I've been trying to deworm my toads for 3 years to eventually get them all together and live in a decently sized enclosure like they used to live together in before, and as I've been seeing progress in their health and my vision I got the idea to create this project.

    This project is aimed at education and entertainment for viewers and readers to observe these creatures in a different perspective. BBC America's Planet Earth and YouTube channel Antscanada created a lot of inspiration for the construction of this project. One goal is to get people to care about an animal that has a name and personality and tell that animal's story. My project will focus on all of the plants and animals in the setup and that make the exhibit's ecosystem fluid, but it will also focus on my female American toad Ace. I think she could be the perfect representative of her species because of her personality and her story. She's been through so much. The fight to save her life a few years ago was the final push I needed to officially pursue herpetology and I haven't looked back. I'll save some of the details about this story for closer to when I am constructing the enclosure.

    This is just an introduction for new readers and a clearer description and refresher for returning readers. Now on with the update. It will be sorta shorter because of the refresher up top.

    Finally my toads all have soil and are looking to be parasite free completely. The two males Pious and Wellsboro pictured together are parasite free and will go in August for most likely the last test to confirm they are parasite free. They are doing well.

    Navi has soil and she's looking beautiful and better now. She's been the worst with parasites but I'm hoping that changes. She has to still have 3 tests come back negative before the final one to certify she is healthy and can join the boys. She's got the farthest to go.

    Ace has I believe one or two negative tests so she's much closer to being free of the parasites that almost killed her, and getting ready to receive her 225 gallon. She will not join the other toads when she's healthy until they all enter the 225 gallon because she's a little bit greedy and I can feed everyone better in a big tank than a smaller temporary tank. I've learned when Ace is in a smaller space she doesn't share but in a larger space she is easier going.

    All the toads have a vet appointment August 5th which will determine many factors. Let's hope for all negative fecal tests so things can move forward for these toads.

    As I stated above I care about the invertebrates and plants as well. Queen Laurel my queen carpenter ant is still thriving with larvae and eggs. She's going to contribute mightily to the exhibit's ecosystem when her colony establishes. I'll have to get a picture of her soon!

    The blueberry bushes have blueberries on them! I am hopeful that I can grow native blueberry bushes in the setup because they are one of my favorite native plants and it's a super food for the vivarium inhabitants. Many of the other plants are doing well, but there are some plants I'm keeping a secret from telling you because I want to have some excited and surprise when this project is up and running.

    I have meetings with Josh's Frogs and a northeastern plant nursery that propogates native species coming up soon.

    Josh's Frogs and MistKing have supported and donated to this project with some cool stuff. I am looking for investors and supporters in this captive conservation project.

    I have made my decision to use two BlackMagic Pocket 6K Cinema Cameras to film the action. The Laowa Cine 24mm Probe lens and Laowa 15mm Macro lens will be two of the three primary lenses. I'm hoping to get the Canon 18-80mm servo lens to use. These three lenses on a 6K camera will showcase breathtaking scenes fot this upcoming story.

    More information coming soon!

    Sent from my BKL-L04 using Tapatalk
    Last edited by AAronCap; 07-03-2021 at 01:26 AM.

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  3. #22
    BPnet Veteran nikkubus's Avatar
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    Sounds like you are making some great progress. You didn't label your pics this time. Do you know what kind of carpenter ant that queen is? She is much darker than mine (c. sanabeanus). I wonder how hard it is to find a vet that has much experience with frogs and toads compared to snakes.
    7.22 BP 1.4 corn 1.1 SD retic 0.1 hognose

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  5. #23
    BPnet Veteran AAronCap's Avatar
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    Re: The Woods Vivarium

    Quote Originally Posted by nikkubus View Post
    Sounds like you are making some great progress. You didn't label your pics this time. Do you know what kind of carpenter ant that queen is? She is much darker than mine (c. sanabeanus). I wonder how hard it is to find a vet that has much experience with frogs and toads compared to snakes.
    Thank you! The ant is Camponotus pennsylvanicus. They are everywhere in my region.

    It took years and luck to find the vet I have working on my animals. She's nationally accredited and has saved my animals lives.

    Sent from my BKL-L04 using Tapatalk

  6. #24
    BPnet Veteran AAronCap's Avatar
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    Re: The Woods Vivarium

    Results from the vet and it is indifferent

    The results from the vet were some good and some bad. Ace was negative from parasites. This was the best news from the vet visit. She is healthy and weighs the most she has ever. She's really in great shape so hopefully we can keep her parasite free and ready for her starring role in an upcoming series featuring her.

    Now the bad news is Wellsboro, Pious, and Navi all tested positive for rhabdias eggs and larvae. I have the dewormer and have talked to the vet about being a little bit more aggressive with giving the toads the dewormer more frequently as one of the components to deworm them. Let's hope these three toads can have negative results moving forward from now. Three negative tests is late April. This leads to possibly other bad news.

    With 3/4 toads testing positive for many parasite larvae and eggs it could mean we will have to push the project back. There are other factors we are trying to get in place like some other surprises that need taken care of, getting the B-Cam, the canopy and stand for the 225 gallon, and other accessories. It just looks like it's slightly further away than I thought but it's not over and it's not unattainable. We are closer than we have ever been. The plants look great and are growing in the greenhouse and Queen Laurel is still doing well.

    I will have more in another update soon. Just wanted to give you all the news about how the vet visit went. Let's hope the more aggressive treatment will help speed up the process and the toads will finally be parasite free.

    Sent from my BKL-L04 using Tapatalk

  7. #25
    BPnet Veteran AAronCap's Avatar
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    Re: The Woods Vivarium

    Getting closer...

    In this update I will talk about the health status of the toads, some info on the ants, more info about the 225 gallon, and what I'm thinking moving forward.

    This is the first time ever all of the toads tested negative for parasites. I believe they still probably have them but we have been knocking them down very significantly to be able to get negative results for all of them. They all look great and I'm hoping to keep them in great health for as long as possible.

    I am a little bit unsure of what I'm going to do with the ants. I could release the two colonies that I have now and purchase a carpenter ant colony from a small business in Pennsylvania that sales colonies, or I could try and stick it out and wait for my queen ants to produce offspring. It might be many years though before I can use them as feeders for my animals and that's the one thing that I really would like to speed up but it doesn't seem like it's happening. I don't have very long to decide before it's too cold to let the ants go so I'm in a 7-Day stretch where I'll make my decision. What do you think? Even though I'm attached to my two queen ants do you think I should let them go so they can try and start their own colonies in the wild? Do you think that I should purchase a colony and try to work with a small business for cross promotion and have a carpenter ant colony ready to go for whenever the enclosure is up and running?

    I have a massive update about the status of the 225 gallon. I am actually considering expanding the width by 2 in. Expanding the width by only 2 in makes the enclosure 25 gallons more which is a 250 gallon enclosure. It's not going to cost me an arm and a leg to do this but it will push back a little bit the time before I get the enclosure. Because I'm also getting a stand and a canopy built for this enclosure. I could easily save up the money and do this. I'm thinking about it strongly because I think it would be better for the inhabitants. Remember the toads are not going to be alone but I'm still not ready to announce who or what is joining them in this massive enclosure.

    Some of the biggest supplies for some of the biggest needs for me to be able to film this storyline I am still working on getting. A great b-cam, the actual enclosure, the stand and canopy, a productive ant colony, another cinema lens for the b-cam. Some of these hurdles can easily be overcome, but we are still further away than I would like to be. I have considered using my Sony camera that I have now as the b grade camera and just getting some lenses for it. I'm not sure how nice it will look compared to my pocket 6K cinema camera. It might be a complete mismatch.

    Either way I have some big things to think about before this storyline begins. I have been waiting years for the opportunity to create this type of enclosure and create such a high quality story. The amount of time, money, and energy I have poured into this project I would really like to show you all what I have been working on and I would like to enjoy watching this crazy ecosystem working together in harmony in my room. I can't wait for this project to get off the ground I'm starting to get a little impatient but fingers crossed everybody let's hope that I'm able to get all that I need before we can start the project and hopefully this upcoming year we have something to show for.

    Are you excited to hear that my toads finally are in the best health that they've been in? What are your thoughts on the ant situation? Do you think that I should reveal one more secret about this enclosure in the next update?

    Picture Order:
    Ace
    Wellsboro
    Pious
    Navi



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    Last edited by AAronCap; 09-17-2021 at 12:14 AM.

  8. #26
    BPnet Veteran AAronCap's Avatar
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    Re: The Woods Vivarium

    I just wanted to give a concluding remark about this project...

    I was reading a little bit from when I started this project journal and I can see many good things. Mostly I have grown up, advanced the ideas, grown more knowledgeable as a keeper, and am not as aggressive compared to when I first started. I am not planning on any controversial activities like with breeding my animals and etc. they will go dormant, but I just wanted to go on the record and say that I am not doing everything I posted in 2019. I see now some of what I said could have come across as over the top and arrogant and I just wanted to discuss my stance now.

    This project will continue to go on with building the most advanced northeastern styled ecosystem possibly ever created. I still plan to document and create a story behind the animals and ecosystem. I just wanted to make this post to reflect a little bit from where we started and where we are going.

    I am actually getting closer to getting the custom enclosure completed. The designer will be building a canopy and stand for this enclosure. I am getting very close to creating an outline.

    I’m planning to start a new thread that will feature building the enclosure and possibly keeping it going describing tank maintenance.

    I just wanted to reflect on the beginning of this thread and share what’s next. I will post on here once the building begins for The PA Woods Vivarium.


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