WILDWALK @ POISON ARROW FROG DISPLAY Danny Tainton Head Keeper, Wildwalk(r) Wildwalk@ is situated at the Bristol Harbour side, England and is an audio-visual journey through the 4.6 billion year history of life on earth. It takes visitors through the various mass extinctions that have occurred, showing the processes of evolution from the very beginnings of life on earth to the development of mammals. About halfway through the tour, visitors come face to face with some of our more colourful attractions, the Poison Arrow Frog display in the Amphibian area. Along with live exhibits, there is video footage showing the variety of amphibian life that exists today plus models explaining the evolution theory of fish to amphibians to reptiles. A hole in the wall gives children the opportunity to feel a latex imitation of the skin of an amphibian. There is also an interactive game where the young can try to attract a mate before a bat swoops down and carries them off. Display description The display itself is a 93cm wide x 78cm deep x 113cm high glass fronted, one-third glass-sided fibreglass unit with a 160watt Philips Powertone light, which also mildly heats the tank. An additional 50watt dicroic lamp is used to spotlight the feeding dish. The backdrop is two trees either side with acid-etched foam implanted with bromeliads. Water is drip fed into a 300mm x 20mm ceramic dish. Mist is provided using a Viva Coolmist unit with an inbuilt 3-litre Reverse Osmosis water reservoir, which is changed every 3 days. It has an inbuilt timer (2hr/4hr/continuous), humidity setting (10% increments from 0-100%) plus 2 misting levels (half and full power). The mist is fed into the top right hand corner, above one of the trees so it cascades down onto the forest floor. The substrate is 5cm Hortag plus 5cm bark chip compost. Moss is colonising most of the floor from a piece of rotting wood collected locally. Access is from the back via a hidden panel cut out of the foam with a well planted bromeliad planted in the centre though restricted access is possible from above as the mesh lid can be removed. Daily spraying is carried out between 10 and 11am and topped up if required throughout the day. Meshed ventilation panels are located at the base of each tree, on the sides of the display either side for maximum airflow. The diet is a mixture of Drosophila and pinhead Acheta, dusted with Nutrobal and fed after the morning spray. All animals were obtained from Nature by Design, Chester (Ben Baker) in July 2000 and consist of: - Dendrobates azureus 1:3, Dendrobates tinctorius (Tafelberg/Acreija) 1:1:1 Dendrobates auratus (Costa Rica) 1:3:1, Epipedobates tricolor (Santa Isabella) 1:1 Breeding Successes In January 2001, we had 2 clutches of D. tinctorius laid on show. All but 3 eggs rotted in the first week and by the second week only one remained. This egg developed normally and when it emerged I set up a small pot half full with Reverse Osmosis water. Using a wetted paintbrush, I transferred the tadpole to the pot and moved it to our back up breeding room. A powdered diet was mixed up based on a diet used by Ben Baker of Nature by Design (1 part Spirulina powder: 6 parts fish flake: 2 part Nutrobal: 2 part-ground cuttlefish bone). On 11th April, a tiny froglet (named "Fat Boy Slim" FBS) was seen, perfectly formed, perched on a pebble. A rearing tank was set up for the froglet and several months later it was put on show with the others. No more clutches were seen all year. On 1st February 2002, 1:1 D. auratus were taken off show & put into a purpose built tank in the backup using a coconut igloo and film case set-up. The first clutch (12 eggs) was noted on 8th March, with a further four clutches produced during the rest of March and eight in total to date. The tadpole diet used was as described above. Despite mould problems on a few clutches, at present we are rearing 27 tadpoles at various degrees of development with our first folly developed froglet emerging on 13th May. And Finally Any members who visit either Wildwalk@, Explore (Hands-on science centre) or the IMAX cinema can feel free to give me a call. I will be happy to chat about our frogs and perhaps, if there is time, I can show them our off-show breeding facilities.