Blue-Foot leucs (Cerro Autana)

Blue-Footed leucs (Cerro Autana) are uncommon in the hobby but absolutely beautiful. The first time I saw a picture of one I thought it was the most beautiful frog ever. 

My pictures simply don't show how stunning they are, the blue feet shows differently in different lighting.

We were lucky enough to acquire our frogs by connecting with Zach Brinks (Josh's Frogs "Fauna Curator") and working out a CITES shipment for these frogs (and for our galacs) from his personal collection.  We are very excited to have the opportunity to work with these frogs and help expand their availability into Canada. 

Information being limited on these frogs, I am quoting Zach's research on them. These frogs are "a locale specific morph from the Cerro Autana region of Venezuela. Also known as Autana Mountain, it is located at the western portion of the Guiana Shield near the Colombian border. This form of leucomelas is reportedly found at the base of the mountain." For more of his research I have posted a link below.

These are the first leucs I have had the pleasure of working with. Zach told me that they are a bit shier than other leucs, that they have a quieter call than other leucs (they are still quite loud), and that they are a bit smaller.  They lay 2-6 eggs, so far averaging 4 in a clutch here. Egg care is the same as with other dart frog eggs. 

I have been told blue-foots are harder to breed but we have had a lot of success with our breeding program. Our Blue-Foot were breeding within a year and were harder to get to stop breeding for a break. Because of the success of our breeding program, we have been able to drop the purchase price of these frogs to half of what we paid. We know that some of the offspring to our frogs, that have been placed in new homes, have had successful clutches. It is very exciting to us to know that we are helping to expand the availability and lower the cost of these amazing animals across Canada.

This is a link to a video I posted on Facebook with my leucs in a film canister during a thunderstorm. The male is calling like crazy but unhappy to be in videos so hops away and calls the female to go with him... which eventually she does, just not in this video. 

Here is more information about these frogs for anyone interested in their history into the US hobby, written by Zack Brinks:  https://www.joshsfrogs.com/catalog/blog/2014/01/blue-foot-leucs-success-story/