20/02/10 – EDIT – RIP Sparticus who died today. She was only six My pet frogs, Sparticus, Chicu and Kabibi doing their best ‘Cookie Monster’ impression while they eat their dinner! These 3 frogs are all African Clawed Frogs. (Xenopus) This species of frog is completely aquatic. The large white one is a female albino Xenopus Laevis, and the smaller ones are both male Xenopus Mulleri. They live on a diet mainly of frog pellets and occassional earth worms. They have a 20 gallon tank which is really the minimum for two of these frogs, but the boys are much smaller that regular xenopus laevis. They’re all about 4 or 5 years old, and with luck and care could live for another 10 years. Thanks for watching! :3 Links to places where you can purchase frog pellets below: This uk based supplier: shop.pollywog.co.uk USA based supplier: www.xenopus.com Its a website that supplies frogs and food for research but anyone can buy from it. But if neither of them suit, you can feed your frogs on Tetra Reptomin Terrapin pellets. Thats available from most petshops and online pet suppliers. Its important that these pellets are included in the froggies diets as they give the right mix of nutrients for them to stay strong and healthy!{When African clawed frogs are imported into non-native countries, they have the capacity to wreck entire ecosystems by eating native wildlife such as fish and turtles that have no natural defense against these creatures. | In 2007, these frogs invaded a pond in San Francisco, where much debate exists on how to terminate these creatures and keep them from spreading. | It is unknown if these frogs entered the San Francisco ecosystem through intentional release or escape into the wild. | Because these frogs are immune to the fungi Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (a chytridomycota) and BATRACHOCHYTRIUM dendrobatidis has been traced back to the habitat of Xenopus laevis in Africa, many scholars believe it is the source of the worldwide frog population crash. | Due to its extensive use in obstetrics and research, it appears Xenopus laevis has carried BATRACHOCHYTRIUM dendrobatidis with it out of Africa to all over the world, causing chytridomycosis and eventually death in native frogs naïve to the fungi. | Although XENOPUS laevis does not have the short generation time and genetic simplicity generally desired in genetic model organisms, it is an important model organism in developmental biology. | XENOPUS laevis takes 1 to 2 years to reach sexual maturity and, like most of its genus, it is tetraploid. | However, it does have a large and easily manipulable embryo. | The ease of manipulation in amphibian embryos has given them an important place in historical and modern developmental biology. | A related species, Xenopus tropicalis, is now being promoted as a more viable model for genetics. | Roger Wolcott Sperry used XENOPUS laevis for his famous experiments describing the development of the visual system. | These experiments led to the formulation of the Chemoaffinity hypothesis. | These frogs are plentiful in ponds and rivers within the southeastern portion of Sub-Saharan Africa. | They are aquatic and often a yellowish, grey color. | Albino varieties are sold as pets. | They reproduce by eggs. | These frogs tend to live 5 to 15 years but some have been recorded to live to be nearly 30 years. | They shed every season, and eat their own shed skin. | Although lacking a vocal sac, the males make a mating call of alternating long and short trills, by contracting the intrinsic laryngeal muscles. | Most unusually, females also answer vocally, signaling either acceptance (a rapping sound) or rejection (slow ticking) of the male. | They also swim very fast, and can eat smaller fish, such as minnows and guppies. | When they eat, the food is not actually held down very well, and occasionally, the fish, or bug, can actually escape before being forced back into the mouth by the frogXenopus s front hands. | Xenopus oocytes provide an important expression system for molecular biology. | By injecting DNA or mRNA into the oocyte or developing embryo, scientists can study the protein products in a controlled system. | This allows rapid functional expression of manipulated DNAs (or mRNA). | This is particularly useful in electrophysiology, where the ease of recording from the oocyte makes expression of membrane channels attractive. | One challenge of oocyte work is eliminating native proteins that might confound results, such as membrane channels native to the oocyte. | Translation of proteins can be blocked or splicing of pre-mRNA can be modified by injection of Morpholino antisense oligos into the oocyte (for distribution throughout the embryo) or early embryo (for distribution only into daughter cells of the injected cell). | XENOPUS laevis is also notable for its use as the first well-documented method of pregnancy testing when it was discovered that the urine from pregnant women induced XENOPUS laevis oocyte production. | Human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) is a hormone found in substantial quantities in the urine of pregnant women. | Today, commercially available HCG is injected into Xenopus males and females to induce mating behavior and breed these frogs in captivity at any time of the year. | The African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis, also known as platanna) is a species of South African aquatic frog of the genus Xenopus. | It is up to 12 cm long with a flattened head and body, but no external ear or tongue. | Its name derives from the three short claws on each of its hind feet, which it probably uses to stir up mud to hide it from predators. | The genus is found throughout much of Europe, North America, South America and Africa. | The Muller Xenopuss Platanna (Xenopus muelleri) is a species of frog in the Pipidae family. | It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. | Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marches, freshwater springs, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, water storage areas, ponds, open excavations, and canals and ditches. | The AndreXenopus s Clawed Frog (Xenopus andrei) is a species of frog in the Pipidae family. | It is found in Cameroon, Central African Republic, Gabon, possibly Republic of the Congo, possibly Democratic Republic of the Congo, and possibly Equatorial Guinea. | Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, rivers, swamps, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marches, rural gardens, heavily degraded former forest, and ponds. | The MullerXenopus s Platanna (Xenopus muelleri) is a species of frog in the Pipidae family. | It is found in Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. | Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, dry savanna, moist savanna, subtropical or tropical dry shrubland, subtropical or tropical moist shrubland, subtropical or tropical dry lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical seasonally wet or flooded lowland grassland, subtropical or tropical high-altitude grassland, rivers, intermittent rivers, swamps, freshwater lakes, intermittent freshwater lakes, freshwater marshes, intermittent freshwater marches, freshwater springs, arable land, pastureland, rural gardens, water storage areas, ponds, open excavations, and canals and ditches. |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||}