VIDEO of LEPTOPELIS ULUGURUENSIS - RUBY EYED TREE FROG

Here are my new additions which are four Ruby Eyed Tree Frogs, sometimes called Bug Eyed Tree Frogs and in the past Cameroon Tree Frogs.

Now I wrongly thought these were Heleophryne or Boophis when I saw them in their tub! Completely threw me and even when I was told they were Ruby Eyed Tree Frogs I thought, well they are NOT Agalychnis which was the first genus name to spring to mind when hearing the common name!

These are a light green with yellow blotches scattered about on their backs with a seemingly bluish colour to their flanks and with deep ruby coloured eyes. Very interesting indeed.

I did a search on my phone, though already decided these were coming home with me and all of them, and was totally shocked to find these belonged to a family I was already familiar withoooor THOUGHT I was!

I have seen Leptopelis many times in the past and I recall three now that you used to see with one being all green, one being all brown and one marbled green and brown. These all had an absolutely identical shape to these guys but the eyes of the other three were all light gold. Whereas mine are a dark Ruby Red, literally a Ruby colour!

To give you an idea of the contrasting colours between the two groups when it comes to eyes someone I knew years ago had been telling me that someone he knew had a Yellow Eyed Tree Frog, Agalychnis annae. I had already started to take photpgraphs on animals on a semi regular basis and one day was told he wanted to sell the frog. I normally do not entertain buying just one of an animals, unless it happens to be a female, but wanting a series of photos I said I would give him the fifty quid he wanted.

We arranged to meet in a friends store and I walked in their was someone I know who used to work for my Dad and I said 'Hi Jamie, how you doing?' to which I then spotted a glass vivarium and I said 'Wait?! Your NOT the guy with the Yellow Eyed Tree Frog?!' to which he said yes and I said 'Uh-oh! OK lets see it then?!' and I knew immediately it was not what he said it was. I knew him well and he was not knowledgable enough on this family of frogs nor did he have the contacts to get ahold of this species. There was a rule that if someone claimed to have something I was very interested in and yet had never seen nor never heard of being owned in the UK then it was normally not here and utter eyewash.

I looked into the glass cage before turning around and saying 'Bloody Yellow Eyed Tree Frogs indeed?! That is a Cameroon Bug Eyed Tree Frog and the Cameroons are in Africa which is several thousand miles away from the Amazon where the Yellow Eyed Tree Frogs come from!

Here is a video and I will do better ones in time and apologies for the lack of light, I will work on that pretty soon.

There should also be a couple of other things arriving soon say in the next month, fingers crossed. PLus I am going to renew my passport soon and have a few little ideas and plans up my sleeve?! ;)