4 Aug 03
Hi folks,
My name is Yuri Huta. I have been married to a very herp hobby
supporting wife for 11 years. Presently we live in Silver Spring, MD
(outside of Washington, DC), but we are itching to move further north.
I work as a photographer, although I studied physical anthropology and
environmental science at the University of Toronto (where I was born
and raised). The photography job has taken me to Ecuador several times
(3 months out of the past year) and I was able to see dendrobatids on
their turf - quite amazing.
Ever since I can remember I would have jars and buckets, later
aquariums filled with anything that moved. My parents were always very
supportive of all the critters in my room. My mother has taken two
months off in the last year to come down and tend to the frogs (geckos,
cats and dog) while we were in Ecuador. Ever since I purchased
Zimmermans guide to keeping terrarium animals, and read and then
re-read their chapters on dendrobatids and their fascinating behaviour,
I wanted to try and work with them. My official foray into dendrobatids
started fairly recently. I started by volunteering with Ed Smith,
Amazonia, National Zoo and worked with their dendrobatid frog display.
Ed is a great teacher and a great friend. He taught me a lot about
keeping, feeding and breeding these frogs, and a lot about the Amazon.
That started two and a half years ago and that gave me enough
confidence to actually get some of these amazing frogs.
Presently I have a small collection that keeps me very busy. Some of
what I keep now:
D. auratus - green and black (have morphed several dozen froglets) D. ventrimaculatus (have morphed some frogs) D. azureus (two sub adults)
I am also expecting the following from trades:
D. auratus - dark blue from trade with Michael Shrom
D. azureus - trade with Michael Shrom
D. amazonicus - trade with Sean Stewart
I started lurking on frognet a few years ago and have learned a great
deal from the people here as well as from IADs, back issues of ADG
newsletters, British Dendrobatid Group's web and journal, Vivarium and
other herp related magazines.
Yuri
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