Tropical clawed frogs –
what you can’t see can’t hurt you.
Exploiting blind spots.
Providing sufficient shelter for animals in captivity is frequently an important method to improve welfare, however cover may limit the ability to observe animals for health checks. Western clawed frogs (or tropical clawed frogs) are a common model organism, kept in high numbers in laboratories around the world, but there is comparatively little empirical evidence for how best to adequately house this species in captivity.
Cooke (2017) found that a black overhead cover was the optimal method of providing refuge for this species. In a second experiment exploiting the frog’s inability to see certain wavelengths the black cover was swapped for a red translucent cover which was found to be just as effective.
Red translucent covers could therefore be an effective method of providing refuge for the animals whilst simultaneously allowing carers to observe and conduct health checks.
Original research: https://doi.org/10.1177/0023677217737798