Poison Dart Frog Question

[FrogFreak]

Thanks Kurt!

[Kurt]

You're welcome. Stick to one type of dart frog. The more you have the more likely they are to breed for you. One chart I saw, stated if you have 8 or more the odds of a mated pair are 100%. The best choices for first dart frogs are Dendrobates auratus, D. azureus, D. tinctorius, and D. leucomelas. All relatively hardy, large (for a dart frog,) and outgoing. Dendrobates tinctorius comes in a wide variety of colour morphs, so that may be your first choice. Try not to mix the different colour morphs. You don't want to produce any "mutt" darts.

[Banjo]

This is something you witness in pet shops that either 1) are stuck for space 2) don't know any better. It's not good to keep different species of Dart together for many reasons, firstly due to the chance of breeding but more due to the fact that many species can become aggressive towards others. Some Darts require a little more care than others, whilst some are more hardy. Some are bigger Darts whilst you can obtain smaller species, straight away there is a risk. It would be nice to have a tank full of different species, but it just can't be done with guarantees that they will all be happy or safe.

[jody]

I read they are not poisonous in captivity. what is it that makes them toxic? as aposed to my fire bellys which are always toxic.

[John]

Studies have shown that much of the toxic content of Dendrobatid skin is derived from the food that they consume in their natural habitat. Those in captivity can lose much of their toxicity simply because they don't receive the same foods as their relatives in the wild. I can't say much about fire belly toads but I believe their toxicity is not in the same realm as that of a dart frog, and the toads don't derive their toxins from their food. The other factor to consider is that all fire belly toads are collected from the wild, while many (most?) of the dartfrogs we see for sale are captive bred.

[FrogFreak]

John is right.I read in a book I have that some people went to study the dart frog's habitat and discovered that they got their toxin from ants.The ants where feeding off of certain plants and then the frog eats the ants and gets the substance into itself from the plants the ants ate.

[FrogFreak]

Does anybody know a website that provides a list containing info on the known dart frog species?