Colorful Mantella's

[Mordecai]

We currently have one right now, (Mantella aurantiaca). He is a very active little guy, or he was up until we moved him to a larger terrarium last week. Now he hides in one spot under some moss almost all day. Would adding more Mantellas possibly provoke him to come out more often, or make him feel safer?

[Kurt]

Give him a chance to settle in. You can add some more Mantella aurantiaca, but quarantine them for 30 days before adding them to the terrarium. Do not add any other mantella species to the mix, stick with aurantiaca.

[Jeff Kennedy]

Hey Kurt, do you know if the Golden Mantella's vary in color from shades of yellow to orange? The one we have right now is a beautiful, vivid orange but we'd love to find a yellow one so that we could tell them apart.

[Kurt]

As far as I know they don't. There were red ones, but I believe the have been reclassified as their own seperate species. That being said, I have never seen the red ones for sale. I think once you get to know your frogs well, you should be able to tell them apart from each otherwithout a problem.

[SethD]

I strongly suggest anyone who wants to keep mantellas and is in a position to do so to work hard at breeding them. They will not be available as wc's forever, if stable captive populations are not established it is a pretty safe bet they will disappear species by species from the hobby over the next 10 years or so, possibly sooner. I would keep more species myself and work toward that end but texas weather is poorly suited to most mantella species and I am not in a position to have a special room kept at 65-70 F or cooler at all times as many species require. Just a few short years ago Mantella aurantiaca was a 15-20 dollar frog and now it is a 50-60 dollar frog. Mantella milotympanum was about the same price or just a bit higher and now it isn't available at all. If your in a position to keep and breed mantellas take the opportunity now before it disappears for good.