A few dart frog questions?

[Allthingswithscales]

Thanks JimO! This was so informative and I appreciate so much. You were extremely helpful! One question though when it comes to the interbreeding risk. Wouldn't they need a large area of standing water to breed for tadpoles? Regardless they seem a lot easier than I thought and as they don't take up much space I can probably just get additional critter keepers for addition frogs! I actually did end up bringing one home today from the expo, a slightly older blue one and he or she seems to be settling into the new habitat very nicely and is active and curious. I went with a a small 5 gallon tank my cousin loaned me and it's filled with moist substrate, lots of moss and a plastic plant to hide under. I even got some springtails that apparently will help keep the tank clean. I have a little bit of plastic wrap on the top to hold in humidity like I do with my pacman frog and tomato frogs. Your guidance here is going to help a lot! I'll post some pictures later!

[JimO]

Actually, most dart frogs lay their eggs on damp surfaces, like fallen leaves in the wild. After they hatch, the parents let them climb on their backs and transport them to a pool of water. In captivity, most people put a petri dish in the vivarium and cover it with a "coconut hut" for them to lay and fertilize the eggs. A coconut hut is a half coconut shell with an opening cut on one side. The eggs are removed and the tadpoles placed in a grow-out pool after they hatch. Anyway, if you don't remove the eggs and there is no pool of water, the tadpoles won't survive.

There are great tutorial videos on YouTube showing how to breed them and raise the tadpoles. Black Jungle Terrarium Supply has a really good series on caring for dart frogs. This is the one on caring for tadpoles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5sb6epTqzo


Also, you should plan on one square foot of space for each adult frog, so a 5-gal container might not be big enough for one frog, but it's definitely too small for more than one.

Thanks JimO! This was so informative and I appreciate so much. You were extremely helpful! One question though when it comes to the interbreeding risk. Wouldn't they need a large area of standing water to breed for tadpoles? Regardless they seem a lot easier than I thought and as they don't take up much space I can probably just get additional critter keepers for addition frogs! I actually did end up bringing one home today from the expo, a slightly older blue one and he or she seems to be settling into the new habitat very nicely and is active and curious. I went with a a small 5 gallon tank my cousin loaned me and it's filled with moist substrate, lots of moss and a plastic plant to hide under. I even got some springtails that apparently will help keep the tank clean. I have a little bit of plastic wrap on the top to hold in humidity like I do with my pacman frog and tomato frogs. Your guidance here is going to help a lot! I'll post some pictures later!

[Allthingswithscales]

Oh wow! That is actually really cool! I don't really know if I'd personally breed them but I'd love to see that. I'm totally going to watch in the minute. That is really unique! I love the thought of the parents carrying them. And yeah the 5 gallon is a temporary arrangement for the most part and he's pretty small. I'm thinking of looking for at least a 10 gallon or maybe even one of those special made terrariums that open from the front. I use those for my bearded dragon and tarantulas.

[JimO]

This is one of my favorite photos. It's a male pumilio and two of the tadpoles have climbed on his back with two others waiting. This species actually raises its own tadpoles in bromiliad pools. The tadpoles can only survive on unfertilized eggs that the mother lays in each bromiliad. These are small species - with adults about the size of juveniles leucomela or auratus. I had pretty good success with this pair.

[Allthingswithscales]

Wow that is incredible! What an amazing shot! It's not often I've seen parental care in amphibians. The only other one I knew about until now was the African bullfrog