Dart frog care?

[Kurt]

My success in darts is limited, so if there is anyone that is more informed, please feel to drop into the conversation and correct me if so needed.

First, for the most part you do have to raise your own food. That generally means fruit flies. Its easy enough, but the trick is to do it so you have a steady supply to feed out to your frogs. More often than not its a case of feast or famine. It has only been in the last six months that I have managed keep things going the way they should be. You have to know what species of fruit fly you are dealing with and how long it takes for that species to mature for you take make sure this happens.

Second, since you are limiting your frogs diet to foods you can readily supply like fruit flies, it will not have the proper nutrition it needs. So you will have to dust the fruit flies. Not the easiest thing to do. The one mistake I made was the supplements I was using were deficient in Vitamin A and so I lost most of my darts to this deficinecy. They would thin out and die. Since I am making sure that Vitamin A is supplied regularly to my frogs, my one surviving dart is thriving and gaining weight. I wish I knew about this problem before I lost the others.

Also dart frogs are know to drown easily and they can be very territorial. So they will need shallow water sources and lots of room. Thats why I have not run out to get my one surviving dart a buddy. Its funny the smaller the dart frog species the more territorial it seems to be. I know this to be true of Oophaga pumilio, a very expensive species.

Treefrogs seem to be much more forgiving than darts in the previous respects and I have excelled at their care. Darts I am still a little bit shakey, but I believe I am finally on track with the last of my darts, an "azureus".

[Crystal6]

My success in darts is limited, so if there is anyone that is more informed, please feel to drop into the conversation and correct me if so needed.

First, for the most part you do have to raise your own food. That generally means fruit flies. Its easy enough, but the trick is to do it so you have a steady supply to feed out to your frogs. More often than not its a case of feast or famine. It has only been in the last six months that I have managed keep things going the way they should be. You have to know what species of fruit fly you are dealing with and how long it takes for that species to mature for you take make sure this happens.

Second, since you are limiting your frogs diet to foods you can readily supply like fruit flies, it will not have the proper nutrition it needs. So you will have to dust the fruit flies. Not the easiest thing to do. The one mistake I made was the supplements I was using were deficient in Vitamin A and so I lost most of my darts to this deficinecy. They would thin out and die. Since I am making sure that Vitamin A is supplied regularly to my frogs, my one surviving dart is thriving and gaining weight. I wish I knew about this problem before I lost the others.

Also dart frogs are know to drown easily and they can be very territorial. So they will need shallow water sources and lots of room. Thats why I have not run out to get my one surviving dart a buddy. Its funny the smaller the dart frog species the more territorial it seems to be. I know this to be true of Oophaga pumilio, a very expensive species.

Treefrogs seem to be much more forgiving than darts in the previous respects and I have excelled at their care. Darts I am still a little bit shakey, but I believe I am finally on track with the last of my darts, an "azureus".

Could I keep dart frogs alive with small crickets? (I have 2 ten gallons. One uses a 150 watt and the other a 100 watt. Thus I always have a supply of crickets of almost every age.)

[Kurt]

Should be able to, as long as you are gut loading and dusting them. Fruit flies and bean weevils are both easy to culture, so keep that in mind. The more variety you feed to your frogs, the better.

[Crystal6]

Should be able to, as long as you are gut loading and dusting them. Fruit flies and bean weevils are both easy to culture, so keep that in mind. The more variety you feed to your frogs, the better.

My problem is my cricket population is getting kinda huge. I'm afraid I'm going to run out of ten gallon for them. You might think "just put some of them in a bag in the freezer" but... I'm not a fan of killing them. For food at least they're being used as nourishment to keep another creature alive but outside of that I don't like watching one die. (Yeah I know. Don't get sympathetic for the food. I think they're cute just like I think a frog or toad is cute)

Anyways! Poison dart frogs! How many can you keep in a ten gallon? How many can you keep in a twenty gallon?

[Kurt]

Depends on the species. I am no expert on dart frog compatability. I only have the one dart. What species are you interested in getting?

[Crystal6]

Depends on the species. I am no expert on dart frog compatability. I only have the one dart. What species are you interested in getting?

D. auratus or D. leucomelas? *hasn't decided due to being unsure what I will be able to find/care for*

[Kurt]

Those are both easy species to care for, relatively speaking. As far as territorial issues are concerned, I cannot advise you. Perhaps John or Ray (stemcellular) can.

[John]

Firstly, what makes dart frogs challenging is that they are not very forgiving of mistakes. Unless you can maintain very high humidity, a stable temperature window of no lower than 65 F at night (about 18 degrees Celsius) and no higher than about 80 F during the day (about 27 degrees C), don't consider it. Also, you will need almost daily supplies of very small live food. For the vast majority of dart frog enthusiasts this means culturing your own fruit flies.

Anyways! Poison dart frogs! How many can you keep in a ten gallon? How many can you keep in a twenty gallon?

It's not that simple. There are many different kinds of dart frog and some require large areas to move around (some examples: Golden Poison Dart Frogs - Phyllobates terribilis, also Dyeing Poison Dart Frogs - Dendrobates tinctorious) , some are arboreal (most thumbnail species like the Imitating Dart Frog - Dendrobates/Ranitomeya imitator), some are extremely territorial (Dyeing Poison Dart Frog is the best example - females literally kill each other), or a mixture of all of the above.

Probably the most forgiving to start off with would be one of the races/morphs of Dyeing Poison Dart Frog, Dendrobates tinctorious. You could keep a pair in a 10g tank if it's landscaped correctly, but never more than 1 female unless you have a huge tank like a 75g. Since we currently don't have any dart frog care articles, I recommend you read Devin Edmond's excellent beginners guide.

[Crystal6]

Firstly, what makes dart frogs challenging is that they are not very forgiving of mistakes. Unless you can maintain very high humidity, a stable temperature window of no lower than 65 F at night (about 18 degrees Celsius) and no higher than about 80 F during the day (about 27 degrees C), don't consider it. Also, you will need almost daily supplies of very small live food. For the vast majority of dart frog enthusiasts this means culturing your own fruit flies.


It's not that simple. There are many different kinds of dart frog and some require large areas to move around (some examples: Golden Poison Dart Frogs - Phyllobates terribilis, also Dyeing Poison Dart Frogs - Dendrobates tinctorious) , some are arboreal (most thumbnail species like the Imitating Dart Frog - Dendrobates/Ranitomeya imitator), some are extremely territorial (Dyeing Poison Dart Frog is the best example - females literally kill each other), or a mixture of all of the above.

Probably the most forgiving to start off with would be one of the races/morphs of Dyeing Poison Dart Frog, Dendrobates tinctorious. You could keep a pair in a 10g tank if it's landscaped correctly, but never more than 1 female unless you have a huge tank like a 75g. Since we currently don't have any dart frog care articles, I recommend you read Devin Edmond's excellent beginners guide.

O_O Ah. Ty. So these eat a lot more frequently then White's Treefrogs?

[Kurt]

Yes, they do. They are also diurnal.

[Crystal6]

Since we currently don't have any dart frog care articles, I recommend you read Devin Edmond's excellent beginners guide.

Thanks for the reading. I was relying on Doyles Dart Den.

This makes me ask: Where do I get a heat pad? They were recommended for crickets for my new aquarium, and now for poison darts. Yet I can never seem to find one on the internet.

[John]

I keep the frog room at about 65 F (18 degrees C) at night and let the lights above the terraria warm them into the 70s (early to mid 20s) during the day - I use fluorescent lights. Actually the space heater is situated low down in the room, so the terraria, being above the heater, are more like 68 F (20 C) at night. A similar arrangement may work for you.

I've never heated darts using a heatpad so I don't know how that would work out. You certainly couldn't do it from underneath - instead you'd have to use a waterproof heat cable with a thermostat.

[firefly]

My problem is my cricket population is getting kinda huge. I'm afraid I'm going to run out of ten gallon for them. You might think "just put some of them in a bag in the freezer" but... I'm not a fan of killing them.)

You could always do what I do when the food insects get too big, take them back to your pet store & let them have them back for their larger stock to eat. Sometimes they will give you something in return, but if not then at least they're not wasted.

My hoppers rapidly get too big for my tiny toads, so they exchange for a new tub of 3rd instars free which is great.

Just a suggestion