Pet poison dart frogs

[Tom Highum]

Ooh cool thanks John and Ron I have learned my something for today.

[herpinjim]

If dart frogs got their toxins solely from alkaloids you would be able to feed D auratus the same insects as D terribilis and they would be equally toxic. I assume they process the toxins differently. I have also talked to a couple people who have claimed to have had toxic reactions from captive terribilis.

[Tom Highum]

They were probably wild caught. If wild caught they can keep there poison for a long time but the amount and the potency decreases.

[Ron]

Different types of toxins in auratus and terribilis: I believe auratus contain pumilotixins and terribilis have histrionitoxins. They're not the same thing. Even in the wild you can pick up and handle the vast majority of poison dart frogs--out of the hundreds of different species, there are only three (in the Phyllobates genus) that are would be seriously harmful if handled (and you had a cut that allowed the toxins into your bloodstream, otherwise the particle size is too large to pass through skin).

I doubt the terribilis he handled were wild-caught. They have not been collected and/or imported in years.

[Kurt]

I remember hearing that captive bred P. terribilis were toxic.

[Tom Highum]

Hmm interesting. Do you think they are as poisonous as in the wild?

[Kurt]

I don't really know.

[Purpleskull]

That is actually kind of interesting. I think I asked something related to this in my intro. I guess CB are ok but stresses them out. Do all frogs get stressed?

[Kurt]

They all can become stressed and the degree of stress will depend on the species and the situation.