Anyone keep Poison dart frogs

[Bagged1]

Interested in finding out how your enclosures are set up. Getting ready to make a live vivarium would love to see pics and here about your set ups and husbandry.

[aldebono]

I do.

I have 4 different species and 7 vivariums at the moment. I set mine up with a false bottom and clay background as it is so much easier than using the great stuff and silicone.

Husbandry is 80-100% humidity, 70-80 degrees F (no hotter) during the day and they can easily stand a 10 degree drop at night.

In the hobby's opinion frogs should be kept in same morph, opposite sex pairs. This way eliminates a lot of aggression, cross contamination of pathogens, and hybridization if breeding (they WILL breed). We (the hobby) like to keep our captive animals with the same genetics as they are found in the wild.

You can see some of our frogs pictures by clicking on the frog, that will take you to our facebook page. I will post pics of vivariums in a few minutes, I actually have none on hand!

[cmack91]

...should be kept in same morph, opposite sex pairs.

so when you say this, you mean two frogs per viv? one male one female? or can you have multiple pairs, as long as you have a 1.1 gender ratio?
also, is a 10gal suitable? and, assuming i can have multiple pairs, how many pairs can i have in one 10g?

im not trying to hijack, ive just been curious about these guys, and thought i'd ask since the subject came up

[Bagged1]

No hijack I'm trying to learn as much as possible as well.

[Bagged1]

No hijack I'm trying to learn as much as possible as well. Im going to be setting up a 40 gallon for just one frog at the moment

[aldebono]

so when you say this, you mean two frogs per viv? one male one female? or can you have multiple pairs, as long as you have a 1.1 gender ratio?
also, is a 10gal suitable? and, assuming i can have multiple pairs, how many pairs can i have in one 10g?

im not trying to hijack, ive just been curious about these guys, and thought i'd ask since the subject came up

Some species are better group frogs than others. All the tanks you are about to see that have Dendrobates tinctorius species in them are either in a 1.1 pair or a 1.0.1 and the unknown will be traded with a female if it turns out male. The vivs with my Ranitomeya imitator "Intermedius" are also in a 1.1 pair.

The males will fight, the females will fight and eat eggs. It is best to keep them to a pair per vivarium.

Some people have luck with a 2.1, but aggression is so very very subtle and I would do something larger than a 20 gallon.

You are going to be pressed for space in a 10 gallon with a pair of D. tinctorius. D. auratus would be better for a pair in a 10 gallon. I would not do more than two frogs to a 10 gallon.

As I was saying, some species are better group frogs. You will see 4 ping pong balls in one of the vivs, it is still a 40 gallon.


Common species that are good in groups in my opinion are...

Phyllobates, Hyloxalus, Ranitomeya lamasi, R. variabilis, R. ventramaculata

Species OK in groups (may be egg eating, some aggression)

D. leucomelas, D. auratus, Adelphobates galactonotus

Species to keep in 1.1 pair

D. ticntorius, R. imitator, Oophaga


There are many many other types of darts out there and definitely one to fit your size, color, and activity specifications.


Just remember, they are very diurnal frogs. I would love to have all my pairs of tinctorius in a 40 gallon breeders because they would use every inch of it.


Pictures are still loading to Photobucket.

[KatStoverReptiles]

I do.

I have 4 different species and 7 vivariums at the moment. I set mine up with a false bottom and clay background as it is so much easier than using the great stuff and silicone.

Husbandry is 80-100% humidity, 70-80 degrees F (no hotter) during the day and they can easily stand a 10 degree drop at night.

In the hobby's opinion frogs should be kept in same morph, opposite sex pairs. This way eliminates a lot of aggression, cross contamination of pathogens, and hybridization if breeding (they WILL breed). We (the hobby) like to keep our captive animals with the same genetics as they are found in the wild.

You can see some of our frogs pictures by clicking on the frog, that will take you to our facebook page. I will post pics of vivariums in a few minutes, I actually have none on hand!

I know ABSOLUTELY nothing about these frogs (except that they look AWESOME!) so excuse my ignorance, but according to what you're saying, it'd be frowned upon to get 3 or 4 different color morphs of the same sex and keep them together in the same tank?

[aldebono]

Yes it would be frowned upon within the hobby. Even if you are not planning to breed. If you have a male and a female, they WILL breed.

We keep them separate because they are found in separate locations in the wild. Even though D. tinctorius is all the same animal, they have evolved into different color morphs within their separated locations.

There would be no way to identify a hybrid locality frog, and our goal is to keep them in captivity as they occur in the wild.

I believe the killifish keepers are just as anal about keeping each genetic population separate in captivity as it was separate in the wild.

They also could be carrying (even though they are captive bred) pathogens that other locality frogs are not immune to, thus harming your other frogs.


Does any of this make sense or does the frog hobby just sound crazy?

[babyknees]

Will they be stressed if multiple enclosures with different frogs/species were kept next to each other? Like wall to wall so the other frogs are visible to each other. Jumping in on the frog expert questioning session

[Bagged1]

It all makes sense and I thank you for the info. I'm looking forward to the frog hobby being more detailed as the balls really don't require much