Dart Frogs in Captivity

There are many species of Dart Frogs, and some are more hardy than others. If you are interested in keeping Dart Frogs, then you should start with one of the more hardy species.

Some of the more commonly kept species include, Dendrobates aurates, Dendrobates leucomelas, Dendrobates tinctorius. There are more, but these are a good place to start looking.

Once you have decided which species you would like to keep, the next decision is to decide which morph you would like. What is a morph? Well, there is a very large variability in appearance, in some dart frog species. They come in many colors, and patterns. Most morphs have their own names. Some morph names describe the appearance of the morph, and some names are related to their locality in the wild.

This photo of a group of Oophaga pumilio (sometimes referred to as Dendrobates Pumilio), shows just how much variability there is within one species. Many people call this species Strawberry Poison Dart Frog.

Stawberry Poison Dart Frogs, are part of a group of Dart Frogs, call egg feeders. They are very interesting, because unlike many amphibians, that just lay their eggs, and go off to let them fend for themselves, egg feeders actually take care of their babies. Once the eggs are laid (usually on a leaf), and fertilized, the female returns and lays unfertilized eggs for the tadpoles to eat. She does this for weeks, until they turn into little frogs. The male also has a job to do. He keeps the eggs moist, and takes water to them when needed, and stays around to defend the nest.

About a week and a half after the eggs are laid, the female moves the tadpoles to a place with standing water. She does this by letting the tadpoles wiggle up on her back.

You should know everything there is to know about the frog you would like to keep.

Things like, what they eat, what kind of temperature range they need to be healthy, many books also have helpful photos, that sometimes will make things clearer than text alone. Further down the page, I will provide links to various Dart Frog Care Sheets, than will give basic information on keep Dart Frogs, but if you are serious about keeping them, you should learn more than just the basics.

In the wild, Poison Dart Frogs eat a variety of small insects. Beetles, flies, mosquitoes, and other tiny flying and crawling insects. Wild Poison Dart Frogs, are actually poison, and they get their poison from their diets. In captivity, they don't get the same diet, and therefore captive bred Dart Frogs are not poison.

In captivity, most keepers feed primarily flightless fruit flies. They can also eat small crickets, but trying to find a consistent source for small crickets is pretty hard to do. Crickets small enough for them to eat, would have to be newly hatched.

Flightless Fruit Flies can be easily cultured, and the supplies to get started are pretty easy to acquire, so for that reason, I would suggest going with Flightless Fruit Flies as a main food source for your frogs. 

The video below will give you an idea of just how small their food items are.

There is no way to match the diet that Dart Frogs have in the wild. In captivity, it is necessary to feed mostly one or two food items, in most cases. For that reason it is important to provide what your frog is missing in it's diet.

If not provided with a calcium supplement, Dart Frogs can develop a serious calcium deficiency, which can cause very serious health problems. They also require a vitamin supplement.

When supplements are in powder form, food items can be dusted with the supplements before feeding. Listed below, are a calcium supplement, and a vitamin supplement.

Poison Dart Frogs, come from the tropical rain forests. That means they live in a very warm, very high humidity environment, with lots of plants.

Most people who keep them, like to try to get as close as they can to duplicating what the frogs would life like in the wild. One was to do that, is with a Terrarium, or Vivarium.

You will need to build a home for your frog, and there are certain things you will need. I will list some of them below.

Before doing anything to your terrarium/vivarium, you should decide if want a background. If you plan to add a background to your terrarium, then you should probably put it on first, because you will need to anchor it to the glass, and would be easier to apply it first rather than later.

There are several way to create a background. I will include a video below, and it will explain several ways to do a background. One way, is with natural cork panels. You may need to do a little measuring to get pieces that will more closely match the size of enclosure you plan to use. Here are a couple of examples of cork bark panels.

When it comes to substrate, if you asked 10 people who keep dart frogs what is best to use, you might get 10 different answers. Many people have their "own" recipe.

You should probably stay away from plain potting soil, because it can get waterlogged, and too tightly packed for good plant growth, in time.

There are many types of premixed substrate mixtures on the market, or you could try to mix your own. Many dart frog keepers are going with what is called ABG mix, which is approximately: 2 parts fine tree fern fiber, 1 part milled peat, 1 part milled sphagnum moss, and 1 part fine charcoal. Many keepers will have their own slight variations of this recipe, but that comes with time, and trial and error. This combination is a good place to start.

Plants are what makes a Vivarium look like the Dart Frogs native habitat. There are many types of plants that can be used in a vivarium.

Before you begin to plant, it is important to come up with some sort of a plan for your plants. Plants aren't like furniture, that can be move about willy nilly. Once you decide where to plant your plant, it needs to stay there for a while.

Some plants are low growing, and some taller, so it makes sense not to have the low growing ones, hidden by the taller ones. Also, some plants need to be planted directly on wood.

Many Dart Frog Care Books have sections on plants, and you should be able to learn enough to get by from those. If you don't know a lot about plants already, you will need to do some homework before selecting your plants. 

Some plants that can be uses, include Jewel Orchids, Ficus Vines, Wandering Jew, and some mosses, such as mosses that form a dense carpet in high humidity.

Brian's Tropicals
They sell Dart Frogs, as well as tropical fish. Nice photo gallery too, along with articles on caring for, and breeding Poison Dart Frogs.

HERPETOLOGIC
They sell Poison Dart Frogs, and Green Tree Pythons.

Understory Enterprises Inc.
Huge selection of Poison Dart Frogs, and other amphibians and plants.