Frequently Asked Questions

Are Dart frogs poisonous?

In the wild they are usually poisonous. But they are born with no poison and they get their poison from their food (bugs!). So frogs that are born and raised in captivity are perfectly safe because they eat fruit flies which are not poisonous.

How do you take care of Dart Frogs?

I have a care sheet that you can download as a .pdf file (click here to download it). There's also a terrarium building and frog care page here. The web page and care sheet also list where I get my supplies. If you find cheaper sources please let me know and I'll update the website and care sheet for everybody.

What's the best beginner frog?

Auratus is probably the best starter frog. They're very hardy and they're the least expensive. Unfortunately they can be very shy. I had a pair in a 59 gallon tank at work for years that weren't shy at all, they were awesome to watch. But in 20g tanks at home all of my auratus hide most of the time. Leucomelas are not as shy and make a great starter frog. Azureus aren't shy at all. They are not quite as bullet proof as auratus but still a good first frog. They are great because they are always out in the open where you can watch them.

Most people do not consider thumbnails good starter frogs but this is mostly because they are more expensive. But I think the imitators and intermedius are every bit as hardy as the larger frogs I listed above. I think intermedius is my all time favorite thumbnail because they look awesome, have a great call, and are very active.

Frogs that I would not consider good starter frogs are pumilio and some tinctorius morphs.

Can you ship me pairs? How many do I need to buy to get a pair?

I sell baby frogs that are 2 to 4 months old. They are not sexable at this age. The won't be sexable until they are about a year old. So if you want to make sure you get a pair, the more you order, the better the odds are. If you buy 2 your odds are 50%. If you buy 3 your odds are 75%. If you buy 4 your odds are 88%. 5 is 94%, 6 is 97%, and so on. Personally, I always buy at least six and then separate the pairs into their own tanks when they are old enough.

How do you know what sex they are?

There are several things to look for. On some species the front toe pads are much larger on males than on females. On some species the body of the female is slightly larger than the males, and has a different shape. Also, male frogs call and females don't. For the frogs I often have available (azureus, leucomelas, and auratus) the body shape and size is a good indicator. Calling is a very good indicator for leucs and also works for auratus (the auratus call can be faint so you won't hear it in a noisy room). For azureus, the toe pad trick works, although the toe pad difference isn't as exteme as it is with other tinc morphs. Again, I sell frogs that are 2 to 4 months old and are not sexable at all yet. They won't be sexable for about a year.

Can different species be kept together?

This is absolutely the most frequently asked question of all time. Every beginner wants to know if they can pick out a smorgasbord of colors for their frog tank. The short answer is "no". The long answer is "maybe". When they are young you can definitely keep multiple types of similar size together like auratus, leucomelas, and azureus. Once they get older and start pairing off, some frog species become territorial. For instance, azureus or leucomelas females will fight with each other. With the azureus it is bad enough that they should just be kept one pair per tank to avoid deaths. With the leucomelas or auratus the fighting is so mild that many people keep them in groups with no problem. Most frog species fall somewhere on that scale. Now if you have a pair of each of two different species, the females might be annoyed by each other and fight or they might not recognize each other as competition. So maybe it would work, maybe it wouldn't. Most people never try it, they just get a different tank for each pair, so I can't really tell you what would happen. There are also stories of thumbnail frogs jumping on the backs of larger species and riding them around trying to drive them away. This is stressful for whichever frog can't get out of the area because they are in an enclosed terrarium. Again, maybe the frogs would get over it and get along fine or maybe some of them would get stressed out and die. Nobody really knows because nobody tries it. Just get another tank. Another thing to consider is that many species can actually produce viable offspring when they breed with another species. These hybrids are highly scorned in the hobby because there are so many subtle variations between different locations of dart frog species that people are trying very hard to keep accurate records of collection locations and blood lines. Hybrids throw a wrench in the works. Although, in my opinion, if people label it as such it shouldn't matter because it is not going back into the wild anyway. Fish hobbyists do this all the time. There are killifish varieties with location codes attached to their name that include the date and location of collection. People have kept these lines in the hobby for decades and keep them labeled appropriately. However, they also selectively breed for interesting color variations and label the variants appropriately. For example, on my fish available page there is a wild form of Aphyosemion australe with a location code and also a color variant of this species on the same page. It works just fine, the sky doesn't fall, it only takes appropriate labeling. Of course, there are people that really take this to extremes. Look at some of the bizarre varieties of fancy goldfish. Parrotfish are the most gruesome of all. Some of these man-made varieties seem disgusting and even cruel. The bottom line is that some people only like wild forms, some people really like a little extra color (fancy bettas or guppies for example), and others really like the hideous stuff like parrotfish. To each their own. The vast majority of frog hobbyists really only like the wild forms and they get very annoyed with the idea of hybrids (and why not, there are so many beautiful varieties of wild dart frogs it is hard to imagine needing to selectively breed them to make them prettier!). So, if you keep two species in the same tank and they cross-breed and then you tell another frog hobbyist about it, that person is likely to boo and hiss at you! There, you have been warned! Don't blame me if somebody looks down their nose at you! OK, that is my very long answer to the extremely common question of "can I keep different species together".

Why should I buy from you? Do you have any references? How do I pay you? How do you ship?

All of these questions are answered on my Ordering and shipping page (click here).

 

 

 

 

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