Many times when you open an amphibian book, the first picture is of some gorgeous tropical looking frog. These frogs are usually some sort of poison dart frog. The genus of Dendrobate is one of the more common genuses in poison dart frogs so I thought I would cover the basic care of them. It is also the genus I have had the most book info and experience with.
AVAILABILITY: There are 26 species of Dendrobate, almost all of which are brightly colored. The more common ones in captivity are Dendrobates auratus, D. tinctorius, D. leucomelas and D. pumilio.
Dendrobates auratus grows to 5 cm. but most will only reach 3 or 4 cm. They vary in color from black with green blotches, to black with green spots, to black and blue, and some even have brown lines or spots on them.
Dendrobates tinctorius is one of the largest poison dart frogs, growing to around 4 or 5 cm. on average, but there are some that may grow to 6 cm. There are so many forms or morphs of this frog that it would take pages to describe them all so I will only mention the more common ones. The cobalt form of D. tinctorius is black with yellow stripes flowing down its back and down its side. The legs are blue. The yellow back form is black with a bright yellow back that has two "drops" of yellow trailing off of the back down the sides. The powder blue form is black with white or very light blue stripes and small spots all over its back. The legs are light blue with black spots.
Dendrobates leucomelas grows to around 3 or 4 cm. The juveniles are black with yellow or orange stripes running horizontally on their backs. When they turn into adults, some of the stripes start turning into spots. This is one of the better poison dart frogs for beginners.
Dendrobates pumilio is small, growing to only 2 or 3 cm. They are the most variable of poison dart frogs and can be in any color you imagine. The most common form is red with blue legs. This is not a good species for beginners.
CAGING: After you have looked over the kinds of poison dart frogs and have decided which kind you want to get, you will need some sort of enclosure to put them in.
There are two general kinds of terrarium setups for dart frogs. The first is a simple setup. The second is a natural. I will first go over how to make a simple setup.
Start out with a 10 or 20 gallon aquarium. Fill the bottom of the aquarium with three or four inches of medium or large freshwater gravel. Make a slope in a corner of the gravel filled aquarium about one inch or so deep. Fill the tank with tap water that has been sitting out for 24 hours or so, so that the slope in the corner of the aquarium is half filled with water. Next wash the roots of four or five small plants such as philodendron or spider plants. Make small ditches in the gravel to place the plants in. Then put a piece or two of cork bark in. Put a glass cover on and a light and volia! You have a simple terrarium setup. There is a variation of this setup that I am currently using for my two D. azereus that is working very well. The only thing different you do is right after putting the plants and bark in put an inch of african violot potting soil on the bottom (make sure this doesn't have any vermiculite in it). Over that you place some living moss and dried moss.
The second kind, which I haven't had to much success with, is the natural terrarium. A lot of the info in here is from books but some of it is still from my personal experience. First glue some cork bark on the back of a 20 or 30 gallon aquarium with silicon sealant. Then, after the cork bark is dry, put an inch or so of small freshwater pea gravel. After that place an inch of larger freshwater gravel. On top of that put an inch of african vilot potting soi or peat moss. Now is when to put your plants in. In this kind of terrarium (unlike the simple setup) you may want to put some flashy plants in like some kinds of orchids and ferns along with your average philodendron. On the cork bark backing glue on some dried green moss with silicon sealant along with any other nice touches. Then put a main center piece of driftwood and around it place cork bark. Put a tiny water dish in that is no deeper than an inch or so and put some dried moss around (the moss will raise the humidity). Then place a living carpet of live moss on the bottom of the terrarium. Once again place a glass cover on and a light and you have a great terrarium for dart frogs.
TEMPETURE: Make sure you know the proper temperature for your species of Dendrobate before you make the terrarium because it is hard to lift a terrarium full of plants and frogs to put an under tank heat pad on. Here are the common temperatures of some Dendrobate:
D. leucomelas 77F-83F
D. azureus 75F-81F
D. auratus 76F-80F
D. tinctorius 75F-80F
FEEDING:Since all Dendrobates are small frogs they require small foods. Getting small foods in large quantities can be a hard task. The easiest way to do this is to start a culture and raise your own.
Crickets are the most easily acquired food. Almost all pet shops should have some for sale. The problem is that not all have the very small ones, which are called pin-head crickets. Eighth-inch crickets are also ok for the adult frogs but pin-heads are the best. If the pet shops in your city don't have them, then you will most likely be able to special order some. If you still can't do that then there is always the possibility of mail ordering them yourself. Before feeding these to your frogs you should either "gut load" (also known as "power feeding") them or dust them with vitamin and mineral powder. All that "gut loading" is, is you feed your crickets some lettuce and fish flake the night before you give them to your frogs.
The next most common food for them is fruit flies. Always get the wingless form of them instead of the winged ones. They are vary easy to culture. You can buy a starter culture from http://www.primenet.com/~adicus/index1.html
My favorite food and the most easily cultured is spring tails. Spring tails are very small white insects. You can get a starter culture from http://www.primenet.com/~adicus/index1.html . Here are directions to culture them:
Materials needed: Small tupperware sandwhich box, African violot potting soil, Fish food and spring tails. 1. Take the tupper ware container and fill half or less of it with the potting soil. 2. Trickle some water on top of the potting soil and stir it up so its consistancy is like pie dough. 3. Add fish flake to the top of the potting soil and then add springtails. 4. Once your springtail culture is growing, separate part of it and put it into a new culture.
Do not worry if white fuzzy mold appears over the top of the springtail culture. The mold should go away in a week. Now that you have the cultures going, the question is how do you get the little bugs out of there without squishing them. All you do is take a turkey baster and blow some of the little springtials out into your frogs' cage. If you want you can blow the springtails into a small container so you know how many you are putting in the cage.
GOOD AND BAD FROGS FOR BEGGINERS:There are some frogs that are not good for the beginner Dendrobate keeper. The following is a list of the species that are good for beginners and the species that aren't so good for beginners.
Poison Dart Frogs That Are Good For Beginners
Dendrobates azureus (blue poison dart frog)
Dendrobates leucomelas (yellow-banded poison dart frog, bumble bee poison dart frog)
Dendrobates auratus (Green & Black poison dart frog)
Dendrobates tinctorius (Dyeing poison dart frog)
Poison Dart Frogs That Are Not Good For Beginners
Dendrobates pumilio (strawberry poison dart frog)
Dendrobates histrionicus (harliquin poison dart frog)
Dendrobates lehmanni (lehmann's poison dart frog)
Here are some helpful links to poison dart frog and related sites: