Dart Frogs

[rachel]

I am not sure how many people visit this area, but I was curious how many people keep dart frogs as well as axolotls. I know of at least one person. I have a variety of frogs, and four axolotls, but my main amphibian interest is dart frogs. I am interested in information trading

 

[scott]

Hi Rachel,
Currently I have: 1.1 Dendrobates Leucamelas who recently bred and now have 3 tads)
0.0.2 D. tinctorius (Table Mountain Cobalts), 0.0.1 D. azureus.
All but our Leucs are juvies.
1.0.4 Ambystoma mexicanum (1 male adult white albino, 2 subadult leucistic, 1 subadult wildtype, and 1 subadult golden albino).
1.0 Ambystoma tigrinum diaboli (pictured left)
1.1 Pachytriton labiatus
whew! long post!

What do you have?
Scott

 

[scott]

For anyone interested here is a picture of our tads (still in eggs)

 

[craig]

totally non related mate but do you know (scott) that there was a pro skateboarder called scott oster , sorry to bore you

 

[scott]

Really? I didn't know that. Too bad it's not me!

 

[brandon]

sorry for bringing up an old post... i was wondering exactly how difficult it is to keep poison dart frogs. Ive been thinking about getting some...but i was wondering if it theyre out of my league or not...sorry for the stupid question

 

[chris]

iv also been thinking of getting a pair what would you guys recommond

 

[elisabeth]

How long do they live? I was also thinking of getting some, but if they don't live long, I'd rather spend my money on something else.

 

[francesco]

I had d. auratus 2 years ago. I gave them away because they didn't breed and because my drosophila culture made the hole house stink

i think they live 5-6 years more o less.
D. Auratus and E. Tricolor are the easyest to keep.

 

[elisabeth]

I guess that's long enough, especially if they reproduce. However, I've seen some prices, and they seem very expensive. How much would you suggest someone should be willing to pay?

 

[francesco]

Depends who you buy them from and where. I payed my auratus 50E each...but that was a rip off...you can find them for much less in hamm or other similar markets.

 

[elisabeth]

I see. I'll be going to a reptile expo (The New England Reptile Expo in Manchester, NH) in April. Last year they had tons of them, so I might pick up a few there. Good to know about the price though. Thanks Francesco.

 

[edward]

Hi All,
If you set the enclosure up first then the frogs are easy to keep.
As for longevity for some of them (such as the tinct group ) can live for 15 years or so.
They can be fed other items than fruit flies such as pinhead crickets.
If you are interested in getting them, then I recommend checking out www.frognet.org's classifieds.
Depending upon the species it can take several years for breeding to occur.
Ed

 

[scott]

For any of you wanting to know how to setup a vivarium for dart frogs, here is some great information: http://www.northwestfrogfest.com/your_first_frog.htm.
Dart frogs are very hardy if kept properly. As a starter frog, I would recommend
D. leucamelas (which we specialize in) or D. auratus. Their prices range from $25-$45 a frog. Other dart frogs can cost over $100 (USD) depending on species and rarity in captivity (among other things).
I would recommend setting up a vivarium and fruit fly cultures BEFORE you get the frogs.
Scott

 

[michael]

I keep lots of dart frogs and lots of axolotls. Lately I've been doing frog set ups with lots of small orchids for displays in my computer room. You can expect darts to live 10 to 15 years. Thumbnails are a little shorter lived. They live about 5 to 10 years. Raising fruit flies is easy but it is the hardest part of doing darts. I've had darts for over 20 years and axolotls for about 3 years.

 

[duncan]

I agree Michael, the frogs are a breeze compared to the tedium of preparing fruit fly cultures! Although I have only kept "beginner" species (D. tinctorius, D. auratus and E. tricolor) for the past 2-3 years I find them to be wonderful in the displays you mention. Its almost as much fun setting up their vivariums as it is keeping the frogs! I haven't been able to find much in the way of miniature orchids unfortunately, but the bromeliads I use are nice too. Its a toss up as to what I prefer keeping more my dart frogs or my newts! Here's a pic of one of my Epipedobates tricolors, a male that is about three years old.
Duncan

 

[mike]

It's always the dart vivaria which get the attention when anyone visits my dungeon:

Fortunately, my newts don't mind being ignored by visitors ;-)