Breeding Poison Dart Frogs

One of the joys of keeping Poison Dart Frogs is breeding them. I have taken what I have learned from other froggers and read many books and articles to develop my methodology for breeding Poison Dart Frogs. I tweaked this method based on what I observed as I have bred thousands of frogs over the years. The following is my methodology.

Getting Frogs to Breed

Sometimes I think this is the hardest part of the whole process. It begins when you buy froglets. I recommend that you ask tons of questions when you are purchasing your froglets. You want to make sure that the frogs are healthy and that they were not weak frogs that were allowed to live. Buy frogs from reputable breeder. When buying frogs, keep in mind that most species of frogs do not produce a 1:1 ratio of males to females. The ratio can be as much as 1:8 with some species. And either sex can be the majority depending on the species of frogs. So, I recommend that people buy at least 5 froglets if they plan on breeding. After the frogs have matured and can be sexed, a pair can be separated and the others sold or traded. This is also a great investment as sexed adult frogs can be worth as much as double what you paid for them as froglets.

Once you have a pair of frogs, you must setup a tank that is conducive for breeding. This includes:

• Heavily planted tank - Frogs feel more secure in more cover and have less interruptions.

• High Humidity - I do not have any vents on most of my breeding tanks. I want humidity as high as possible in those tanks.

• Breeding spots - Note that it is plural. I find that frogs breed better when there are more options. They know the best places to lay eggs that lead to the best chance for healthy frogs. You don't want to force them to breed in a mediocre spot. Breeding spots for larger frogs is a cocohut over a Petri dish and for smaller frogs, a film canister is the best option.

The next step is for you to induce breeding. In the wild, some of these frogs are seasonal breeders. While frogs will usually breed right after a storm, it is also possible to "trick" the frogs into thinking the wet season has arrived. There are many theories out there on how to do this. I have found a method that works pretty well. What I do it mist the tank once every other day for two weeks and follow that with two weeks of misting twice a day. I will also not feed as much during the light misting and more heavily during the higher misting frequency.

The best indicator of breeding success is the health of froglets. Froglets that are strong and healthy will be better breeders. Therefore, it is important that you acquire healthy froglets and continue the regiment of supplementing the frogs.

What to do with eggs

Sooner or later you will get eggs. Usually you will get a couple of clutches of eggs that will go bad and mold over. This is normal. Bad eggs will swell up and get cloudy. In developing eggs you can actually see the tadpole develop in the egg. When I get eggs, I take a paper towel, wet it, and place it in the bottom of a 24 oz Ziploc container. I then take the Petri dish and place it on the paper towel (I do not put the top of the Petri dish on Petri dish). I then add enough RO water to just touch eggs. If the eggs are laid on a film canister, I scrap out the eggs and put them in a Petri dish and add water so it just touches the eggs. Finally, I put the Ziploc lid on and mark the top with species of frog egg.

Tadpoles

The tadpole will fill the egg and assume a C position. When the tadpole's tail is straight again, you know it has hatched. It is now time to take the tadpole out of the petri dish. I use a turkey baster to get the tadpoles out. I place the tadpoles individually in tadpole cups. I add 1"-3" of Reverse Osmosis water and a small piece of Java Moss. After a couple of days, I fill the cup up entirely. If you do not have a Reverse Osmosis System, I recommend that you use some of the water treatment products.

I feed my tadpoles a variety of tadpole foods. I feed once a week and I NEVER do water changes.

Once the tadpole sprouts front legs, I pour out all of the water, get rid of the java moss, and add an inch or so of Reverse Osmosis water back into the cup. I then use a dixie cup to prop up the cup. This creates a sloped area where the frogs can climb out. When I see a frog completely out of the water, I move the froglet into a froglet tub.

Froglets

Froglets get put into tubs in pairs. The tubs are a 190 oz container with sphagnum moss, some terrarium plants, and a film cannister. I seed all tubs with springtails so the froglets can have a variety of food. I feed all froglets every other day.

Poison Dart Frog Caresheet

About Poison Dart Frogs

Poison dart frogs are frogs of the Dendrobates group. These frogs are extremely poisonous in the wild, but loose much of their toxicity when kept in captivity due to the change in their diet. In the wild, the frogs eat ants that eat poisonous plants, while in captivity they don't get to eat these ants. These frogs range in adult size from 2 and half inches to some that never get bigger than your thumbnail! These frogs can enjoy a long life (there are reports of these frogs living for over 20 years in captivity). As long as a few things are kept in mind when you are planning the acquisition of your new pets, Poison Dart Frogs make great pets.

Housing

Poison Dart Frogs should be housed in what is called a Naturalistic Terrarium. A Naturalistic Terrarium is an aquarium that has been designed to create a tiny ecosystem. In this ecosystem, there are plants, soil, and a drainage layer to keep the soil from becoming completely saturated. This ecosystem creates a balance in which the animals waste is used by the plants. This balance creates an environment where the maintenance involves adding food for the frogs and cutting plants out as they grow. No removal of waste and/or tank cleaning is necessary!

The rule of thumb is that you should house one frog per five gallons of tank space. More space is always better than less space. Giving your frogs as much space as possible leads to healthier frogs, bolder frogs (you'll see them more in a bigger tank), and allows you more options when designing the terrarium.

Temperature and Humidity

Before you get frogs, you need a Temperature and Humidity Probe. This tool is a necessity. High temperatures and low humidity can kill a frog quickly. Your humidity should stay above 80% all the time and your temps should stay between 70 and 85 degrees. This is best accomplished in an all glass aquarium with a glass lid. Screen lids will be unable to maintain the correct humidity in the majority of setups. For the vast majority of setups, no heater will be needed as the lighting will create enough heat to keep the terrarium slightly above room temperature.

Feeding

Poison Dart Frogs eat fruit flies, springtails, rice flour beetles, phoenix worms, and other small bugs. Before you get your frogs, you need to start culturing their food items so you get the hang of it. There is nothing worse than not having enough food to feed your frogs. You will want to dust your bugs with a multi-vitamin and calcium supplement every other feeding.

How secure is JoshsFrogs.com?

I just had a customer question whether my site was secure or not because they didn't have the padlock icon on the bottom of their browser, so I thought with holiday season coming, I would write up a little bit about security and how you know a page you are looking at is secure.

JoshsFrogs.com uses the highest security available on the web today. The sad part is that not all sites go to the lengths that we have here to make sure your information stays secure.

First off, the lock icon has moved on your browser (if you are using firefox or IE 7). Security info is now next to the address bar at the top of the screen and the lock is bigger now. You can also right click on the page to get security info by clicking on "View Page Info" in Firefox and "Properties" in IE 7.

Secondly, secure pages begin with https: instead of http:. If you are being asked to login, enter in your address or credit card info, make sure the page begins with https:.

Thirdly, I highly recommend opening up a browser and typing in an address instead of relying on a link in an email. Because they could be doing this:

paypal.com

If you are on a page asking you to login or give your payment info and you don't see the padlock and the page begins with http: instead of https:, then it is best to move on.

Surface area in Fruit Fly Cultures: Excelsior or Coffee Filters?

One of the most common variables overlooked in culturing fruit flies is the surface area used. I have seen cultures with everything under the sun used as surface area. The two most common sources of surface area in fruit fly cultures are coffee filters or excelsior. Each has their pros and cons.

For best results, coffee filters need to be folded so they look like pie slices. I will fold 5-6 together and push the point into the media. Coffee filters will absorb excess moisture in the culture media and therefore act as a moisture barrier, so they are less likely to dry out or become soupy. The downside to coffee filters is that they can get too wet and will collapse and bury the fruit fly media and hurt production.

Excelsior has been a long time staple in fruit fly cultures. It creates tons of surface area and takes less time to use (just grab a handful and throw it in the culture). The downside is that is quite messy to use as some of the fibers will inevitably fall out with the flies when feeding.

All cultures sold at Josh's Frogs will be setup with excelsior, but our fruit fly kits can be ordered with coffee filters or excelsior.

Poison Dart Frogs as Pets

More and more people are acquiring exotic pets every year. A lot of these pets can get too large to be properly cared for by the average hobbyists and others can harbor diseases that can be passed on to humans. Still others require foods that are hard to come by, messy, or expensive. Poison Dart Frogs, on the other hand, are a great choice for an exotic pet.

Poison Dart Frogs come in all kinds of colors including blue, orange, red, black, bronze, yellow, and a host of other colors. There are poison dart frogs that reach an adult size no bigger than your thumbnail and others that are 2”-3” as adults. While bigger is always better when building a terrarium, these animals can be kept in pairs in tanks as small a 10 gallon aquarium.

While deadly in the wild, these creatures lose their toxicity in captivity due to the change in diet. In the wild these frogs get their poison from ants and beetles that eat poison plants. Without contact to these specific insects, Poison Dart Frogs lose their toxicity.

Poison Dart Frogs are fed a staple of fruit flies. The fruit flies used to feed poison dart frogs are wingless fruit flies or larger flightless fruit flies, so they are much easier to work with than one would think. When it comes to culturing fruit flies, they are far easier then other feeder insects.

Poison Dart Frogs are beautiful animals that are easy to care for, amazing to look at, and allow people the opportunity to own exotic pets with less of the drawbacks associated with other exotic pets.