IN DEPTH Poison Dart Frog Care Guide - Everything You Need To Know 

Gotta admit Im a little worried now. I just sent someone $130 for 3 blue azureus dart frogs. That are supposed to be delivered in 2 weeks. Im new to keeping dart frogs. These will be my first. Hopefully Im not being scammed.

@@samanthageach3146 Let’s hope for the best. There are of course some serious hobbyists out there that aren’t on the list, but if they’re claiming to have a huge US based business and isn’t on that list, then it might be a scam.

Hey Steph! I have a calling Tarapoto looking for a female! If you have any available let me know! Thanks!

@@tauzexotics3360 hey hey! I have several juveniles, not sure on genders yet. Are you local to Minnesota by chance?

Just commenting to bookmark this for later! I'm in MN and am very tempted by these little frogs :)

Thank you so much!

Awesome to hear!

Also damn all your Vivs are gorgeous! Plants for the win!

Thank you!

Thank you for the kind words!

Not exactly sure what part of the video you're talking about (I'm assuming it's the part about mixing species since that's the only controversial part) but thank you!

The lid is a dish cloth (a somewhat thin type, not the thickest). If you put on a wet dish cloth with a rubber band, it’ll keep the shape once it has dried so the rubber band will no longer be necessary. I can reuse them for quite a few cultures too without any issues. Actually super convenient. Other than that, I use the baby food, oat and dry yeast recipe that I showed on the screen, put in a piece of egg caton (where the larvae can sit and turn into pupae), in with some flies and put on the lid. Done! I set new cultures as soon as the flies start hatching in the last culture I set before it, usually once every 1,5 week.

I have the thicker versions, I think the thin ones decompose faster. The ones I have are partially starting to break down after two years, but only in the spots where it stays more wet. Xaxim/tree fern panels work too, but they’re expensive and apparently not sustainable (though I’d love to be proven wrong). I’m working on two builds right now and I decided to go for cork bark panels this time, hoppfully that will work well.

​@@Tropical_Tutorials Thanks for the response. I agree on the panels and that were the exact reasons I decideed to use two component epoxy glue and just a small amount of milled xaxim, peat and milled pine bark. You still get a very nice texture and after two years it still looks good, though I didn't get any seeds or spores to pop. The xaxim comes from New Zealand, still I don't like to use a lot of it. It definitely isn't very sustainable but that goes with peat and coconut products as well ... Definitely keep us updated on the cork bark build. Some german youtuber uses them as ground coverage in one of his builds and it seems to work just fine!

Always fun to get feedback, thank you for watching! Yeah, I agree that mixing safely can be done in some cases (though it's not really something I like to suggest to beginners in most cases, unless it's a really bulletproof combo), and I made a more recent video going into more depth about that, mostly so people go into it with an educated mind instead of an ignorant one (the latter of which unfortunately becomes very common when a beginner with some confidence reads hateful comments with poor, easily dismissible arguments on facebook). The lifespan is definitely something that should be seriously considered and it's really unfortunate how many frogs move to new homes very frequently.

It was Phyllobates vittatus and Ranitomeya amazonica ’French Guiana’. I’ve separated them now. Not because there were any issues, but rather because I wanted a large colony of Epipedobates anthonyi in my biggest vivarium.

Sounds awesome, good luck with the build!

It's been a month. The waterfall (wet wall) is working great because I used pumice instead of soil for the splash zone. The lica balls are wet instead of dry (2/3 of the way) but is constantly moving to avoid being stagnant water. I am going to wait another month before getting the frogs. I live in a desert so I am having to get creative for the humidity and temperature control. Our outdoor temperatures can easily exceed 116F [47C]. The tank temperature has been up to 82F [27.8C] (warmest part of French Guiana in September) but quickly dropped to 78 then 76 as the AC turned on. I am building a thermoelectric cooling system that should keep the temp below 77 [25C]. If I can't maintain this then I will not get the frogs and just enjoy the plants.

My three D. tinct Azureus are very happy in their tank! I'm not sure if I can send a picture but they are pretty amazing to feed.

I currently keep Ranitomeya amazonica French Guiana and Phyllobates vittatus together and it works really well. A good rule of thumb is that if you have to ask, you probably shouldn’t mix species since you should ideally know the species quite well beforehand, but on the other hand, it sounds like quite a safe mix which fills all criterias as long as the vivarium is big enough.

Thank you! A fan sounds like a good idea, you probably won’t have to use the tube but I’m not sure. I’d probably make the computer fan animal proof with stainless steel mesh and silicone, then I’d put it on the glass using some magnets to get rid of front glass condensation.

@@Tropical_Tutorials thank you for the suggestion :)

The black fabric is hygrolon. I got it straight from the Swedish company Dusk Tropics, which I'm pretty sure invented it, but I think you can get it from many vivarium stores as well. I can highly recommend this method The light brown backgrounds are coco fiber liner/coco fiber carpet. A background option I've come to hate by now and I've stopped using it. This is for two reasons. 1. It's basically hydrophobic and really bad at transporting water once it's new. 2. The parts that are always humid (mainly the parts that are near the substrate or in direct contact with some hardscape pieces) start falling apart within a few years. My current preferred method (which can see in my video "How to Set Up a Dart Frog Vivarium") is using cork bark panels. All of my new setups have either cork bark panels or hygrolon, depending on the style I'm going for.

Glad you're enjoying the content! Sounds like an awesome choice of first frogs. Hygrometers aren't always reliable in vivariums, and honestly, I don't think the exact humidity percentage is very relevant (I don't measure it at all). How much ventilation do you have (screen top, euro vent, only top or front ventilation etc.)? By far the most important thing is that there should be plenty of humid surfaces (for example leaves, hardscape, background etc.) in the vivarium, but there should also be some spots (for example leaf litter, hardscape, some leaves.) that dry out a bit between mistings. If the whole tank is soaking dripping wet, then that's a very bad sign (unless it's just right after misting it). To keep the balance between the actual relative humidity in the air and the "wetness" of the tank itself you might also need to limit the ventilation a bit (with a full screen top, the air will remain super dry even if the whole tank is soaking wet, but that doesn't sound like it's an issue in your tank) but if you've done that you should be good to go. I don't really have that much condensation on the glass in my vivariums, with the exception of my froglet tanks which happen to have very little ventilation. Good luck!

@@Tropical_Tutorials its a aquarium that i made a vivarium. So it has a lit. Its a acrylic lid. For now i leave a small gap around 0.5cm or so for air ventiliation. Before the frogs come i am planning on drilling small holes in the lid. I don’t soak the tank in water, maybe that is the problem that i actually don’t spray enough. My substrate is covered in dry leaves that, tbh, don’t get very wet when i mist. My bromellia leaves where getting yelow spots and i tought it could be overwatering. Do you know what brown/yellow spots on bromellias could be? Its a new tank so maybe it has to settle in a bit

Thank you for the kind words! I definitely recommend a glass top for an exo terra. Otherwise, you'll have to spray the vivarium wayyy more to keep the humidity up, which will result in a soaking wet substrate but usually still barely enough humidity. It obviously depends on where you live, but most of us have really low humidity in our homes. The bamboo you can see in the video is a temporary solution. A big wood piece wasn't siliconed to the background properly. After almost 3 years it's starting to fall down because the silicone is loosening, so I put the bamboo sticks in there to support it. I'll give this vivarium some love and a makeover next month, removing that branch and the supporting bamboo and replacing it with new branches. Personally I think the bamboo is really ugly, and after two months it has turned a bit brownish for me (mostly just because it's almost in direct contact with a moss covered branch), but you can definitely use it.

@@Tropical_Tutorials okay thank you for the response!

Hi! Great and important question. I know many keepers who always quarantine in a separate room for months, but the majority of us don't. Personally, I usually don't do a "proper quarantine" for frogs that I've bought from a private breeder I personally know (which I basically always do). If I was to buy frogs from a somewhat sketchy seller (like a big company or some random seller I've never heard about), I'd probably at least keep them in another vivarium far away from my other frogs for the first month or so, and I'd be even more careful if I potentially wanted to keep them together with some of my other frogs. I would do the same if I had any wild caught frogs, but wild caught animals are luckily completely illegal in Sweden so that's not relevant to me. My answer definitely isn't the most scientifically correct answer by any means though, and I should probably be more careful than I am.

@@Tropical_Tutorials Thank you for the detailed answer.

Welcome to the hobby! A 12x12x24 is unfortunately considered too small for a tinctorius. They're mainly terrestrial so they need something with a bigger footprint. If it was 24x12x12 instead it would be fine, but I recommend an 18 cube. Your 12x12x24 is an acceptable size for a few thumbnails or Epipedobates, but too small for Phyllobates or Dendrobates. Epipedobates is probably the easier out of them, but there are some bold and quiet Ranitomeyas (mainly amazonica and variabilis) which are at least somewhat beginner friendly. The flower pot fungus will most likely go away on it's own after a while and isn't harmful, though I wouldn't introduce frogs yet if you have an extreme amount of it (which it doesn't sound like). You mention that it was a paludarium. How big is the water feature and how much land is left for the frogs? In such a small vivarium, all the is valuable and a big water feature taking away a lot of room from the frogs might not be ideal. I've never been to a repticon since I'm not from the US, but from what I've heard there are lots of scummy sellers there and there's a big risk you get unhealthy frogs. Here in Sweden I buy all of my frogs from private breeders, who (like me) just keeps some frogs for fun and get some occasional offspring. In the US there are also a few reputable big scale breeders, such as the ones on this list dartfrogbusinesses.com/?fbclid=IwAR3uF8Zeml1Wn_1Bra1hZlNpE-9qbsYKnVuvmglZz7q4tOgonoqZ6sH5ub4 but I'd never buy from any other big scale companies.

@@Tropical_Tutorials thank you so much for the info. Although it is a Paludarium, we don’t have a water feature. The entire enclosure 12x12 is all substrate with plants so the frog will have the entire 12x12 space. I’m averaging about 75% humidity, so hoping that will be ok and hopefully it will increase more over time. I do have a 1” section at the top as well as venting that is built in the front. Should I seal up the top to increase humidity or will that cause the flowerpot fungus to spread? Thanks again for your support and I can’t wait to get my first frog. 🙂

Sorry, one more question. I’ve seen a few varieties of the Amazonian (Iquitos, Arena Black, French Guiana Yellow). Does it matter which one? Are they all quiet and somewhat bold?

@@tkwilson5381 No problem, just keep asking :) Front ventilation and a 1 inch strip at the top sounds good, I usually recommend having both front and top ventilation just like you have. However it depends on you ambient temperature and humidity in the room and, perhaps most importantly, how much plant coverage you have in there. You kind of have to experiment a bit yourself. If the humidity seems too low, you can always cover it up more. Most hygrometers are garbage, especially in a humid dart frog vivarium, and it also depends on where you've placed it. I never measure the humidity in my vivs, I just look on condensation on the glass, how moist the substrate, branches and backgrounds is. If there's plenty of moisture on hardscape, background and the glass even a while after misting, without the substrate having to stay soaking wet, it's probably humid enough. Sounds good that you have no water in there (then it's technically not a paludarium anymore even though they might sell it under that name). There can be some difference between locales, but there's more difference between individuals and even between the same frog's behavior in different vivariums. I've only kept the French Guiana Yellow, but from the people I've talked to it doesn't sound like the others are that different.

Some would stick it straight in, but I think I’d freeze it (or boil it if it’s possible without the bark falling apart) to get rid of spiders and flatworms.

@@Tropical_Tutorials, I would add that you can bake it or soak it in bleach water for a few hours, rinse it, and then allow to air dry for a few days.

Sounds very exciting! If you can set up a good bioactive vivarium, I think some dart frogs would be significantly more fun than a pac-man frog for both you and your kids, since they're diurnal and much more active. I never recommend fine soil for dart frog substrate, since it breaks down into a soggy mud fairly quickly (the same problems that I went over for coco fiber in the video, but potting soil is usually even worse). You want something chunky with larger pieces that will have a lot of air pockets, drain well and last for a long time. I prefer substrate mixes based on reptile bark and/or pumice as the main ingredient (my personal mix is 60% bark, 30% pumice and 10% biochar). You can add *small* portions of e.g. coco fiber or some other soil-type substrate into the substrate mix, but if it makes up a major part of the substrate, it won't last very long.

Unfortunately I don't have any Oophagas yet, but I'll hopefully get some one day

Sorry about the late reply. Honestly, I'd probably not do both dart frogs and a water feature for such a small vivarium. Assuming that the water is around 5-10 cm deep (and considering the fact that the land area will be more elevated than the water surface), that barely leaves 25-30 cm of height that the frogs can utilize. Leucomelas are frogs that love some extra height and frequently sleep at the very top of the vivarium, right below the lid. It would be acceptable, but I'd personally focus on utilizing every inch for making a pure dart frog biotope in that enclosure and do the paludarium in one that's a bit bigger (mainly taller). That's just my 2 cents. I'm not saying it can't work, but I definitely wouldn't push it unless the vivarium was bigger (specifically a bit taller). I don't have any water features in my tanks so I'm definitely the wrong person to ask about plumbing etc., but generally, I think having a solid divider between land and water (glass and silicone is probably the way to go, but of course you can hide it with something later to make the transition zone a bit smoother) should be the easiest option. Then, you essentially have an aquarium and another area where you can put a drainage layer and substrate like you would in a normal vivarium. Another option, which might be even better, is to take the substrate-less route and use a sponge filter mat instead. Then, you can just carve out a water feature, and you won't have to worry about the substrate getting waterlogged or saturated from any leaks. Troy Goldberg has several videos on his channel showcasing this method. Good luck with the build!

@@Tropical_Tutorials Hey no worries about the timing - this is a project I'm seeking to start sometime around Spring 2024, so I've got a lot of time to plan and research! I've certainly made the mistake of jumping in head first and getting totally overwhelmed before - I think we all have when we first got into this sort of hobby! So these days I like to give myself a good long time to get ready :D As for the tank, I was wondering about the height of the tank - There seems to be a lot of conflicting information on darts, some saying they are basically ground-dwelling and can't climb to save their life, and others saying they're quite happy to perch in the tallest 'tree-tops' you offer them. In any case thanks for the info. I was basing the original tank size off of readily available glass, however it shouldn't be a problem for me to source other sheets and thus build a larger tank. Any idea what sort of height is good to aim for? I'd like to avoid the tank becoming too big, but I've got plenty of room to work with so if i really wanted to I could probably fit a tank something like 1200mm wide 500mm deep and 1200mm tall. I think I like the idea of a divider being used. It will have the advantage of meaning I can drain and replace water from either side of the tank. While the frogs probably don't care too much about water changing routines, I'm sure the fish (even Killis) would rather not have their tank drained quite as often. Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a natural substrate would be better for micro-fauna like springtails and isopods as compared to just filter sponge and leaf litter on top. Thanks for the advice regarding Troy Goldberg, I'll be sure to take a look at their work.

@@daredemontriple6 Sounds great! Regarding the climbing habits of dart frogs. It definitely varies from species to species. I'd classify most thumbnail frogs, and a few others, as arboreal, and some species, like D. leucomelas, climb very frequently as well. My leucomelas froglets will usually sleep in the corner of the tank, at the very top, with absolutely nothing to hold onto or rest on except the glass. There are frogs that are more terrestrial than others (most Phyllobates and Dendrobates species, but I'd argue D. leucomelas are generally a bit more arboreal than the rest of the genus), but they'll still climb a bit from time to time. The definition of terrestrial is that it's living in the bottom meter of the rainforest, so it doesn't necessarily have to be completely bound to the forest floor. Regarding the size, I think something in-between would be best for a first paludarium. The bigger the better is a good rule of thumb, but at some point, additional size starts making it more difficult to work with. There's a very realistic chance that you'll, within the near future, want to redo your first paludarium, since there are usually some details you're not satisfied with in the first one. When that day comes, it'd be very annoying to have a massive enclosure. My first serious dart frog vivarium project was a 45x45x60, and for me that was a great size to start with (if I were you, I'd at least go a bit bigger though, because of the water feature, but you get the point), and I'm happy I made all my first mistakes in that one instead of my 90x45x90. -In terms of width, 60-80 cm would definitely be enough for an awesome display tank. Going bigger is always fun of course, but I'd keep it handleable for the first paludarium. -Don't underestimate the importance of the depth of the vivarium. It can be difficult to create a visually interesting scape while only having 35 cm to work with. In my smaller vivariums, I prefer having them narrow and really deep (I showcase this in my new tarantula rack in my recent collection tour video) rather than wide and shallow. Of course, it might not be suitable for a massive vivarium to be deeper than it is wide, since it's really annoying if you can't easily reach the back of it, but I like to apply that principle to all the smaller vivariums I build nowadays (my ideal dart frog shelf would probably consist of a row of like 45x60x60, with 45 being the width). I'd say aim for at least 45 cm or even bigger, especially since you'll want room for a water feature in the front. -For the height, 60-80 would be great (45 would off course be totally fine for the frogs' sake, but difficult to plant it in a nice way if you're doing a display tank) and taller wouldn't hurt. It looks really weird to have a very wide enclosure with barely any height or vice versa. The micro fauna will definitely thrive regardless if the substrate is sponge filter mat or a natural substrate, and I'm leaning more and more towards non organic materials in my builds nowadays (even though I haven't taken the step to sponge filter mats just yet), but natural substrate is great too.

Thank you for the kind words. My mix probably isn't the best option out there. I've definitely been considering trying out both substrateless vivariums (with filter foam) and a sterile substrate (like only some kind of gravel) and I'm definitely looking to try out new options. I'm quite happy with the mix I have now but I believe it's possible to do something cheaper. Not really sure what feature of my substrate you're criticizing. As I mentioned in the video, my own mix is only reptile bark (which takes a really long time to decompose), pumice (which is almost the same thing as the turface you suggested) and biochar (as you said, adds carbon). The reptile bark is the only part of it that will eventually break down, but I've spoken to a few fellow dart frog keepers who said it has lasted 10+ years for them, barely even starting to break down, and they used solely reptile bark without mixing it out with anything. It might depend on the brand you get though. I know you can't really see the texture of my substrate that clearly in this video since I didn't get any good footage of it, but it looks a lot "better" (chunkier and clearly no dirt/mud in it) in person. When you talk about low nutrients and high carbon (the latter of which I have), I suppose you're referring to nitrogen in the reptile bark or something? All I can say is that I haven't had a reason to see it as an issue for the last two years. I feel like the mix of coco coir, moss and perlite would probably be much worse than reptile bark. Coco coir and moss break down ridicolously quickly and the perlite is very porous (a lot more so than the pumice that I use) and could likely cause skin irritations for the frogs. Not meaning to be disrespectful or anything, I think it's a very interesting discussion and I'm curious to know more exactly what you meant.

@@Tropical_Tutorials I stand corrected. I thought you said humus (the organic component of soil) not pumice. That's a whole lot better and makes your mix a good one for the longer term. Coir is still good- it breaks down slowly and has anti-fungal and bacterial properties. You're correct about moss, with the exception of living moss. Keep up the good videos my friend!

The recipe I use in the video and the proportions written on the screen are the exact proportions that I use. However, it might be different if you can’t find the exact fruit porridge brand that I use. If you can’t find it locally, I would probably just order Repashy, Nekton, NeHerp or some other brand of fruit fly media and stick to that.

I’m assuming you’re talking about moss slurry. That’s actually something I believe would work out very well to start up moss growth and I’ve wanted to try it for a while. The problem is when you have a layer of only dead, rehydratated sphagnum on top of everything, but when you’re using it to plant epiphytes (or live moss in this case) it’s totally fine in my opinion. However, if you have arboreal frogs they might have trouble climbing the living moss if you have too much of it everywhere

If you could give a timestamp in the video that would be helpful, I have several different flowering plants in my vivariums.

I don't use any standing water (though there are some pools in bromeliads in some of my tanks, but not all of them) in my vivariums and it's not necessary as long the humidity is high enough and they have access to wet surfaces in the vivarium (droplets on leaves, condensation on the glass or humid branches, but note that not the entire vivarium should be completely soaking wet; they should have some leaf litter that occasionally gets to dry out slightly). With that said, I have yet to hear about a single confirmed case of a dart frog drowning in a water feature solely due to its inability to swim and not because of some underlying condition (sick frogs tend to be drawn towards water when they're about to die, making it seem like they drowned). Many keepers can confirm that healthy dart frogs are great swimmers. Water features are still a big waste of space, they're completely useless for dart frogs and they add a risk of water saturating the substrate, so I still don't recommend doing one, especially if you're new. I have read of one confirmed case of a frog trying to drown another, and it was an O. pumilio kept with a P. lugubris (very questionable combination, O. pumilio are best kept with their own species) with a rather large water feature IIRC. In D. tinctorius, females are the ones that are territorial, so if any of them would try to drown each other, it would be them. That said, if you keep a pair (or a group of juveniles, which aren't as territorial as adults), I wouldn't worry too much about the possibility of drowning and I wouldn't be worried about adding a water dish if I felt like that for some reason. A lot of cliches in the dart frog hobby are completely blown out of proportion. If you post something about a water feature in an FB group, you'll instantly get tons of people (normally not very experienced) screaming at you that the frogs can't swim and are highly likely to drown, which is simply not true (once again, I still don't recommend large water features for the reasons I mentioned earlier, and the drowning risk might exist even though it's small, but the arguments mostly used are really misleading)

@@Tropical_Tutorials Excellent information. I have kept other amphibians but this is a first with dart frogs as I've seen them in the wild in Panama. I completely agree that it can saturate the substrate, but I've added an extra layer of lica balls to have a gap between layers and still enough distilled water to cover the pump. It's an unconventional configuration but this way it keeps the water filtered and prevents stagnation. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

There are usually some companies that specialize in building them. I can't really help you unless you're located in Sweden (heck, I barely even know any specific ones here off the top of my head), but there should be some sellers at reptile expos or on some webshops. It's also not that difficult to build them yourself if you order cut glass pieces (or cut the glass and sand it yourself, but that's a bit of extra work)

I have an AC unit 2 rooms away, so I cover the windows, open all doors and setup two fans blowing from the room with the AC.

Depends on your location. Magnolia, live oak, beech, european oak etc. are good ones you can probably find outside (depending on your location). You can also order fancy types online but they’re not better in any way. You’re mainly looking for something that doesn’t break down too quickly.

Depends on where you’re located. Here in Sweden I mostly see them on reptile expos, but most pet stores can probably take custom orders.

That's an interesting question. I don't keep all the eggs I get from my frogs since I literally get many hundreds (maybe even thousands) each year. If I did raise all of them, I'd flood the market, dump the prices and have a really hard time finding good, serious buyers for them. The thing is that, with most common species (Dendrobates, Phyllobates and Epipedobates), breeding will take a bit of effort from your side too, so if you just leave the eggs in the enclosure you won't need to worry about getting overrun by frogs (unless it's Epipedobates or Phyllobates with a big water feature in their enclosure). You can either just leave the eggs in the vivarium or take them out and freeze them. There are of course a few species (all Oophaga species, Ranitomeya imitator, R. flavovittata, R. vanzolinii and R. sirensis) that feed their own tadpoles with feeder eggs, so you'd still get froglets from those if you left them with the parents. However, they usually can't raise that many in a year, so there's no risk of flooding the market (unlike with eg. Epipedobates that lay TONS of eggs). In fact they're usually in pretty high demand so I'd recommend that anyone who keeps them try their best to breed them. Raising froglets is a ton of fun, so I can highly recommend it. I'm currently working on a guide for breeding dart frogs (hopefully it will be out this summer). But regardless, it's very important not to raise too many.

@@Tropical_Tutorials Awesome, thanks for the detailed response

Mister/misting system any day of the week. It increases the humidity just like rain would in nature and it provides water for the plants, the substrate and the hardscape, while also letting it dry up in between. Foggers are mostly for visual purposes, and if the fog gets too dense it can even give the frog breathing problems (it's common to see frogs trying to climb as high up as possible in vivariums with dense fog in them, and this is usually because they're panicking trying to get away from the fog). If you really want to, you can also use a fogger that you only turn on occasionally for short periods of time, but it's for your own sake, not the frogs', and the mister is the only one that's actually useful.

I don’t bake it; I boil it instead, so it’s somewhere close to 100 degrees Celsius (not sure about Fahrenheit).

@@Tropical_Tutorials oh ok. How do you dry it with out it becoming mushy?

Sorry about the late response, but I down some newspaper on a tray and spread it out so it's not a think layer. Then, I let it sit for a few days. If it's getting mushy, you probably have a bad leaf type (some leaves break down fast while other leaves last longer) or a too closed environment for them to dry in (maybe a too think layer or a closed space).

Depends on the species, but in the segment about vivarium size in the video, I mention how many you could put in that exact size (45 x 45 x 45 cm is the same as 18'' x 18'' x 18'') depending on the species. For group tolerant species the gender ratio won't matter that much. For some species, such as D. tinctorius, the females are territorial, so once they grow up you can usually only keep one female with one (or sometimes more) male in each vivarium. I believe there are also a few thumbnail frogs, such as Oophaga pumilio, where the males are territorial, but those aren't good beginner frogs anyways.

Auratus Costa Rica would be a great pick for a beginner keeper, though it seems like a bit of a gamble whether the individuals are going to be bold or shy with auratus in general. I see my Ranitomeyas (R. amazonica and R. reticulata) out and about almost all the time, but it can vary, and it's probably a good idea to choose something slightly bigger if you're a first time keeper. Both anthonyi and vittatus are extremely easy to breed compared to many other species, but it's difficult to compare them and say that one is the easiest, since different breeders will have different levels of success with different species. Anthonyi tends to be a bit more prolific and lay eggs during any circumstances, and since the tadpoles grow up so quickly compared to other species, I think it's leaning towards anthonyi being the easiest, but you could argue for either one since the difference is very small and mostly left up to random chance for different keepers. I've never heard that froglet deaths would be especially common for anthonyi compared to vittatus, though that might randomly happen to be the case for a specific breeder. Young froglets dying for seemingly no reason can occur with any species (in fact, I've had it with one or two vittatus froglets but never with an anthonyi). Regarding the price, anthonyi is usually either cheaper than or the same price as vittatus on the Swedish market.

@@Tropical_Tutorials I personally live in the Netherlands and know quite a bit about the poison dart frogs. Like I said I work with them. Luckily I have an experienced breeder I work for. He has been in the hobby for more then 30 years, he personally always had the most succes with the Vittatus. This year as well. I don't mind if the dart frog I choose is recommended for beginner keepers because, I don't feel like I am one. I study animal care here and I had to get a certificate for breeding and keeping animals for business matter, your have different certificates for the different types of animals. The one where dart frogs are involved has to do with reptiles and amphibians. I one day want to start my own business around reptiles and amphibians, mostly interested in frogs and geckos. I want to start in private before starting a business. That's why I think it's time to start keeping frogs for myself. It's hard to choose the right species, I was thinking about costa rica's because they do quite well in hobby and do well in business matter. The costa rica's we have at the breeder I work for are not shy at all, they are actually the most visible of all of them but, yeah the breeder as well said it's not quite common for them to act like that, so now I'm even more in doubt then before. We also have the ammerega and galactonotus but, they are pretty much to old to still breed, I still really like them though. If I can buy some galactonotus somewhere on the reptile fair in Houten or Hamm. Hamm is the biggest one in Europe so I probably will find some cool species there. I guess I will just wait until those reptile fairs and then I will look around and try to make a real decision.

Sometimes it appears out of nowhere and it’s completely harmless, but I’ve never heard of anyone purposefully growing them successfully.

Antfarms1 has fungi in one if his enclosures

Phyllobates terribilis, one of the largest dart frogs, can eat tiny pinhead (really tiny) crickets, but it’s really not recommended. Crickets become expensive in the long run, they’re harder to keep and breed yourself and if a few escape in the vivarium they might start eating the plants. You’ll also have to get flies for the froglets regardless if they start breeding. You can order fruit flies online (when the weather allows for it), start culturing them yourself and then you’ll never have to buy more again. I highly recommend starting to culture fruit flies before getting the frogs. I haven’t used repti safe but I suppose it should work. Humidity at 70% isn’t exactly ture. I don’t measure the humidity as I said in the video, but I think it fluctuates a lot, from maybe 70-95% (just a guess) depending on the time of year and how recently I misted. It’s impossible to say how often it should be misted. It depends on your vivarium, mostly the size, ventilation and how grown in it is. Some of my big vivariums have a lot of ventilation and they’re misted with a misting system 8 times a day for around 5-10 seconds each time. Some of my smaller vivariums with glass on the entire top (so there’s only some front ventilation left) are hand misted by me once every day or every other day. The more ventilation you have, the less it will hold humidity and the more you’ll have to mist. Make sure to not have too much ventilation, but you also shouldn’t have too little.

@@Tropical_Tutorials Thanks for letting me know. Also I have 1 last question. Which species of Poison dart Frogs do you recommend?

@@shinydarkrai3657 There's a segment about that in the video, all of the ones I mentioned are beginner friendly (though the Ranitomeyas might be a tiny bit more sensitive). They all have their pros and cons.

Hey bro I just need to ask you one more question. Is it required to put real plants in a poison dart frog terrarium or can you put fake plants in there?

@@shinydarkrai3657 If you can’t keep live plants alive in there, it’s not a suitable environment for the dart frogs. At least get some easy plant species like golden pothos or Ficus pumila. It’s not like the frogs would die without live plants if everything was setup absolutely perfectly, but the plants increase the humidity and they’re a good indicator that the eco system is healthy. Live plants also give a lot more coverage and safe spots for the frogs than fake plants since the live plants will grow and get bigger.

Herpers Choise i Uppsala är helt fantastiskt fin och definitivt värt ett besök.

@@Tropical_Tutorials jag lever I uppsala tak sammycket komma titta pa det, tror du att dendrobates auratus är en bra nybörgares groda?

​@@fallows4life Det är en väldigt tålig och lättskött art. De kan dock vara blyga ibland (det varierar en hel del beroende på individen och terrariet, vissa är jätteblyga och andra är väldigt modiga), särskilt som ungdjur. Jag har flera blyga arter och jag tycker det är lite charmigt att behöva titta lite extra noga och inte alltid se dem, men om du bara har en art kanske det är lite tråkigt. Dendrobates tinctorius och Phyllobates terribilis kommer däremot nästan garanterat vara extremt modiga.

Wouldn't recommend it. There'll likely be condensation that comes in contact with the mesh (exo terras, unless they're brand new from like the last few years, usually don't have stainless steel mesh, so it wouldn't be optimal in that sense). The mesh also isn't very well adhered to the lid (assuming it's an exo terra); it can easily be pulled out downwards, so I'm not sure if it could hold the weight of plexiglass on top of it. It could still work, but I'd recommend replacing the whole top with real glass instead. If you go for plexi glass, only use it on top of the mesh, because if you put one or two pieces of plexiglass over the whole top (like you would with normal glass), it can bend over time.

@@Tropical_Tutorials its chicken wire mesh

@@Tropical_Tutorials i made it its a wooden enclosure

@@Tropical_Tutorials i wish i could show you a picture

@@NeanderthalDogma You could try to DM my instagram @gecko_geek06 if you want to send a picture. Chicken wire mesh sounds like it wouldn’t be fruit fly proof (or even frog proof), and wooden enclosures are usually difficult to waterproof well enough for a humid dart frog tank (though it’s possible), so I have to say I am a bit sceptical.

I have a lot of tiny green plants and a lot of wood pieces, could you give a timestamp for when you saw it in the video?

@@Tropical_Tutorials gd point looking naw

0.46 on the right clining up that side

@@rosedonnapurAt 0:46 the plants growing on the wood are two different Marcgravia species (Marcgravia sp. Costa Rica and Marcgravia sp. Columbia), as well as a bunch of java moss

Amazing thanks

Thank you for the comment. Regarding the water, that’s probably the part of the video I felt most uncertain about but it also felt like a bad idea to leave it out, so thank you for the input. As someone who really dislikes the ”I’ve done this for years without issues”-argument (there are 90 year olds who smoked for their whole lives too, that doesn’t make it risk free), I might look into getting an RO filter, I’m so tired of these calcium stains anyways.

@@Tropical_Tutorials I completely agree. Just because some have done things for years and did not notice the harm does not mean there is no harm. Some people claim their amphibians are fine without supplements but then when you see their frogs, their bones are horribly malformed. I used to do water testing and most people do not realize how many contaminants are in our water supply that are deemed “safe” for human consumption but that are quite harmful for amphibians. You are lucky that your government has stricter standards than ours on water quality, but there are still many things that can cause harm to amphibians long term. A good RO system is one of the best investments you can make.

@@Tropical_Tutorials chlorine and chloramine water are deadly , also depends on your country water supply dosage

Mellan Göteborg och Borås

Jag bor i Östersund och de verkar vara svårt att hitta grodor häromkring 🙈😢

@@anderssvemark8302 Testa att lägga ut köpes-annonser på pilgift.se och terrariedjur.se. Annars kan du försöka åka till eller hitta transporthjälp av grodor från malmömässan 26:e december.

I'm definitely leaning to that opinion as well nowadays. There's nothing inherently wrong with using them, but they break down within a few years, and their water transportation properties are a bit strange, so I'd much rather use other background materials and I don't plan on using it again

That’s definitely a good size too. I’d opt for something terrestrial in it (all dart frogs will climb a bit if given the opportunity, but some species tend to stay on the ground more than others), like Phyllobates, Epipedobates or Dendrobates. That size would be enough for a small group (unless you choose D. tinctorius which do better in pairs and rarely work in groups) of like 3-5 frogs, or maybe even more if you pick the small Epipedobates.