I purchased four D. Auratus bronze and green froglets from an expo back on March 1st, and all have been doing fine until last night or this morning. Before I left for work, I took a peek to check in on them and I found two of the four dead. I removed them and put them in a container so I could examine them and bury them once I got home from work. There isn't anything unusual with the corpses, (that I can see) and the remaining two frogs seem to be just fine (and are eating as usual at the moment). I'd like to know why two of my seemingly healthy frogs died, although I do not wish to pay for a necropsy. I'll describe the enclosure, feeding, ect. and hopefully someone more experienced with darts can offer some input.

*The enclosure - I set up a 55 gallon tank for my darts about six months before I purchased them. One end is sectioned off with silicone for a pool area that is about a foot long and eight inches deep (mostly filled with river stone and a large waterfall). I use distilled water to fill the pool and to mist with. The tank has about three inches of drainage and about three inches of coco husk fiber. The plants include some tropical ivy, a fern, and pillow moss / frog moss for ground cover. The cage furniture includes a coco hut, some wet habitat root wood, and some stones. The background is a combination of cork bark and lava rock. The temp stays at about 72-75 degrees F and the humidity is always at about 80% without misting. I mist the tank at least once a day, sometimes more, and siphon the drainage area out about once or twice a month as needed. The light is on about a 13 hour light / 11 hour dark cycle. Everything used (plants, ect.) was cleaned prior to use and the silicone is meant for aquarium use and was allowed to cure for about two days.

*Feeding - I feed my darts once a day ( twice every now and then, though not as much on the second feeding). Right now I feed them D. melanogaster flies, and the occasional extra small phoenix worms. I use a vit. D3 calcium supplement almost every feeding and a multivitamin supplement (no vit. A but has beta carotine) when I don't use the calcium. I feed them enough so that afterwards there are only a few flies left over to be eaten before the next feeding.

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