Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I wandered over here from the Day Geckos and Morelia Pythons forums because...

Im getting my first Dart Frogs (D. auratus) today from a local breeder and Im pretty excited about it! I have my tank set up and ready to go, and I've read everything I could get my hands on regarding their captive care.

I was hoping someone on this forum might have some expert tips for me about keeping D. auratus happy. Does anyone have any methods or techniques that suite this species??? Has anyone had any unfortunate mishaps that I could watch out for??

This particular species is known for being relatively easy to maintain and that is largely why I chose them as my first Dendrobates. None the less, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

When I get home from work I'll photograph, and then post the pics of my enclosure so you guys can evaluate it and offer suggestions.

Thanks to anyone who take the time to offer their help!!!

Joe

The auratus are hardy souls, and will get along in groups with less fighting than in the tincts. The blue color morphs seem to be more shy than the others for some obscure reason. I've had my blues for 6 years, all females, and seldom see them out and about. I think this would be less problematic if I had a mixed sex group, although very occasionally, they will come out and interact. Here's three of them in a huddle. They were actually slapping each other. Adequate misting and humidty, plus a lot of shallow hides, some coarse oak leaf litter, without letting the plants overgrow, seems to be the way to make them feel safe enough to come out. I believe the other color morphs don't have such an extreme problem with shyness, but understand that some individuals can exhibit this.

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

Hey Joe..
Just remember to keep the humidity up... They are pretty hardy and durable.. Give them some plants to hide amongst and plenty of fruit flies to eat and you should have some happy little froggies!
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photos.xtremecombatsports.com

going as soon as possible. Whenever you open a new fruit fly culture, get a new one going. You should probably have two cultures to use at one time, so you can alternate between them. That would mean that you have two back up cultures started, also. Remember to dust your fruit flies with a vitamin powder one day, and a calcium powder the next day. I use Reptivite for the vitamin, and JurassiCal for the calcium.

And remember that most Petcos sell cultures of fruit flies for emergency backups.
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phflame
kingsnake.com host

You can also use Dendrocare as a balanced vitamin/calcium/D3 dust. Just be sure to check the expiration date on any vitamin dusts, because some elements in them do deteriorate over time.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

I really appreciate you guys taking some time out to give me a little coaching.

For the past few years I have been keeping and breeding Day Geckos (Phelsuma klemmeri, and P.m. grandis) which have similar temperature and humidity requirements as auratus. The geckos (especially the babies) eat a lot of fruit flys so I almost always have 2 cultures at any given time. I plan to apply the same calcium and vitamin regiment for the frogs as I use for my geckos - that is, adequate supplimentation, but not too much.

The geckos require frequent misting also! This should be an easy transition.

Patty, your blue morphs of the auratus are very beautiful! Its worth trying to coax them out into the open

- Can anyone tell me why Oak leaves are supposedly beneficial?

Thanks again, people. I definately appreciate it.

Enjoy the photos and please, critique my setup so I can improve. There won't be any hard feelings.

Joe

Love the set up from what I can see. Post some of the entire tank. I need some Ideas myself.

Here you go. Sorry it was dark in the room, but you get the idea. All the inhabitants are asleep. The bamboo is for the Phelsuma (Day Geckos) and the pond has some danio fish and a newt.

- The community tank is not really my style. In no other setups am I mixing species, but this is just a display tank that Im going to put in my living room.

My other enclosures are purely functional - and not nearly as attractive. They have 1.1 pairs of day geckos in them.

I just thought I'd set up something that was fun to stare into!

Hope you like it. I'll try to get some other pics in the daytime so the enclosure is better illuminated.

Thanks for the compliments on the cage.

I accidently hit return and it posted my message before I could attach the pic so here ya go:

That's nice. I love the bamboo water fall feature.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

Thanks For posting the extra pic. I like how you set this up. If I ever manage to figure out what I want to do with my (Hopefully) larger tank I will post some pics once it is complete. My husband is still staggering over the cost of the frogs so a larger tank is a few months down the road.

Your calcium supplement for the geckos may not be right for the dart frogs. There's a difference in the calcium/phosphorus ratio required by lizards vs. amphibians, especially darts. So I would suggest using something like Dendrocare, designed for darts, or the often recommended Herp-vite and RepCal, dusted alternatively. I just use the Dendrocare for darts, although for awhile I used T-Rex tree frog vitamins. For the yellow, orange and red frogs, I add a pinch of paprika--the carotenes help sustain their bright colors.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus

Yeah, I think you're probably right about the Phelsuma and Dendrobates having different nutritional requirements. I think tomorrow I'll go down to the reptile shop and get some of the suppliments that are specifically for Dart Frogs. I'll also do some reading on their calcium/phosphorous ratios. That is one of the important things in gecko nutrition too, although they must have different needs.

Does anyone have a favorite book on Dendrobate care. So far all of my care info has come from online sources. I'd like to add another quality book to my herp library.

Thanks again for all your time and help.

Sincerely,

Joe

If you don't have the Professional Breeders Series--POISON FROGS by W. Schmidt and FW Henkel, this is a good one which is affordable. They were supposed to come out with an extensive tome last summer, but as far as I can tell, it hasn't been distributed yet.

Both Black Jungle and Saurian carry the book I mentioned, or you can get it at
Link

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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
5 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
5 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
4 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
4 P. terribilis
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus