Reptile & Amphibian Forums

are they as crappy at swimming as i have been hearing?

Dart frogs are very efficient swimmers in a pinch. They just don't usually do it deliberately. If you use a deep pool, just be sure they have an easy egress back to land such as a log in the water. You hear of them drowning when certain species, such as the tinctorius fight and may hold each other under in relatively shallow water where one can get a purchase. In deep water, they are just going to separate and go their own ways to land. My galactonotus spend a lot of time on the floating aquatic leaves in the deeper paludarium pools. We see them take short swims from one place to another quite often. I've also seen imitators deliberately dive in a pool and swim to hide under a ledge when startled. You just have to be sure there is no way they can get trapped in a false bottom under a land area, for instance.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
6 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
6 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris

ok cool, yea i heard about darts drowning here and their, and i found the idea of an amphibian that is a weak swimmer pretty rediculous.

I have seen one drown in a pool that had 2 sides that were glass and the rest was a nice gradual and textured cemet surface. So while they are not crappy swimmers by any means they do drown is they cant get out of a pool that is too deep.

Did you actually witness the frog drowning (and not interfere to save it,) or find it dead in the water, and assume it had drowned? Most all of them, even the heavier ones that don't ordinarily do so, are capable of even climbing glass to get out of a predicament, and they can certainly get up a slanted egress with no problem. I would be more inclined to suspect the frog had died of other causes, perhaps sought out the water, as some sick frogs will do, and died in it, too weak to swim, perhaps. Of course if you throw a dart frog into the middle of a big lake, it probably won't make it to shore, but an aquarium/paludarium pond allows a quick, efficient spurt to the egress.

What species of dart was it? I certainly haven't had experience with all of them, but all of those I keep are very efficient, if sometimes only accidental swimmers. A deep waterway is actually safer for those who tend to fight and bully because the aggressor can't get a purchase to hold the other under, as it could in a more shallow waterway, and has to swim away to save its own butt, breaking up the fight.
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Patty
Pahsimeroi, Idaho

4 D. auratus blue
6 D. galactonotus pumpkin orange splash back
7 D. imitator
6 D. leucomelas
6 D. pumilio Bastimentos
4 D. fantasticus
6 P. terribilis mint and organe
4 D. reticulatus
4 D. castaneoticus
2 D. azureus
4 P vittatus
2 P. lugubris