Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm new to this forum, and have searched for about 2 hours in past forum archives that could have helped me, and nothing did. So I think I have a question that no one has asked in the past year or two, And if my asking can help someone else who doesn't want to sound dumb, then I will. LOL. I have an Ig that is about 3 feet long. He's great, and totally healthy. My question is this, I would LOVE to get one, possibly two Dart Frogs. I was initially going to build them a separate enclosure, but I thought since Ig's are Omnivorous, maybe I could give my Ig some buddies in his enclosure. Now, my main concern would be that at aprox 3' my Ig may not see the frogs as "buddies" on HIS turf. The more threads I looked at in this forum's archives, the more I started to see that Igs can get VERY aggressive. (before I get crucified for that statement, yes I have had my Ig for years, and take very good care of him, and take him to the vet when he needs to, and handle him regularly. However, MY Ig has never been in contact with another herp, or animal for that mater other than a dog that walks by his enclosre, or maybe sniffs him while hes out of his enclosure...so he is not aggressive at all. He may get edgy sometimes when he sheds, but that is normal.) So i guess my quesion is marginally foolish for me to ask, but I figured maybe it's possible. Or should I have thought of his buddies when HE was a baby? Any help would be greatly appreciated. All apologies for the painfully long post. LOL

i would never put any other reptile/amphibian in with and iguana. they are very undredicable and since your igg is 3 feet long he will cruch the frogs.. not to mention that dart frogs are poisonis(i think) and they eat crickets and stuff like that which is bad for your iggs health.

so the answer is no you should not put anything else in with you iguana..

Mike d

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For a while, this was an idea I toyed with, and fairly quickly came to the conclusion it would be a bad idea. Initially, I thought well, they inhabit opposite heights of a cage, both need high humidity, have completely dissimilar dietary habits... and the light bulb went on that it was a hugely bad idea.

Dart frogs - toxic as _(@*#$. Not something I really want in with my ig. Salmonella - not something I want near dart frogs, and I am convinced that all igs carry at least one strain of salmonella. Husbandry - complete nightmare. Iguana poo in the frog pool, not fun to clean up at all, frog poison on ig branches, not good. Ig munching frog, dead frog and sick/dead ig. Ig licking frog, sick/dead ig.

If I was going to keep both, within a limited footprint (how much base space they take up), I would build an iguana enclosure on top of a dart frog enclosure, both completely seperate from each other. I could use trim, lighting, plants etc to make it look like one big enclosure but I'd want to make sure nothing could cross from one to the other. Its not unreasonable to have a 7' high cage in a house, let the ig have the top 4 1/2 feet, the dart frogs the lower 2 1/2 feet with a solid barrier. It could be a really fun project actually

Unfortunately, I'm sure your right ;however, I thought Dart Frogs from most places as long as they are Cb, or Cbb, were non-poisoness. I read somewhere that their diet in the wild makes them poisoness, because you bet your arse I'm not interested in sticking a poisoness animal in with my Ig. Good point though on the Salmonella, I never even thought of that. Another awesome thing you brought up is the porject to make it seem as if it were one tank, but two encolsures. That ROCKS! What a great idea, I would think of putting the Darts on top though...that way it would look as if the iguana was on the ground, and the Darts would be up in the trees. WOW, I'm a man inspired. Thanks for the input....if anyone has any ideas on what I can do with this enclosure project shoot them my way. If anyone's interested in doing this also, I could post some pics because I think I may start this one SOON! LOL.

They're not non-poisonous in captivity, they just cease being the most poisonous animals on the planet and aren't dangerous to touch like wild ones. To an iguana they're an appetizer.
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Dart frogs in captivity are harmless. Their diet in the wild includes a variety of insects thatcarry natural toxins. The dart frogs digestive system is naturally able to extract these compounds and concentrate them into its skin. In captivity they don't get anywhere close to the same diet so any dart frog in captivity is not really toxic. I've even heard that dart frogs caught WC and brought into a captive environemtn will lose their toxicity eventually.
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I've always loved complicated displays where everything looks like one big environment, but if you look at the details everyone is seperated safely. Washington Zoo does this incredibly well with its large mammals, its hard to tell even how they do it unless you're back in the exhibits themselves, looking from behind. Barriers and trenches are hidden by scenery and plants, and entranceways are almost un-findable, hidden behind rocks and trees. If igs didn't cough out snalt to the level they do, I'd even consider a bottom and back tank config for dart frogs, so they look like they're all through. The snalt would give the back glass away though, and Tempest would probably crash off it through breeding season. Not that I'm about to change his current cage

No, no, no. Your intentions are good, but the two species would be incompatible in the same enclosure. Dart frogs are adorable and can make great pets if given the proper environment, but they should not share it with an iguana.

And igs are not omniverous - they are herbivorous. Omniverous means they can eat anything, like humans. Igs should not; they are vegetarians and should not be fed animal protein or human food. They need their own special salad to thrive.

I'm sure you have your pet's best interest at heart, otherwise you would not be seeking advice! Good luck - dart frogs are so cute and pretty and I'm sure they will give you a lot of enjoyment!

Hugs,
Amy and Green Guy

As far as I am aware poison arrow frogs are only poisonous if they are wild collected. Any frogs captively bred do not eat the food source which makes them toxic so they are completely safe. Saw this on a distributors web site so take with a grain of salt I suppose. Still probably not a good idea to mix them though... with such big size differances the iguana might just accidentally step on and crush the poor frogs...

sorry should have looked this up earlier and put in the original post.

Diet
This Blue poison frog, like most other frogs, enjoys a meal of termites, crickets, ants and fruit flies. Chemicals are derived from their food and synthesized into cutaneous poisons. When captive bred, these same chemicals are not found in the food sources.

That info is from the Nashville zoo's website which is located here
http://www.nashvillezoo.org/blfrog.htm
Link