Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've been thinking about getting dart frogs for quite a while now, and the only thing that keeps me from getting one is that their staple diet seems to be fruit flies. This poses a problem on several levels. First of all, I have only seen fruit flies available for purchase at my local pet stores a handfull of times.

Second, I have never been good at breeding my own captive feeder insects. I have tried with crickets on numerous occasions, and none of my attempts have worked out. So I am vary wary of trying to culture my own fruit flies.

That being the case, could I feed darts pinhead crickets and small mealworms? I know they are small animals, but are any of them large enough to do so? I've been interning at a pet shop, and I've seen some smaller reptiles and amphibians devour crickets that looked way to big for them. However, I definately don't want to spend 50$ for a frog only to have it starve to death because the only food I can provide is way to big for it.

Thanks in advance.

Fruitflies are easier to raise than crickets. You can also feed some springtails as a treat and order pinhead crickets occasionally for variety. If you are in a pesticide free place, you can also collect "field plankton" in a net and feed some aphids in season. The link below offers fruit fly culture kits. Ed's Fly Meat has springtail cultures. (I don't have that link, but it should be ease to search.)
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

I felt the same way as you did when I got my first darts. I know for a fact that if you can write your name, you can culture fruit flies. Basically, all you have to do is order a new culture (about $6 or $7) and media (about 10 bucks for enough that will last you for 4-6 months or so.) Then simply add water and flies. The flies do the rest of the work. I'd recomend Fruitflies.net for your cultures, they provide me with excellent cultures, but there are many other great sources as well.

If you are still worried that you won't be able to handle the flies, I'd get some flies now and start culturing them. Then, once you get the hang of culturing fruit flies, start looking for some darts, and once you find some, start putting your enclosure together.

Keeping Dart frogs is very rewarding, you'll like it.
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1.1.0 Sunburst Veileds (Oscar and Lizzie)
1.1.0 Azureus darts
2.3.0 Mantids
1.0.0 Albino Pacman (Grumpy)
2.0.0 White's Tree Frogs
0.2.0 Cats (Oreo and Doodle)

Thank you both for your help. I'll try the fruit flies before I get the frog.

So, I feed them fruit flies as the basis of their diet, and pin-heads as a supplement?

That's the basics. You can go on to add extras from there, like springtails or tiny flour beetle larvae, (the field plankton, etc.) but dusted fruitflies alone will maintain them.

Fruit flies are indeed not difficult to maintain, but you should start a new culture every few days, depending upon how many tanks of frogs you are feeding. You don't want a sudden crash in the middle of winter when you may not be able to get them delivered immediately. Too many is better than too few. This is advice from a COLD winter area, however, where getting fresh cultures isn't always possible.
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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