Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been keeping dart frogs about 6 months and 4 out of 5 have died. I really want to keep the last one alive and will get more if I can figure out what I am doing wrong. I am suspicious of some webs that I have found poping up around some plants and have found and removed some small spiders. At least I think they are spiders.
They didn't die all at once. It started with the green Auratus and I figured that they were too timid and the blue Azureus just stressed them out so I didn't worry. Now in the last two weeks I have lost two Azureus's and am freaking out. This is a lot of money to flush down the toilet.

I have only used recommended plants and the soils came as one of those brick things. I bought the moss at the same place that I got the frogs. (Reptiledepot.com)

20 Gallon Acrylic tank. False bottom on part of the tank with
three inch deep water
A single fluorescent UV-B light
3 Cb Blue Azureus
2 Cb Green Auratus

HELP ME
Chad

What is the temps, were they ever stressed by a spike in the heat, and how is the top of the cage enclosed you need to have ventilation. I dont recommend mixing. I have seen someone lose lots of frogs because of having a community tank. Until he got one kind of frog did he have success.

temp and humidity are almost always just under 80. (Southern california is easy)
I was ok with losing the green ones due to community living but when I started loosing the blue ones I started to worry.
For the top of the cage I have ~1/10 that was open so I used some foam to fill the hole. Dual purpose let air in but keep critters in too. That should be okay right?

I lost these two that I got from there. Thet did look healthy when I got them so I can't blame the depot.Mine would have like a seijure then be fine a few minutes later. They both stopped eating after 2 weeks. The luec I got from there is fat and healthy. Good luck don't give up.

I think that your temps of 80 degrees is too high, can you try to lower it? Plus, have you taken a fecal (if not a frog) to a qualified reptile vet to check for parasites?
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phflame

It would help to have more details of your set-up, such as humidity, temperatures, plants and water features. A 20 gallon tank is sufficient for a pair of azureus, but if you had some auratus in there too, there could have been some other problems with territory and food competition that stressed them all out, so that perhaps they all weren't feeding enough. That seems to be really crowding potentially incompatible species together. You could keep either four auratus or one pair of azureus in a 20 gallon, but not all together. In your next endeavor, don't mix different species, and if you choose to go with the azureus, get a mated pair-- male and female. If you replace the auratus, you could get four froglets or juveniles, and whatever sex they turn out to be, they will probably get along together without killing each other. But don't mix two species in the same 20 gallon tank.
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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

Instead of throwing money down the toilet as you mentioned, send a fresh and/or refridgerated newly deceased frog to your vet for a necropsy. I costs a bit more than flushing, but you learn tonnes more with the goal of preventing further deaths.

Ian

ps, look for a vet who see's herps daily. He'll also have a pathology lab that is used to herps.