Baby Dart Frogs

Care Sheet for Baby Dart Frogs

The simple requirements of Dendrobatid frogs are often misunderstood by beginners. Much of the literature available about poison dart frogs is inaccurate, or skims over important areas of their care and requirements. In this care sheet I will provide specific methods and information on the requirements of these frogs, particularly babies. Several areas are covered, and once the concepts presented here are understood the only challenge left in raising these frogs is obtaining a good food supply and finding some healthy froglets to start with, and you are in the right place for that. We try to provide larger well started froglets, so many of the potential problems are eliminated before you start.
Housing for young dart frogs is best kept simple, especially for the first month or so that you have the frogs. It is very important for you to be able to monitor the frogs daily, and see that they are eating and appear healthy. Large enclosures (anything larger than a five gallon) are risky. Probably the best setup is a "shoebox", one of the plastic boxes made by Rubbermaid or the Sterilite company. I know many of you may be appalled at the idea of taking your beautiful frogs and putting them in a plastic box! Don't worry you wont be keeping them there for long. Cover the bottom of the shoebox with carefully folded paper towels and add a small piece of cork bark or some other hiding spot that the frogs can get under. Moisten the paper towel with dechlorinated water. Do not soak the paper towel, just get it damp. If available add a cutting of Pothos, just lay it on the paper towel. If you like you can also place a very shallow bowl in the container, something along the lines of a milk bottle cap.The bowl could be larger than that but should not be more than three eighths of an inch deep. The bowl is not a necessity, but if you you do add a water source be sure to clean it daily, since food will get in and drown, especially if you are using crickets as a food source. The water you use should be dechlorinated, whether by letting it sit for 24 hours or by using a product like Amquel to remove the chlorine. Another substrate that can be used is a thin layer of gravel (about one half inch), with sheet moss over it. Sheet moss is the dried green moss that most nurseries sell. Moisten the moss and piece it in over the gravel. Any plants that you add can be rooted in the gravel, which should have a little water added to it. Any variation to this design is fine as long as the lid is tight fitting and the tank is not more than a square foot in size. One of the most common mistakes made is to give your frogs too much ventilation. Dart frogs do not need ventilation, at least not beyond opening the lid every couple of days. With this type of setup you can carefully monitor your frogs and make sure it is eating and settling into its new home. Although the humidity levels will remain high in this type of setup, your frogs will still enjoy an occasional misting every day or two, this can be accomplished by using a small inexpensive hand sprayer or if your budget allows, a fully automatic misting system.
The next subject to tackle is setting up a food supply. The best way to go here is probably going to be for you to culture wingless fruitflies. This is not hard to do, and involves a minimum of time and expense. Culturing fruitflies is the subject for another caresheet, and there are a number of suppliers of fruitflies in the marketplace. If interested I may have some cultures available for you when I send out your frogs, and if so I can provide information at that time. If you are unable to find a supplier let me know and I will help you out. Another food item is crickets, which can be purchased through crickets farms and possibly your local specialty reptile store. Crickets can be expensive, and really only work for larger collections, since they are generally sold in quantities of five hundred minimum, and by the time you have fed out a few of the crickets they will often have outgrown the frogs! But crickets do offer excellent nutrition, and they seem to make frogs grow faster than fruitflies do. They are an excellent fall back food supply, and if you have a gap in your production of fruitflies, then crickets will be your first choice for a substitute. The frogs that I sell are generally eating four to five day old crickets when they leave here, so this is the size you will need to order. Small crickets dry out easily, so I recommend keeping them in a container similar to the shoebox, with a couple of holes in the lid- the crickets need a good mix of humidity and ventilation. A slightly larger container may work better. Feed them slices of carrot and crushed cheerios, or some other cereal product.
Whatever you are feeding, it will need to be "dusted" with minerals and vitamin supplements. Probably the best combination, are the products, Rep-Cal and Herptivite. Please be careful when obtaining these products, since there are a couple of products with similar names. Use the two in an equal mixture, in a clean tall cup. Add the food, and shake or twirl till the food is coated in this mixture. Then carefully shake the food into your frogs enclosure. With a little practice you can do this without spilling much of the dust!
Keep your frogs first enclosure in an area with a temperature between 70 and 80 degrees, and give it background light (don't place it in direct sunlight!) Under these conditions your frogs should grow quickly and be ready for a bigger tank in just a few short months. Information on setting up larger tanks will be available at this site in the near future.

http://www.kingsnake.com/dartfrog/cs_smalldartfrogs.htm