Anyone Got Poison Dart Frogs?

[Box]

Just wondering could one of these kill my wife.......

 

[otherside21]

Just wondering could one of these kill my wife.......

haha, no they don't hold the toxins in their skin in high levels- if at all I believe if they're born/bred in captivity. They get the toxins from the plants/foods they eat in the wild. My ones couldn't kill a person even if you touched one in the wild. The guy I bought my frogs from had some dart frogs which could kill a person in under 2 minutes if in the wild!

Thanks again bigbruiseral!

 

[mike455555]

looking at this thread i want frogs now there soo cute =D how much are you looking at as set up/ running costs?
would a 2f aquarium do?

sorry for hijacking the thread OP

 

[BigbruiserAl]

Different darts need different foot prints, some are social some not so much. You need to commit 100% to darts there not like fish where you miss a water change they will fine. With humidity close to 100%, live food in the tank urine and poo it is a ripe for infection and disease. At £30 - £800 per frog you don't want to be losing them

 

[otherside21]

looking at this thread i want frogs now there soo cute =D how much are you looking at as set up/ running costs?
would a 2f aquarium do?

sorry for hijacking the thread OP

have only just seen this so sorry for the delay. they are a lot more expensive than fish to keep, i mean to start off you are looking at probably over £300 for all the equipment. and as BigbruiserAl said, the frogs themselves are very expensive so you want to make sure you get it right! I'd actually say that they are easier to care for than fish. You don't have the bother of water changes, the atmosphere in the viv is kind of like an eco-system and takes care of itself. If you get springtails (small bug things) these deal with the frog's waste so there is no need to clean the viv.

The initial cost is the worst bit. Running costs- bottled still water you need to buy regularly but that's pretty cheap, and food- fly cultures are around £2-4 a box and if you culture your own this could be a one off cost!

Hope that helps!

 

[BigbruiserAl]

To add to this for money saving no need buy bottled water, the normal begin er frogs will do fine with declor water and i got 3 pots of fruit flies for £10 deliverd 2 years ago never needed any since

To culture you own i used a glass coffe jar (tesco own) made tiny holes in lif for air to pass through.

2 cups of ready break
1/2 spoon suger
1/2 spoon yeast
Add pure orange juice unill the ready break absorbs it(you want more dry then wet) add a handfull strew/hay place a square of kichen roll over the top to stop the flies getting through the air holes and leave them for 2-3 weeks at 24-28c

 

[otherside21]

thanks for that Al, I have been struggling to make my own cultures, what I'm finding difficult is actually how to do it when the flies are crawling everywhere- I don't want them all over my room! Do you attempt to make a new culture at the stage when there are no flies and just maggots? I thought you had to have a few flies in there? Maybe you move them from another culture?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

I start a new culture every 2-3 weeks regardless because every now and gain a culture will crash so having a constant supply is vital. I have a large salad bowl just for the frogs and put in 1 teaspoon of Nutrobal Reptile Vitamin Supplement Powder, if you hit the fly culture at the base all the flys will drop down to the bottom now remove the lid while holding the jar in your left hand and spin the base of the jar with right hand, this makes all the fly come out into the slad bowl nice and smooth. The powered stops them running away as clogs them up. I give the bowl a shake to coat them in powder which gut loads full of Vitamins then pour them through a 2 piece tea strainer. you should have left a salad bowl with powder in and a tea strainer full of flys coated in powder. At this stage i will feed to my frogs or drop them into a new jar to start a new culture.

If using my resapie make sure you make the culture 24 hours before adding flys, this will allow the yest to react and any gas to leech out before sealing the flys in

 

[otherside21]

thanks BigbruiserAl, will give it a go!

 

[otherside21]

got another question, sorry! how do you dispose of fly cultures? I mean, I'm assuming throwing them in the bin isn't the best thing you can do?

 

[BigbruiserAl]

yeah mate i throw them in the trash

 

[otherside21]

yeah mate i throw them in the trash

ok thanks, will do that too!

 

[josh_g]

dart frogs are so cool. im picking up a bare viv 2moz so I can get some of these little guys. going to try and get some Ranitomeya (thumbnail) as the viv im getting is an exo terra 45x45x45cm so limited to space. What other equipment am I going to need??

 

[BigbruiserAl]

dart frogs are so cool. im picking up a bare viv 2moz so I can get some of these little guys. going to try and get some Ranitomeya (thumbnail) as the viv im getting is an exo terra 45x45x45cm so limited to space. What other equipment am I going to need??

you will need a heat mat, a pot for their water, and if its an exo terro viv need to make it fly proof and able to keep humidity up. The terra were not made for frogs but easy mods

 

[josh_g]

ok heat mat, what sort of light is needed? How would I keep humidity up, with a spray bottle? Also is tap water that has been treated with aquasafe safe for the frogs? Thanks