Question for the Frog Keepers?

[mattyc]

I am looking into making a frog house to house poision dart frogs (the blue ones) which will be fully planted, does anyone keep frogs that would mind answering a few questions.

1. what are safe plants for the frogs?
2. what should i look for from the frogs i.e. should they be active etc?
3. i want to get a male and female, can i do this or should i have 2 females?
4. what size viv should i get?
5. do i need uv lighting?

the plants i am thinking of are some moss from my fish tank some HC and some Anubias are there any other plants i can use/the frogs need?

Cheers

 

[Jase]

Hi Matt, I can't help specifically but perhaps researching http://www.dendroboard.com/ would yield an answer also.

Mods delete this if linking is against the rules

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I don't keep them, but I used to have a colleague who was a keen tree frog breeder. Have a look at http://brianstropicals.com/building.html, the owner (in the USA) is a University micro-biology lecturer, and it is full of some very useful information. This is another German site with some useful info (in English) http://www.terrarientechnik.de/.
cheers Darrel

 

[Roy S]

1. what are safe plants for the frogs?
Blimey where do I start??...There are so many different kinds that are used by dart keepers the list is enormous, most favour climbing plants, mosses and bromeliads
2. what should i look for from the frogs i.e. should they be active etc?
There are a few available "blue" dart frogs, the one most people are thnking about are azureus, these are quite bold and active frogs that get too a good size, theres also Blue spiliwinis that I breed which are almost identical to the azureus..but rarer these are also very bold frogs and are visible all day in thier viv. Finally theres a blue strain of auratus, these tend to be more shy that the previous two I've mentioned but in a well planted viv some people say they soon become a bit more outgoing
3. i want to get a male and female, can i do this or should i have 2 females?
Yep best go for a male/female pair, with tinctorius morphs two females can get aggressive with each other
4. what size viv should i get?
For a pair of tinctorius azureus or sips I'd say go for a 2ft (60cm) wide viv, the hight of mine are about 40cm, and 30cm depth
5. do i need uv lighting?
Some keepers will tell you yes, a lot of others say no, I've had no problems keeping and breeding mine for over 10 years not using any UV at all, just dusting their food insects with a balanced vitamin mineral suppliment is fine

the plants i am thinking of are some moss from my fish tank some HC and some Anubias are there any other plants i can use/the frogs need?
Climbers, mosses, bromeliads, orchids....all are used by dart keepers.

Hope the answers are ok, give me a shout if you have any more. Dendroboard is OK but is predominantly american, and they tend to have very strong opinions on how people should keep dart frogs. I've found a better site is:

http://www.dendroworld.co.uk

The only snag is I dont think they dont have open membership anymore, as they were just getting too many spam accounts set up. You could Email Jon one of the admin to join, they are a great bunch of knowledgeable people, and also have a good few meets where people sell spare frogs,plants, vivs and loads of other stuff.
hope I havent waffled on too much

regards

Roy

 

[mr. luke]

Im currently growing out a viv for frogs on a windowsill
Im using pellia, round pellia, riccia fluitans, pico java fern, weeping moss and fissidens sp (uk native)
Anything that can grow aquatic will be 100% safe toxins wise as will mosses.
Im going to be keeping mine in a 2 foot high tank thats a wierd shape and holds 30l of water.
Uv is not a nescecity at all.

 

[mattyc]

Cheers Roy you answered all my questions, i will be getting the viv soon co i can put it togeather. do you sell frogs?

I think i will be fine with the aquatic plants, they would prob kill the fish if they were toxic

Thanks again for your replys

 

[Roy S]

I normally take any surplus frogs I've got to the dendroworld meets, or advertise them on there. I'm resting my pairs for a little while during the cooler months to give them a break, but I've heard a couple of them starting to call, so I'm sure they'll have eggs again shortly

Oh yes...just edited this to add that there will be a dendroworld meet in Runcorn I think around the 25th of april...normally theres a good few frogs, plants and probably a few vivs too.

 

[mattyc]

i cant contact anyone on that web site so i cant get onto any of the info, you need to sign in to contact the members!!