Dart frog terrarium setups

Do make sure there is a sustainable amount of humidity in your terrarium. Dart frogs are relatively rare to be seen in pet stores as they are poisonous. However, if you are looking for them, you might be able to find them from only sellers.

Due to the huge price gap, we suggest you go for a cheaper one if this is your first attempt caring for Dart Frogs. Thought bare in mind that you should only purchase these tropical frogs from reputable sellers only. You can identify each of them by looking at their reviews and sales history. There are numerous plants which you can choose from which are safe for your Dart Frogs, such as pothos, ficus vines, tropical gingers and bromeliads. These plants will be able to set the environment in your terrarium for your frogs.

On the other hand, it also serves as an eye-catching display for you. Bromeliads may stand out more due to their bright colours, which is favourable for dart frogs to homologue themselves in case of danger. One of the many things which you should first consider is the size of your dart frog terrarium. It is most suggested that you decide on the terrarium size depending on the number of dart frogs you are about to have.

Obviously, you would want it to be horizontally extensive. Although a gallon aquarium offers enough room to keep a pair of many poison frog species, an enclosure this small limits the ways you can landscape and plant your terrarium. If you are new to terrarium building, I recommend starting with something around the size of a gallon high aquarium or slightly larger. Another important thing you should take note of is the type of container.

We suggest you get an aquarium with a top opening instead. This is because of the humidity the frogs and plants need in the terrarium. Having a top opening terrarium will be able to trap the vapour from overflowing as it is locked tight when closed. The use of plants and branches are recommended as they provide hiding places for your poison-dart frogs. Generally, the more hiding places you have the more comfortable your frogs feel. Tropical plants that do well in high humidity are your best options for this type of setup.

Also, the size of your dart frog matters. The bigger and heavier they are, the more easily they will crush your plants. As for branches, you can use a variety of woods found in your local pet store. I created a post on popular terraria wood to help you get started.

Due to their small size, dart frogs are limited to what they can eat. You need to provide them with a decent number of small feeder insects. The most economical choice is fruit flies.

Pinhead crickets are another great option. They should be fed a nutritional diet 24 — 48 hours before giving them to your frogs. Springtails and Isopods serve as a food source as well. They break down decaying plant matter, droppings, etc. They tunnel through the substrate creating air pockets which in-turn helps your plants grow healthy. The main purpose is to provide your pet frogs with enough food to keep them healthy while not overfeeding them. A good starting point is to feed an adult dart frog 75 — fruit flies every other day or 3 times per week.

Again, this is a starting point. I recommend trying this and monitor how many flies go uneaten. If a lot of flies go uneaten, decrease the amount you give them the next feeding.

If your frogs quickly eat all the flies every time you feed them, consider increasing the number of flies at the next meal. Simply use this method to determine the right amount of food to give your frogs. Juvenile poison dart frogs will eat around 40 — 50 fruit flies every other day. You can feed them daily 20 — 25 per day if you prefer. In the wild, amphibians consume a large variety of insects to meet their nutritional needs. Handling dart frogs is generally frowned upon.

It created unwanted stress for your treasured little pets. Spot cleaning their habitat is fine and even occasionally moving your frog into a small container is okay.

After all, you may need to deep clean their enclosure once in a while and the best way to do this is by placing your frogs in a separate container while you clean their tank. Join our Newsletter!

We take your privacy seriously! No spam, we promise. Some of the hazards posed by other types of lids include the fact that screen lids often abrade the faces of dart frogs, which will climb the glass walls of the tank to try to escape, and that dart frogs often escape through cracks and openings in aquarium hoods, and in improvised lids. Poison Dart Frogs make amazing captives.

They are colorful, relatively easy to care for, low maintenance, and available captive bred from a wide number of sources. A properly set up vivarium can easily be the focal point of any living room. Of course, communities of frogs will require bigger terrariums, and many, including most species of dart frog will live happily this way.

Other than pools that form part of your frog setup or in some cases, just slightly sunken water dishes will surfice , the air in your frog terrarium needs to be kept humid too. The tiny, highly-active Poison Frogs Dendrobates spp. Terrariums for Marine Toads, American Toads, Smoky Jungle Frogs and other terrestrial species should have large land areas and a water bowl. Most tree frogs can share a terrarium with frogs of roughly the same size or tropical lizards, such as anoles.

Cuban tree frogs, however, prefer to live alone. Dendrobates leucomelas, known as the Bumble Bee Poison Dart frog, or Leuc, in the trade, makes another great beginner frog. This can increase your frogs to bacterial and fungal issues. You can use fiberglass screen used for screen doors as a barrier.

You can also use a weed liner material as well. Just test that water drains through your barrier easily. Otherwise you might find your soil being soggy with drainage issues. Separator layer: Above your drainage layer is your false bottom egg crate topped with screen. Above the screen you will want to use a light layer of charcoal aquarium grade. This will help absorb ammonia.

Substrate aka "soil": The most popular substrate to use is ABG. ABG is 2 parts tree fern fiber, 1 part peat moss, 2 parts coco-fiber, 1 part charcoal, and 2 parts orchid bark.

If you source from a garden center make sure that no additives such as preservatives, fertilizers or pesticides are used. Dont use potting soils, raised bed soils, organic or not. It contains ingredients that are bad for amphibians which may include fertilizers, perlite or even manure.

Top layer: On top of the soil you will want a good supply of leaf litter, this will help hold moisture without having frogs on wet substrate. This also serves as food for cucs. Live Oak leaves, Magnolia leaves are sturdy popular options.

They can be purchased online or procured yourself and sterilized. Washing then baking for about degrees Fahrenheit for an hour should do it. Note some people avoid due to pungent smell that may persist during the process. Some folks choose to boiled for a half an hour. But note that natural tannin's are lost in the process to the water.

Thus people opt to buy a sterilized bag of leaves. Add plants, hiding spots, even a "coco hut" which dubs as a shelter and breeding spot as it has a petri dish bottom for egg laying.

Background: So one area that is often overlooked is the background for reptile and amphibian terrariums. Designing an appealing background really puts the finishing touches on the aesthetic look of your viv. It also allows the vivarium to be enclosed so that your dart frog feels more sheltered and secured when they can see out the back or the sides that matter. A background can be a single piece of cork bark cut in a sheet to fit the back.

Or it can be elaborate using expanding spray foam such as Great Stuff Pond and waterfall. The foam can have coconut fiber added to it as it dries. Or allowed to dry then cut down to create shapes such as rock features or to resemble the trunk of a tree.

You can make cut outs to place air plants in pockets in your background as well. Instead on thinking one dimensional you can add layers, or steps to allow plantings on your background or allow your frogs to scale the background. After cutting you can use aquarium safe silicon to attach moss or plant fiber to the foam to conceal the foam and give a natural look.