Martins Reptiles

Poison arrow frog care sheet.

Photo's and Caresheet Provided By Jamie George

Housing:
Poison arrow frogs are from the dense warm humid rainforests of central and south america so they should be kept in a vivarium which looks like a slice of a tropical rainforest,first put a layer of pea gravel at the bottom of the vivarium then a layer of potting compost which the plants will be rooted in,on top of the potting compost there should be a layer of sphagnum moss or live moss but some people use a layer of dead leaves which is best as this is were most poison frogs in the wild spend most of their time in the leaf litter and the frogs will find tiny insects in the dead leaves which they can eat,but we will use a substrate of sphagnum moss or live moss as an example,one of the most important things inside a poison frog vivarium is live plants most hobbyists use plants such as water holding bromeliads which some species of frogs use for depositing there eggs,other good plants are pothos which grow fast and other plants such as ivy,ficus pumilo,and foilage plants are used,it also might be useful to mix artificial plants with real ones as the frogs wont know the difference but using artificial plants isn't advised..

Heating:
Heating the vivarium can be done with heat pads,or you can heat the room around the frogs,a poison frog vivarium should be kept between 22-28c and drop to 20c at night..

Lighting:
U.V light is best for poison arrow frogs as it helps them produce their own vitamin D3,although u.v light isn't really essential it is best as other lights which are only designed for growing plants dont help the poison frogs to produce their own vitamin D3,sometimes on rare occasions poison frogs which dont get any u.v light start having epileptic like seizures which obviously isn't good for the frog..

Humidity:
The humidity in a poison frog vivarium should be kept between 80%-100% this can be maintained by using a garden hand sprayer, spraying the vivarium several times a day will maintain this constant humidity level,you
can also put a small waterdish in for the frogs to bath in and to help raise humidity..

Hiding places:
You should provide your poison frogs hiding places for when they feel threatened and when they need to cool down,you can use coco nut shells as hiding places cut the coco nut shell in half then carve out a little doorway in the shell with a hack saw and that's an attractive hiding place for them,also flower pots can be used as hiding places, a few dead leaves in the vivarium also provides good hiding places as the frogs will
hide underneath the leaves..

Diet:
There are various kinds of insects poison frogs will eat including hatchling crickets,fruit flies,springtails,wax worm larvae (dont feed them wax worm larvae all the time as the can become dangerously overweight), and
various small insects you can find in your garden although dont feed them ants as they will just spit them back out, you should feed poison frogs every day or every other day..