Are Dart Frogs Good For Beginners?

Before buying a dart frog, any beginner starts thinking about the upcoming responsibility, affordability of care, and other concerns regarding keeping the frog as a pet. So, a common question from pet lovers remains- ‘are dart frogs good for beginners?’ In this article, I’ve discussed elaborately whether dart frogs are good for beginners or not.

Dart frogs can be excellent pets for beginners for their low maintenance and easy to care for nature. Moreover, you need not take much hassle into making a perfect enclosure and fulfilling proper environmental conditions for dart frogs. Besides, their care guide is also so easy to handle for any beginner.

To fulfill your thirst to know more about keeping a dart frog, I urge you to go through this article. Let’s get to know first if dart frogs are easy to care for.

Are Dart Frogs Easy To Care For?

As a beginner, you might be confused about keeping such a vibrantly colorful dart frog. But, many experienced frog keepers have shared their excellent experiences of keeping dart frogs as pets. 

So, no doubt, dart frogs are easy to care for.

If you are still confused about their care, let me explain why dart frogs are easy to care for. Thus, I’ve pointed out 10 reasons why dart frogs are good for beginners.

These are-

• Easy Housing Set-up
• Simple dart frog diet
• Low maintenance
• Good at room temperature
• Non-toxic in captivity
• Easy to breed in captivity
• Active at day-time
• Less prone to illness
• Inexpensive to keep
• Attractive Look and Pleasant Calls

So, let’s check out the details of these 10 reasons why a beginner should own a dart frog or why dart frogs are good for beginners.

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1. Housing: What Do Poison Dart Frogs Need In Their Habitat?

The first thing to think about keeping a pet is making a perfect enclosure. But, neither beginner nor expert frog keepers need to take much trouble to fulfill the housing requirements of dart frogs.

The tank size depends on the size, age, and number of the dart frogs.

However, the dart frogs are accustomed to live in the humid atmosphere of rainforests. Hence, you have to make their enclosure moist like their natural habitat. An important note to keep in mind is giving all access to the tank to keep your dart frog skin wet.

As a beginner, you can easily manage to build up a dart frog enclosure. However, you will need just a few things to set up their habitat.

Such as-

• A terrarium of the right size (you can easily keep 2-4 dart frogs in a 29-35 gallon tank)
• Substrate
• Misting system
• Thermometer and hygrometer
• Lighting
• Decoration
• Glass lid

All you need is to follow step by step to build a comfortable enclosure for your dart frog. Hence, you can check the dart frog habitat setup guide for beginners as well.

What Animals Can Live With Dart Frogs?

As animal lovers, people often want to pet different animals together. As a beginner, this might be a bit hard for you to maintain various animals together. In this case, dart frogs are good for beginners because you can keep certain animals with them.

Besides, not all frogs like to socialize, whereas dart frogs can do well with their species or other animals.

You can keep two or more dart frogs together. Again, you can keep several species of tree frogs with your dart frogs. For example- hourglass, lemurs, clown tree frogs, and so on. Also, you can keep mourning geckos on the list.

Because of their opposite active schedules, geckos and dart frogs do pretty well together in the enclosure. So, as a beginner, you can easily maintain your different kinds of pets.

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2. Simple Dart Frog Diet: What Do Dart Frogs Eat?

Another reason for claiming dart frogs good for beginners is their simple food diet. As a beginner frog keeper, you need not take much wear and tear for providing varieties of foods to your dart frog.

Because of being insectivores, your dart frog will enjoy almost every kind of insect. However, you can run their food diet primarily with crickets and flightless fruit flies. Moreover, you can add isopods, springtails, larvae of black soldier flies, phoenix worms, calci worms, repti worms, and so on.

So, these mentioned insects of your dart frogs are not only easily available at stores but also pretty cheap. Besides, you can reduce the frog diet cost by culturing those insects on your own.

That will be a more healthy and safe diet than the insects of stores. Another significant thing to remember is that you must provide live prey to your dart frogs.

Although dart frogs have no issues eating ants, beetles, termites, etc, the experts forbid providing these insects. It is because these insects will be responsible for their toxicity.

Again, do not risk the life of your dart frog feeding wild-caught insects. If you want to know the detailed safe and unsafe foods and feeding guide of dart frogs for beginners, click here.

3. Low Maintenance

I’ve already mentioned that dart frogs require minimal maintenance. It means weekly maintenance is well-to-do for them. You don’t need to take the hassle of dart frog maintenance every day.

Besides, the maintenance of dart frogs includes misting the terrarium, trimming plants, changing water, cleaning the substrate and entire terrarium, etc.

You can do all of these mentioned chores once a week. On the other hand, trimming plants in a month is pretty sufficient. But, you must not forget to feed your dart frogs every day.

Moreover, an exceptional part of low maintenance is that you need not clean the poop off your dart frogs. The wastages of your dart frog will get naturally decomposed by the soil. On the other hand, you need to clean it regularly in turns of other reptile or amphibian pets.

Again, you do not have to worry about their chewing, digging, or the risks of eating their substrate. Many frogs tend to eat substrate mistakenly and get impacted. For example- Pacman frogs.

But, dart frogs do not make this mistake because they do not eat anything but live foods.

Also, dart frogs do not tear up the plants or décor. It is because they do not eat any plants as they are insectivorous. So, as a beginner, dart frogs are good for you.

4. Good At Room Temperature: What Temperature Do Dart Frogs Need?

While other frogs need an extra heating system in captivity, you can keep dart frogs at your room temperature. Many experienced frog owners shared their experiences where their dart frogs do fine at room temperature year-round.

The room temperature has to be within the range of  70-84 degrees Fahrenheit. If your dart frogs show activeness and eat well, this will symbolize their comfort at room temperature. At night, the temperature may fall a bit. But, dart frogs can withstand the slight temperature changes.

Again, some countries are too cold. If you live in such a country, the room temperature will not be sufficient for your dart frogs.

The constant temperature below 60 degrees Fahrenheit isn’t ideal for them at all.

Hence, you can use a day lamp, fluorescent light, thermostatically controlled heat mat, etc in the dart frog habitat.

5. Non-Toxic In Captivity

Although dart frogs are poisonous in the wild, these frogs are non-toxic in captivity. Because of their different diet in captivity, toxins can’t get produced in their bodies. Again, the wild-caught dart frogs also lose their potency of toxicity gradually in captivity.

Can You Handle Poison Dart Frogs In Captivity?

In the wild, poison dart frogs are so deadly to kill any human or animal by their toxin secretion. That’s why you must not come into any physical contact with dart frogs in the wild.

But, the picture is pretty different for captivated dart frogs.

Since the toxicity-causing insects get eliminated from the diet, the dart frog body can not produce toxins. Hence, touching a dart frog is entirely harmless in captivity.

As a beginner, it will not be too hard for you to maintain the regulations of touching your pet.

However, I like to discourage you from handling your poison dart frog in captivity. Though touching your dart frog in captivity will not kill you, it can be harmful to your dart frog.

That is because the skin of dart frogs is pretty sensitive and delicate. If this is an emergency, you can handle your dart frog wearing gloves.

6. Easy To Breed In Captivity: Will Dart Frogs Breed In Captivity?

If you want to breed your froglets, dart frogs will be good for you as a beginner. As a result, you can increase the number of dart frogs on your own. Also, you can trade the baby dart frogs and earn some extra money.

Many experienced frog owners gave their remark by saying that dart frogs are easy to breed in captivity. If you want to breed poison dart frogs, you should recreate the tank, giving a vibe of the rainy season. However, a pair of adult dart frogs breed naturally in a terrarium without enticing them.

After that, collecting the eggs, taking care of tadpoles, setup for newly emerged froglets, etc are some must-to-do works. Moreover, the captive-bred dart frogs are healthier than the exported dart frogs.

So, dart frogs will be good for any beginner if they want to breed dart frogs in captivity.

7. Active At Day-time

Dart frogs are diurnal, which means they remain active during the daytime. Due to this nature, a dart frog owner gets many advantages. For example-

• The owner can enjoy the dart frog activity during the daytime. On the other hand, some frogs are nocturnal, such as the Pacman frog. As a result, the owner can not enjoy or experience the frog activity or lifestyle in the daytime. Hence, dart frogs are precisely good for beginners because they can enjoy the upbringing of their pets.

• Generally, the nocturnal frogs tend to call at night. Thus, the frog owners often get disturbed. But, you don’t have to worry about this in cases of dart frogs as they remain active in the daytime.

• Since dart frogs are active during the daytime, the natural light is enough for them. You need not expend for keeping lightings at night.

8. Less Prone To Illness

Dart frogs are good for beginners because they are less prone to illness. It means-

• Dart frogs have a great lifespan. If you can fulfill all of their needs, they will accompany you for 10-15 years. Also, there are records of their living for 23 years in captivity.
• Dart frogs can adapt to circumstances very smoothly. Some frogs need special care for their sensitivity. For example- Albino Pacman frogs. But, you need not worry about dart frogs in such cases.
• Dart frogs can withstand stress better than other frogs. Hence, these frogs are easily shippable, and you can get your new pet with minimal risk of death before arrival.

9. Inexpensive To Keep

If you want to give all comfort to your pet, you will need to expend whenever necessary. As a beginner frog owner, dart frogs will reduce the expenditures comparing with other frogs. These frogs are so inexpensive to keep in the long run.

Dart frog foods for one week will cost only $10 or less. If you culture the insects, you can save some money too.

Moreover, their housing requirements aren’t any special. Also, you’ll get rid of the electricity bill of lightings since dart frogs are not nocturnal.

Because of their need for minimal maintenance, any beginner will find them inexpensive to keep. Again, if you manage to take proper care, your dart frogs will not get sick often. Hence, there is little expense of treatments.

But, if your dart frog gets sick, you should not hesitate to spend money for their care and treatments.

10. Attractive Look and Pleasant Calls

Dart frogs are such beautiful pets that make it hard for you to take your eyes off from looking at them. Dart frogs have bright coloration on their skin.

The vibrant coloration, striking patterns, and stripes over skin vary according to different species of dart frogs.

Again, the croaking or sound of several frogs is not very pleasant. On the other hand, dart frog calls are pretty musical or somewhat nearly silent. Dart frogs are often called quiet frogs for this.

Hence, dart frogs should be on the top of the list of beginners.

What Are The Easiest Dart Frogs To Keep?

It’s pretty hard to choose a dart frog to keep as a pet among more than 100 species of them. But, researchers and experienced frog keepers have found some species of dart frogs comparatively easy to keep.

Hence, I’ve made a list of the easiest dart frogs to keep for beginners.

Common Name	Scientific Name
Green and Black Dart Frog	Dendrobetes auratus
Bumblebee Dart Frog	Dendrobetes leucomelas
Blue Poison Dart Frog (captived bred)	Dendrobates tinctorius  (Azureus)
Poison Arrow Dart Frog (captived bred)	Dendrobetes tinctorius (Powder Blue F1)
Golfodulcean Poison Arrow Dart Frog (captived bred)	Phyllobates vittatus
Golden Poison Dart Frog (captived bred)	Phyllobates terribilis ‘Orange’
Black Legged Poison Dart Frog (captived bred)	Phyllobates bicolor ‘green leg’
Yellow Striped Poison Dart Frog (captived bred)	Dendrobetes truncates
Anthony’s Poison Dart Frog (captived bred)	Epipedobates anthonyi
Reticulated Poison Dart Frog (captived bred)	Ranitomeya ventrimiculata

Before choosing any dart frog, you should make sure that they’re captive-bred. Do not buy wild-caught dart frogs.

Are Blue Dart Frogs Good For Beginners?

Blue poison dart frog is one of the most striking colored dart frogs. Many beginners often get confused about whether they should buy blue dart frogs or not.

Blue dart frogs are also on the list of beginner dart frogs. Although the wild blue dart frogs are poisonous, the captive-bred blue dart frogs aren’t toxic. These frogs are easy to maintain and care for.

Let’s take a quick look at the description of blue poison dart frogs.

Common Name	Blue Poison Dart Frog
Scientific Name	Dendrobates tinctorius  (Azureus)
Diet	Insects
Size	3-4.5 cm (about 2 inches)
Weight	Around an ounce
Lifespan	10-15 years
Cost	$30-$70

So, you need not hesitate to buy a blue dart frog to pet. These frogs are surely amazing pets for beginners.

How Many Dart Frogs Can I House Together?

For beginners, I like to suggest not adding more than one dart frog to a terrarium. Since you’re just a beginner, it might put a weight of responsibility of maintenance over you. So, you can start keeping a pet with only one dart frog.

The general rule of keeping a dart frog is that each frog should have at least 5 gallons in a tank. So, you can house two poison dart frogs in a tank of 10 gallons. Although you can keep a few juvenile dart frogs together, they’ll make mass being grown-up. Such is because dart frogs are pretty aggressive.

Moreover, there are several depending factors for housing dart frogs together, such as age, species, sex of dart frogs, and tank size.

Final Words

No matter how much hard you assume to keep a dart frog, it is much easier. As a beginner, keeping dart frogs will make your wish to pet a frog come true without any hassles. I hope this article has made you assured that dart frogs are good for beginners.