How to Keep Poison Arrow Frogs

Poison Arrow Frogs are small amphibians with a big reputation. Native to Central and South America, the group’s common name – and the alternative Poison Dart Frog – comes from the use of their natural toxic skin secretions by local tribes to coat the points of their arrows and blow-darts. However, very few of the 170-plus species are actually used in this way, although the name and the notoriety have both stuck!

Unusually for amphibians, Poison Arrow Frogs are active during the hours of daylight, since in the wild they are protected from predators by their potent skin secretions – and advertise the fact with their bright colours – allowing them to potter about the forest floor in safety.

How Poisonous Are They?

There’s a lot of variation in toxicity between the various species. In the wild, the most potent of the lot – the Columbian species, Phyllobates terribilis – is said to produce sufficient poison to kill up to ten people, but not all of its relatives are so deadly.

Poison Arrow Frogs don’t manufacture these toxins for themselves – they get them from the poisonous insects they eat in their warm forest homes – and when fed on a substitute diet in captivity, their defensive skin secretions lose their toxicity. A word of caution, however; although this means that captive bred frogs are safe from the outset, wild-caught ones can remain potentially harmful for some time, making care when handling essential – a pretty strong case for supporting captive breeding if ever there was one!

Are They Easy To Keep?

These amphibians used to be generally considered as difficult to keep – an opinion often seen in many of the older books on exotic pets – but the availability of captive-bred individuals and advances in equipment has made things easier. Although they still can be horribly unforgiving of mistakes, for those with some experience of keeping amphibians who are prepared to do some research for themselves and pick the right species, success with these bright, colourful and active creatures is certainly possible.

Housing And Feeding

A spacious, humid and warm terrarium is required for these animals to replicate the conditions they naturally enjoy in the tropical forests of their native lands. Bark chippings make a good flooring and pieces of cork bark will add suitable nooks and crannies to allow the inhabitants to hide out of sight if they feel the need.

Some exotic pet keepers build Poison Arrow Frogs tanks that are almost works of art in themselves, with small waterfalls and lush plantings of bromeliads, air plants and even orchids. For the novice keeper of this group of amphibians, however, it’s probably best to stick to slightly simpler surroundings and move on to more elaborate terrarium designs with the benefit of a little experience.

Young specimens can be raised successfully in small tanks – a typical 2ft x 1ft x 1ft (60x30x30cm) container being plenty big enough to rear half-a-dozen youngsters – but they’ll need more space when they get older. Most species are highly territorial when adult, so, although they can still be kept in mixed groups, if you are planning to keep a number of animals together, the terrarium will need to allow sufficient space and hiding places to avoid any conflicts.

Temperature and humidity are both important factors in keeping your amphibians happy. Although requirements differ between species, most of the commonly kept varieties require daytime temperatures between 25 to 28 degrees C (77 to 82F), falling to around 21C (70F) at night and constant humidity levels of 70 to 100 per cent.

Even when adult, Poison Arrow Frogs are small – seldom much more than an inch (2.5cm) long – which means that they need a steady supply of appropriately sized food items. Small “pin-head” crickets, fruit flies, baby woodlice, aphids and other wild-caught items from pesticide-free areas of your garden will be ideal.

Good “Starter” Species

For anyone wanting to start keeping these fascinating amphibians, there are a few species which have generally been found to be the easiest and hardiest to keep, including:

• Green and Black Poison Arrow Frog Dendrobates auratus
• Bumble-bee Poison Arrow Frog D. leucomelas
• Dyeing Poison Arrow Frog D. tinctorius
• Black-Legged Poison Arrow Frog Phyllobates bicolour
• Striped Poison Arrow Frog P. vittatus

Although Poison Arrow Frogs in captivity may not quite live up to the fearsome reputation that has seen them feature as the supposed cause of countless sudden TV “deaths” in various detective series, they are a truly fascinating bunch of amphibians. With their bright colours and inquisitive natures, it’s small wonder that so many people succumb to their charms and end up keeping them as pets.