what not to do as a beginner...

[bcoffron]

I usually don't get too worked up as I am still learning myself after being in the hobby after only a year, but this ad on craigslist today really upset me. Beginners take note, do not do this! It says this:

"We've enjoyed these cute and responsive little frogs, but recent changes in our lives have forced us to downsize from a house to a small condo.... and with that comes the need to downsize our collection of exotic pets.

This 20 gallon high terrarium comes as a complete set-up, including light, temperature and humidity guages, natural looking "vines" and water pool, and undertank heating pad. Fully planted and landscaped, with 6 gorgeous dart frogs who have already been living together for 6 months peacefully. These include a bumble bee frog (Dendrobates leucomelas), a painted dart frog (Dendrobates tinctorus), a Citronella dart frog, two Costa Rican dart frogs (Dendrobates auratus, one blue and one green), and a Yellow-backed dart frog (D. tinctorus morph).

These are great little frogs that live a long time in captivity and are tons of fun to watch. They're very active and hop around the terrarium constantly. They soon get to recognize the people who feed them and come to the front of the enclosure whenever you go past the tank."

If you are just starting out putting 6 darts of all different species in any tank much less a 20 gallon is the OPPOSITE of the right thing to do. Maybe I just felt the need to vent when I saw this but I just wish I had the money and equipment to rescue these poor guys.

[Ziggi]

Yep, see things like that all the time.
I saw an add the other day stating someone has a 10 Gal vert tank for sale with a) a baby pacman frog, b) a juvenile crested gecko, c) a green anole. All living in one 10Gal.
His justification was that the pacman is too small to eat the cresty, and the anole is scared out of it's mind so hides in it's corner......

[bugger]

I am just now getting into the hobby, and don't have any dart frogs yet, though I'm setting up my tank with stuff I just got at frog day, and I was introduced to dart frogs last month at a reptile show.

I was told then not to mix species not only due to squabbling, but that the interbreeding will screw up the purity of the lines and throw the known varieties out of whack, and that some breeders wouldn't sell to someone that did that. I had asked if I could mix them, for the different colors and all, and that was the response I got.

It seems that care for different species/varieties, would be different a bit also, leaving somebody lacking, so that would seem to be a factor as well.

I'm sure there are other reasons as well.

Some crossbreeding will yield infertile offspring, though I don't know about the dart frogs, or particular one's.

I got some reed tadpoles today, for an inexpensive start, but hope to have the tank set up and active next month during the next reptile show and get my dart frog collection started, though it may only consist of one variety.

[Enlightened Rogue]

My viv.`s are all 20 high`s, I can`t even imagine putting 6 frog`s of that size in them.
They must be climbing all over each other.
Hopefully someone will buy it and do the right thing.

John