"Albino" dart frogs

darkpilatus · #1 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007, 05:30 AM

Im pretty new to the dart frog end of the hobby and recently I have started seeing amelanistic darts in this forum and a few others...I am a little wary. Although I haven't worked with darts very long I have been keeping and breeding herps for just over 17 years, personally and professionally. In that time I have seen the emergence of some of the most beautiful and varied animals through selective breeding. Amelanistic, Hypomelanistic, Anerythristic, Motley and so on. While they are beautiful specimens and have a place in the world just like all living beings (except for us maybe lol) I'm not sure this is very good for dart frog enthusiast or the hobby itself. It is only a matter of time before we start seeing other morphs...
Now I will reiterate the point I am trying and probably failing to make. Our hobby (dart frogs) in my opinion is caring, breeding and enjoying darts in natural like environment, exhibiting as natural behaviors as possible. Its obvious to anyone reading this forum the care that goes into there husbandry is priority one by all of the dedicated members here. Thats part of the charm of this hobby... partly what led me to it.
Color "morphs" and dart frogs don't go together. Breeding for locality or even a slight pattern difference (e.g. "small spot" D. azureus or "banded' D. leucomelas) is fine you will see variation like that hold its own in the wild but I feel that trying to keep the lines as pure as possible is very important. There is a reason why we see virtually no "morphs" in the wild... they don't survive. One of those evolutionary oversights.
Traditionally the breeding of morphs in herp culture has been to make money and flood the hobby as quickly as possible so you can make a buck before everyone is breeding them what you have... I have seen it a lot.
Anyway this is my opinion and seeing how there are 2705 members on this board alone I'm sure there are 2704 different views than mine... and I think that is great so let this be a discussion. No bashing others lets see what everyone thinks. Thanks everyone.

bbrock · #2 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007, 05:55 AM

Welcome aboard. If you do a search on hybrids or selective breeding, I think you'll be pleased to see that you are preaching to the choir here as most of the hobby agrees with you. You should check out the Amphibian Steward Network http://www.dendroboard.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=20490 to check out a group that is working hard to keep the genes of pdf pure and wild.

darkpilatus · #3 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007, 06:14 AM

Brent,
I've actually seen a lot of the work the network has done and it is great... Im a zoo keeper and this is what we do for a living... its nice to see enthusiasts doing the same. Thanks for the post.

bbrock · #4 (**permalink**) 11-22-2007, 06:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by darkpilatus

Brent,
I've actually seen a lot of the work the network has done and it is great... Im a zoo keeper and this is what we do for a living... its nice to see enthusiasts doing the same. Thanks for the post.

That's the idea. To make the hobbyists part of the solution.

slaytonp · #5 (**permalink**) 11-23-2007, 02:56 AM

Just as one of my persistent thoughts--it would also be difficult to deliberately "design" anything better than the originals, however much an individual hobbyist would like to show off "something different." What could be more beautiful, colorful, exciting and different from what's already there?

I don't know of a single reputable dart breeder who is a "buck maker."