[Guest]

I have read a discussion on frognet about this awhile back and I think they would be a excellent starter species.I personally have bicolors and vittatus and I think that terribilis and aurotaenias are good too.
They are very good eaters and, when aduts,can eat 1/2" cricket without any problems if a newbie has problems with fruit fly cultures.I have 3 bicolors and they are the boldest frogs I have.I have one that in recent weeks I have watched call and have a bad but cool pic of him calling right in the front area of the tank and I got close to him and it didn't bother him one bit.
I just thought I'd put a plug in for these mostly underrated species of dartfrogs :lol:

 

[jbeetle]

I also paid attention to this discussion on frognet, as I have thought this for awhile and still do! Phyllobates allow you to get over a lot of the hurdles/mistakes of starting to keep darts, and tend to be very hardy. I love my P. aurotaenia and plan on keeping vittatus and terribilis when I get the space for more "larger" frogs . All of them have great songs and are very bold, besides looking amazing... what more can you ask for? Oh, not to mention that they are the only true "poison dart" frogs . These frogs are over looked by many, but I think the Epipedobates are passed up even more then the Phyllobates.

 

[JJuchems]

The best part is feeding them!!! They eat crickets!!!! I personally think that is one of the most important things when getting someone started. Fly cultures are kind of hard to get in the grove of making every week. And when they crash thay crash. I think they make great starter darts!!! :lol:
Later and Happy frogging,
Jason Juchems

 

[Guest]

I do like the phyllobates too.....
Does anyone know whet epipediobates are in the US?
I do plan on getting some of these later on this year.

Benjamin

Feel free to contact me privately if anyone wants to on this.

 

[melissa68]

epipediobates are in the US?

I would talk with Sean Stewart - he might be your best bet.

Melis

 

[jbeetle]

Sean does have a lot of Epipedobates. I would contact him or a couple other people. I recently have been talking with someone about Epipedobates, and which are in the hobby or not. I love them myself, and want to get more... but it is hard to find them . I will pm you Ben about this.

Back to the Phyllobates. They are awesome frogs, and do allow you to ease your way into the ff culture thing. I know that was the hardest thing when I first started... just figuring out how many you needed to support how many frogs you had was a huge thing. With the Phyllobates (sort of true of most Epipedobates as well) you can always get some crikets while you work on getting the ff thing correct. It is just sad that some of the frogs dissapear (or become very hard to find) from the hobby because they became less popular (E. bassleri for example). Hope more people keep their "common" and "boring" frogs during any of the next frog fads .

 

[melissa68]

I couldn't agree with you more about how people tend to get rid of 'less popular' frogs. I, would enjoy getting some of the epipedobates as well. Currently I have 2 adult tricolor and 3 juviniles which I will combine with the adults to establish a breeding group.

I am still looking to get some Mint Terribilis as well.

Eventually, these frogs do come back into style, it is just a matter of time.

It is just sad that some of the frogs dissapear (or become very hard to find) from the hobby because they became less popular (E. bassleri for example). Hope more people keep their "common" and "boring" frogs during any of the next frog fads .

 

[Guest]

I am really glad to see this discussion. I have been wanting darts for a really long time, and just recently started working on getting a tank together. My last decision has been whether to go with leucs or terribilis. I had pretty much been decided to go with leucs until I read this thread. You frog people sure don't make it easy on a reptile convert, do ya?!

Glad to see this board too!

Ted

 

[jbeetle]

Yeah, it is pretty hard to choose your first dart... but if you are anything like me (and many of us dart nuts) it really won't matter which you get first, as you will soon be swiming in them! They are great, and it is a fantastic hobby , welcome to your new "addiction" lol.

Oh, and leucs are also great frogs... but its hard to beat the pure size and boldness of an adult Terribilis, very cool frogs. I really need to get them myself... but would want to make a nice sized tank for a colony of them and I currently don't have the room... so I will just have to wait till another time .

 

[Guest]

I am thinking of starting with Tincs. Any objections to that? Of course i wont have to worry about failing fly cultures as i have a breeder here in Columbus that would come to my rescue if needed.... especially since the frogs are coming from them to begin with =)

 

[jbeetle]

Nope, I see no problems with tincs. They are great starter frogs (well, they are just great frogs in general... but what dart don't I like lol), especially if you have a local back up source for ff's.

 

[Guest]

I actually have plans for a larger tank in the future. I was planning on starting with a 40 gallon breeder, but Melissa from Quality Captives kinda talked me into starting with a 10 gallon. One of the reasons I had considered Leucs or Teribilis was the ability to keep large groups...so I'm sure I'll have to move them up soon enough! LOL

 

[john_159]

jbeetle, Epipedobates

i had a epipedobates trivattitus for about 8 months and I saw it active for probably 20 minutes total. I thought i had great conditions for it, so from my experience these are really shy, almost nocturnal. I dont know if you care or if youre just trying to breed or what, but i thought u might want some info. ask around though, this is only one incident...

 

[Guest]

Another phyllobate species to have if you want them in groups are the bicolors.I have 3 in my living room in a 29g tank and they are out all the time.I would have 4 but one escaped from me when it was a froglet They mainly sit and wait for food but so do most of my other frogs.When it comes time to feed keep your fingers back,LOL.
I have been feeding them lesser waxworm moths and they get their exercise chasing them around,very fun to watch :lol:
They are very bold frogs too, I can about touch them and when I prune back plants they just sit there and watch.
Patrick Nabors is who I got these from but he doesn't have any availiable at this time so he took them off his list. I think Sean Stewert has them though if your interested.
Mark Wilson

 

[jbeetle]

I think almost all the Phyllobates & Epipedobates do well in groups, so that is a huge plus in my opinion... the more the merrier . The bicolors are cool, and bold. I really like my P. aurotaenia because they are bold, have a great call, and can be kept in groups... a bunch of traits that seem to be common for Phyllobates.