Don’t Mix Dart Frogs #

TL;DR #

It’s common for beginner frog keepers to want to get one of each of their favorite frogs for their enclosure, but this is generally not a good idea. Mixing dart frogs carries significant risks, however, so if you want more than one species or locale, only do so if you can keep a separate vivarium for each type.

Problem 1: Frogs will hybridize when breeding #

Many dart frogs are closely related enough that they will hybridize (for example D. tinctorius and D. auratus). Even within a species, there are many distinct locales that are important to keep differentiated in the hobby (for example: D. auratus has morphs including Green and Black, Highland Bronze, Peña Blanca, El Cope and many more).

If you have hybridized offspring, you very likely not be able to find homes for the offspring as demand for hybrids is non-existant, so you’ll have to keep them. As a result, you will either need to cull the offspring or separate the frogs anyway, to stop them from breeding to avoid being overrun with tadpoles and froglets.

If hybridized bloodlines become widespred, it could lead to wild caught smuggling becoming more profitable as they will be the best source of pure bloodlines if hobbyist breeders become lax on mixing frogs.

Problem 2: Food competition #

There is a higher risk of a frog being outcompeted when the frogs are more differentiated… imagine a Ranitomeya imitator trying to get enough food with a Phyllobates terriblis around.

I was at [insert Zoo or Aquarium] and they mix frogs! #

Zoos and aquariums often mix frogs primarily due to limited display space as they are able to mitigate the problems that arise when mixing frogs.

They have full time staff observing and intervening in vivariums when necessary.
They are experienced keepers and can make a well informed decision on what frogs should and should not be mixed.
Display vivariums, especially mixed display vivariums, are not breeding vivariums, and so any hybridized offspring are not kept.
They generally do not participate in the pet trade, so there is less risk of untracked, hybridized bloodlines.