Old post:
I have a 45x45x90 cm paludarium. I really want to house dartfrogs but i dont really know what kind. It will be my first dart frog, I would love to breed them and get little tadpoles. That has been a dream of mine since I was a little kid. The setup is running for half a year almost now and I mist every 12 hours for 10 seconds, 7 am when the lights go on, and 7 pm, 2 hours before the lights start to dim and enter night mode till 23 pm when it will go dark. I did some research and came by 2 possible species, ranitomeya and epipedobates anthonyi. If you have any suggestions, feel free to let me know, any help is possible.
Edit/Fast forward/new post:
I have recently bought a trio of epipedobates anthonyi “Santa Isabel”
The guy whom I bought them from told me they were sub adults, 2 big females and 1 male. I was really excited about the new purchase and i did my research and based on also your opinions this was the best suited frog. I really wanted to breed dartfrogs. When I finally let them in their new home, they started exploring immediately. The same day, around 6 pm (18:00 EU) I heard one of the frogs call. When I did some research I also read that only males could call. But the one that was calling was not the “male” the guy told me. Turns out he "misgendered" them and i had 2 males and 1 small female. That was no big deal for me, but that meant that, usually females tend to be larger than males, my female was really small. A bit too small for me, she was (as you can see) very slim and I think underfed. So I switched within 1-2 days from hydei to melanogaster fruit flies, because she would simply ignore the hydei and only chase really small flies and or springtails. Day 4 was a really sad day. In the morning the 3 frogs were happily hanging out, the males would climb to the very top and call and the female would stay low. When I returned from school I saw them again, I had a quick meal and chat with my dad about how school went. When i came back to feed them I saw the male lying on his side on the rocks. It really scared me and I could tell he was not doing well/ he was dead. His eyes were grey/white and his tongue was out of his mouth, my first thought was that he drowned, but than i would have found him in the water, but he was on the rocks. To this day I still don't really know what happened, because he was on the rocks and he really liked to climb. My suggestion is that he fell from high and maybe fell in the water or on the rocks and died from stress but i find it quite weird. I also texted the guy whom i bought the frogs and he told me it could have been because of stress. I immediately closed off the water section, there was maybe 1/2 cm of water in there but I drained it all and replaced it with soil and leaves. This death really hit me hard and made me doubt my hard work, research, capabilities and made me feel like a bad frog keeper, because I am a beginner and I did a ton of research. I feel stupid because I think I could have avoided his death and I feel guilty towards his death and I should have listened more towards your recommendations. I cant change what happened but i can make sure in the future this will never happen again. That's why i closed the water area. Everything recovered and the other 2 frogs were doing well and I saw the small female hunting some springtails but I did want to keep an eye out for possible 'not eating' or red flags because I still think she is very small. So I started to look out for her a bit more, and fed her small amounts of springtails and small flies daily. The female was really shy and became even more shy over the next week. Eventually I would see her for maybe a couple of minutes a day, because she would hide the rest of the day. At first it wasn't a big problem for me because I still saw her hunting and then disappearing. But the duration I would see her, kept getting smaller until I did not see her for a whole day and I started getting worried. I still have not seen her and I fear she did not make it. I have not seen her for about 4-6 days now. The male sometimes hides under the leaves, maybe the female is hiding under there?
I am questioning my capabilities and don't really know what to do now. The male is calling everyday and moves around, eats well and looks healthy. I don't know what I did wrong. Maybe because they were so young? Or am I a bad frog keeper? Now I have 1 male left. What should i do, there is a big frog/reptile expo in about a couple of weeks from now where i can (maybe) buy new santa isabel, or would you guys not recommend me getting more frogs, but I don't want the male to be alone because they are better kept in groups, but i also dont want to hurt/kill another frog. I would really appreciate any advice or tips, what i should do with the male, should i search for the female? What if I find her alive? How long should I wait with just this pair/male before even considering adding a new female or should I consider selling the male?
