Hi, I dont have the answer, but hang in there! There are some very knowledgable people in this web, they just need some time to answer.....sometimes a lot of time =) but they do answer and it is worth the wait! =)

just make sure both the plants and frogs have similar heat/humidity requirements. They won't really hurt each other, although a venus flytrap could suffer if a frog kept tripping its traps.

-DH

I might wait a while before I try a frog in there. I'm going to set up the terrarium and let the plants get settled in real good first. I still have some I'm waiting for that I have ordered. The plants that have already arrived in the mail are so bad looking I will be suprised if they make it. There is nowhere locally to buy the plants. I can't even find any perlite to mix with the sphagnum moss, so all I have so far is straight sphagnum for planting the plants in. I did manage to find some superthrive, though. I also had to get some anti-fungal stuff since I have fungus growing in the pots with the seeds I am trying to grow. Grrrr.

Perlite is available at meijer and home depot, last I checked. It comes in a bag.

-DH

Anti fungal stuff will kill frogs. Try to stay away from chemicals.

My husband knows I'm interested in getting a frog to put in my terrarium and I think he is going to buy me a poison dart frog for Christmas. They are expensive, and he would have to have it shipped because there is nowhere to buy one around here, so I'm scared I'll kill it. The cheapest I have found one is 40.00 (and that is CHEAP for a poison dart frog) but it is still about 45.00 to get it shipped here. I need to read up on how to take care of the frog. thanks for telling me about the anti-fungal. That is the kind of stuff I need to know. By the way, I just could never find any perlite (I live in a really small area with not many stores) so I wound up getting gravel to put in the bottom of the terrarium. I am going to put sphagnum moss on top of that. I have the tank sitting outside needing to be cleaned up and put together. I'm probably going to do that this afternoon or tommorow, so let me know really quick what you think about putting gravel in the bottom. If it is a bad idea I won't open the bag up, I can take it back to the store. And any other tips on keeping a frog in there will be greatly appreciated!

In regard to carnivorous plants: I am curious as to whether or not nepenthes pitcher plants could harm frogs. I know that some of the rarer ones will even eat birds...just something to think about.

back2eight: You can find all of your vivarium supplies online. Also you can buy plants online as well. Try blackjungle.com and tropiflora.com .

Have you ever kept any type of frog before? If you haven't, don't get a poison dart frog. Start out with something easy like a small treefrog, and when you get comfortable with that, you could add a dartfrog to the vivarium with the treefrog. Obviously, a little research has to be done before mixing species, but many people keep PDF's with tropical treefrogs together.

You won't be able to grow a really large pitcher nep in a terr [lack of room by the time the plant gets big enough to produce that huge pitcher] -- only the smaller pitchering types would make sense & so the threat to a frog would be pretty much nonexistant.

Antifungal agents: First note that most fungi will not be harmful to the plants & will occur in a damp environ no matter what you do. In the meantime some antifungal agents:

Soak some sphag in water for a few days & spray the "tea" where needed. Speaking of tea, chamomile tea has antifungal properties. Finally, try to sprinkle/dust with cinnamon.

That makes sense about trying a different frog first. I have a nepenthes alata on its way to me but the pitchers are small; I don't think it would pose a problem for the frog. The other plants that I am going to put in there are butterworts and various sundews. It is all coming together slowly as I am having to wait for most of my things to come in the mail.

If your heart is not set on a tree frog I would suggest a terrestrial species like the ornate horned frog (Pac-Man) from Argentina. These frogs do well on a sphagnum substrate and are easy to feed. They have huge mouths so you don't have to feed tiny food and they will accept dead food items. These frogs like to find a spot and then just hang out for a while so they should cause less damage to tender plants than more active frogs. They are aggressive but you should not be handling amphibians so unless you really have to.

What do you think of this species?

As for plants you could also try a terrestrial bladderwort if you find that the frog doesn't trample everything. Many species bloom well and would add nice interest to the vivarium. If they do well they will slowly cover the surface of the moss with tiny leaves.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1272330}}

I just stopped by this forum from the orchids section to investigate this very topic, so I'm glad it's near the top of the list!

What about lizzards, geckos, etc? Oooh and snakes? In general, what plants/animals go well together? Could you make a mini environment with fish too? I wanna...

Most animals get along fine with cp's. Its more the plants you need to worry about than the animals. Larger animals can trample the plants or in the case of a VFT, set off the traps. Build your cage and get your plants first. Monitor the temp and humidity for a bit to see what conditions you can provide. Then find a species that lives in that environment.

-DH

I thought about a pac-man frog, but they get so big and the pet store told me you have to feed them baby mice. I don't want something that big, and I want something that is diurnal so I can enjoy it. I have never kept a frog as a pet before, but have done lots of research on the poison dart frogs, and I've decided to order one, but I'm going to wait until after Christmas. I am home all day and can keep a very close eye on it and will have the time to devote to culturing the fruit flies and misting down the tank. I do not have any large CPs in the tank, just some sundews, butterworts, and then some swamp grasses. MY only remaining question before I actually buy the frog is that I was told that the frog needs a glass top and 100% humidity, but I have a screen top. I need to do a little more looking around to see if it is REALLY necesary to have a glass top or notfor the frog. I have about 80% humidity in there already. More would be bad for the plants.

Yeah horned frogs are gluttons but they are not hard at all to feed. I am used to feeding dead rodents so the thought of an animal that eats frozen thawed mice is welcome compared to going to the store once or twice a week for live feeder insects.

You will need to have the top enclosed to keep the humidity as high as possible. You could always apply plastic film to the inside of the lid to prevent evaporation of the moisture in the tank. If you don't have at least a partially enclosed lid you will go through a lot of distilled or RO water. In your case both the frogs and the plants you have need pure water so you are going to have to make sure you have a bottle of that available.

Before you decide on your frog species do some research into the species that are available to choose from. Some are easier to feed because they will accept larger prey items and many are very secretive while others are more bold and will be much more visible.

This is the breeder I was going to get my frogs from before I decided against it. Check out the article they have about breeding fruit flies and the species list for some ideas before deciding.

Here is a link that might be useful: Understort Enterprises

The glass top isn't really just to keep the humidity up, It also keeps the fruit flies in, otherwise they will climb right through any store bought screen top. They make screen that is a small enough weave to keep the flies in though, and yours could be replaced with this. It also keeps the temps more stable.
I would check some other forums that are specifically for dart frogs, if you are really wanting to get one. You will find everything you need to know about the care needed for them. And possibly a local breeder. (No Shipping,YEAH!) Frogs don't like to be thrown around in boxes. Seams like shipping employee's only see another box, No matter how big you write on the box "Handle With Care" I think it's worth the time to plan a trip to make sure they are handled with care. And then you get to see what the breeder has got set up. Use caution though, these guys are highly addictive.....What kind of PDF are you planning on starting with? I've seen some selling for a little less. I'd research a bit more and shop around. Good Luck!

As much as I would love a more colorful one, I think I am going to go with an aurateus because they are the cheapest I have found. I can order four of them for $80.00. I have been talking with the people on Frognet, which is devoted to dart frogs. There is nowhere within driving distance of me where I can get a frog, as much as I would like to do it that way. So I will order one. I'm going to do it after Christmas so hopefullu shipping will be better and it won't get stuck in the lail somewhere.

You could look into fire-bellied toads, which are available everywhere. I kept a few, I found hopping around the pet store where I used to work, in an aquarium with a small pothos. They seem to be active all the time especially in Spring. They also make funny calls at night. The calls can be very loud - enough to wake you up at night!

Hey back2eight,
I can tell your already set on the darts, so I just wanted to steer you away from getting any other frogs to "practice" with. They my bring something in with them that could infect the darts. Well at least don't put them in the same tank your going to house the aurateus in. Just keep reading the Dart boards, they are pretty easy to take care of as long as you can supply there requirements.
You will want to start your fly cultures for at least a couple of weeks before you plan on the frogs arriving, to get the larva hatching, and start a new culture every week until you get that system under your belt. It's not hard to raise the flies, but problems do happen, and it takes a minute to get the hang of it. Its good to seed the viv with spring-tails too. That will give the frogs something to snack on in between feedings, and the spring-tails can establish themselves in the viv, and continue reproducing, if given a good head start. I see you have been to frognet. Have you ran across dendroboard.com yet? It has a lot more members, and more frequent replies ;) See Ya There!

Well, I hear that back2eight just got a pair of tomatoe frogs, so it looks like she'll get some practice in after all! I think that its a GREAT thing to "practice" with a more hardy species before jumping into darts. However, like Rad3Dad said, you need to be careful about cross contamination.

Somebody else is also talking on frognet, I see. :) I am enjoying the tomato frogs, even though they are not very active, at least when I am viewing them they're not. I have seen both of them eat, which was neat. They burrow, which is upsetting some of my smaller plants. I might need to replant them somewhere else. MY plants are doing really good. I have already bought another tank, a ten-gallon, and I am going to set it up as soon as I can get some spaghnum moss (I can't find any right now). I will reserve this tank for darts.