Unfortunately, reptiles and amphibians are some of the most difficult pets to keep in terms of convenience. Most require live food, and PDFs have very high metabolisms, so you would have to culture your own fruit flies (unless you have a pet store near you that sells them, but that's not common). They can't be constantly fed anything with a hard shell. This means no ants, no pin-head crickets, and no mealy worms (as a staple food). Larger frogs can eat crickets, but they will eat more, and that still leaves you running to the pet store every week (or more). I would try to find something that eats mostly fruit and veggies. I think that some Day Geckos fall into this category, but they still require live food as well. Since you don't appear to be willing to go to the required effort, you probably should not get any animals. I won't be getting PDFs until all my kids are old enough to not require constant attention, and then i will have time to do things like culture fruit flies! Since I only have one kid so far and I want 3 or 4, this will be a long wait for me. =) But I would just end up starving any animals I got now, so it's better this way (just plants). A lot of people keep anoles though, and they seem to be pretty easy. Hopefully more people will add their two cents. =)

Hmm, this sounds difficult. This could be a real challenge in the making. Bold of you to take up orchid growing in Alberta. I once lived in Minnesota, near Thunder Bay, Ontario. A greenhouse was alway on my mind, but I never settled down. When I was a student, I grew fruit flies on cream of wheat, with something called tegocept (sp) solution added to prevent mold from growing. The culture had a distinct odor. It's somthing to think about for a while before I try it.

yes, I recall reading that culturing fruit flies smells bad. Apparently crickets are even worse. That's another reason I'm not getting any critters for my terr. yet. When one is pregnant, certain smells are absolutely intolerable, even things that one liked before! I love the smell of peat moss because it reminds me of gardening and the PNW rainforest, but when I was pregnant it smelled different. Terrible, in fact. It made me want to throw up. But anyways. . . actually, many Canadians grow orchids. We have an Alberta orchid society that is very well-attended, especially the annual spring show and sale. Gardening is also extremely popular here. I think it has to do with wanting, even needing, to squeeze every last drop of goodness out of our short summers. And then we need houseplants to get us through the winters. It is very difficult to bloom orchids without supplemental light here though. I think that people with a large south window could do it, and my 'secret' is to put them all outside in the summer, but it is more challenging here than in a place like Florida. =) A greenhouse is not required, but I would like one someday. Or even just a sunroom. Well, I must remove a dead guppy from my fishtank now. . .

i culture fruit flies and i haven't had a bad smell yet. i use ed's fly meat. also, once, i built a tube to run from the fruit fly container to the vivarium. but when the larva hatched my frogs got a little fat and then they got really feaked out.

if you can take the time to care and ensure the proper husbandry, just have a terrarium, vivariums are a lot of work because you have a few little lives in there.

you could get a crested gecko if your tank is tall,
a picta gecko if you like smaller but still pretty but you will need to feed them the right food. also some reptiles and amphibians to a degree, need uv lighting. that means a light that costs about 15.00 per tube that gives off uvb so that the animal can assimulate the calcium as it can't just go outside like we do...i think a plastic frog would look good...

Don't get PDFs. Many people say their easy to keep, but that's because they've been keeping them forever. From my ecperience, most people (like me) get one of these very expenxeive little guys and build an entire terrerium to suit their needs. Unless you can re-arrance your tererium and spend 10-15 minutes a day placing minute flies in front of each dart frog...
I would reccomend a day gecko. They eat baby food, fruit, and even premade food from the petstore. Crickets can be fed as a treat. I have one in my terrerium and I couldn't think of an easier animal to keep. Basically, i just put in a little bit of baby food in a mild carton top every three days and take it out after another. Plus the lizards are gorgeis. There are several varieties available, some up to 12" and others arounf 4"

sry about my horrific spelling...in a rush

From my research on day geckos (I was looking into keeping one), they require crickets, not just as a treat now and then. They need both baby fruit and meat (crickets) on a regular (daily) basis. Still definitely easier than PDFs, because nearly all pet stores sell crickets, so you wouldn't have to culture your own, and they are beautiful, but you still need to vitamin-dust the crickets, etc. I don't think that any reptile or amphibian is truly easy to keep. Mammals are much easier. But of course it all depends on the person. If you love your pet, you will be willing do to a lot for that animal, whether it's cleaning out a litter box daily or culturing fruit flies.

Actually PDF's are really not that bad to keep. You spend maybe 5 min. a day for feeding. You can dump the fruit flies in their vicinity and they'll come and eat them. Surely some frogs are trickier than others. There's some good information for beginners on saurian.net or blackjungle.com. It seems like a lot of input but it sounds like more work than it actually is.

Fruit fly cultures are easy to handle as well. It takes me about 10 min. per week. I get the media from blackjungle. Just add water and a pinch of yeast and you're ready to go for a new culture. There's no bad smell whatsoever. Actually, since I started fruit fly cultures my apartment smells like freshly baked bread all the time..lol (cause of the yeast). The biggest challenge is to make yourself knowledgable about the frogs you'd like to get. Once you have the setup and a good routine it takes not much more time than a bowl of goldfish (ok, maybe a bit more ;p)

Here is a link that might be useful: Dart frog info for beginners

This discussion has been very helpful. I think learning and getting an efficient routine half the work. It's a commitment like having a cat or a dog. I'm not in a rush to take it on.

I don't want to pay the hight prices of pet suppliers for things like fruit fly food. I did some research into the formulas for fly food--took 30 minutes on the internet. The formulas don't use grocery ingredients, but with a little thought, I can figure out what to substitute for the same purpose. There is no one formula, but generally speaking, it's cooked cerial, sugar, nutritional yeast, live yeast (when cool), and something acid like fruit juice. Acid and live yeast prevent molds. Place outside in summer and furit flies will appear.

As a child I grew fruit flies on farina cerial and a few drops of "tegosept m" provided by a local museum curator (to prevent mold).

I know most people are not willing to fuss around this way and would rather pay the money.

I am a new member of this forum. I have really enjoyed looking at the terrariums linked on these pages. The info regarding certain harder-to-keep varieties of plants has also been helpful. When I read this thread, I felt that I had to reply.
PDF's are not hard to keep. There are 10 year old children in my neighborhood who are successfully maintaining a vivarium with the frogs, and even breeding the frogs. Personally, I have over 50 vivariums in my home. Each one contains some poison dart frogs. Any and every color you can imagine. Orchids, bromeliads, tropical mosses, waterfalls, you name it. I really like the terrariums, but when you add a pair of bright, electric blue frogs, now you have some life!! Yes, you do have to culture, or purchase, the fruit flies. The flies we use in the hobby cannot fly. They are non-invasive and very easy to culture. They do not smell either. I have 200 cultures going at a time, there is a slight smell with this many cultures, but most visitors to our frog rooms do not even notice it.
Mixing the frogs and plants to create vivariums has been the most rewarding journey of my life. I encourage everyone, not to base your opinions of keeping PDF's based on heresay, or an experience of a friend from 10 years ago. The hobby has changed drastically over the last decade. The frogs are easy to obtain, and there is soooo much info on keeping these precious little gems.
Remember, everyone starts with no experience.
Please fell free to email with any questions. I live in the Chicago suburbs.
Pete

I also breed PDF's but I only use Fruit Fly's on occasion. The only reason why Im jumping on this is due to a post on this thing saying that you cant feed crickets because of hard shells? This is nuts and would be laughed at if this were on a frog forum. Dart frogs eat ants in the wild! I feed 75% pin head crix and the rest are mostly termites. I use the Drosophila as a treat. Dart frogs are a needy species, they do not do well for those who make an impulse buy for there tanks. So if this keeps others from buying them for that purpose then so be it. To many people think they now about them and not enough people trying to learn about them. Try a Green tree frog.
Mac

Well,I had two tree frogs, two green Anoles,a burrowing skink and a house gekko in my terr and they all ate mostly crickets (live) with an occasonal moth, fly or mealworm.For crickets I had a small farm (A bucket with a lid that had a 4x5 square hole on top covered with screen). The crickets ate enriched citrus slices(store bought)enriched grain and gel water substance(also store bought)and lived as long as there was food and water. The animals ate 2 times a week and were easy to take care of.I just misted the terr. every morning and cleaned the glass twice a week and the animals were happy. good luck!!!

I think with any hobby and pets, you need the passion for it. With that, your desire to learn more about your focal interest and the time and labor becomes the pride of what you have created.
Theresa

I have around 30 Dendrobates and I just came to the realization, that although I have acclimated myself into the maintenance of keeping these frogs, I believe we kid ourselves when we tell others that it is easy; we have simply adapted to the daily routine...which is well worth the effort!

Hello, Im currently building a terrarium to one day house some dart frogs. Im at the stage where I need to figure out plants, soil, etc. Ideally Id like to get a hold of SAHOYAREF because we live in the same province, or anyone else who lives in Alberta to see where one can buy tropical plants locally. THANKS!