# Help me convincing my Parents



## Y0urbestfriend (Jan 31, 2014)

Hi, One day I asked my father if I could build a vivarium with a couple of dart frogs in it. He had already seen me do some research so he said yes because I was then doing something else then playing games on the computer. When we told it to my mother she said she absolutly didnt want it, now she has convinced my father that I am not allowed to get darts. their arguments are that they might escape, which I am not letting happen. their other argument is that it is dangerous because they might be venemous, which is also irrelevant because I am not planning on handling the frogs and they are only venemous in the wild if they eat certain things. I am allowed to get a vivarium (I already started making one) but im not allowed to put any animals in there,
Can you guys help me convince my parents that I am allowed to get darts
Plz. give all your arguments, and everything you can come up with.

Thx.

-Rens


----------



## Sammie (Oct 12, 2009)

Poisonous, not venomous 
Semantics aside, if your frog would escape it would (fairly quickly) shrivel up and die under a piece of furniture, so there's that. 
It wouldn't hop around poisoning people, even if toxic.

But my experience is that you can't argue with women, one minute you're laying out valid points for your argument, the next you're in the doghouse for (allegedly) looking at her friends chest at party four years ago...

I don't know man, If I were you I'd build a stunning piece of rain forest and just keep plants for awhile. If you're lucky she'll warm up to the idea in time.

I'm sorry I can't give you better advice than that


----------



## kitcolebay (Apr 7, 2012)

Sorry to hear that she's against the idea. Keep in mind, she hasn't done the research like you have. Like Sammie mentioned, you do have the vivarium going, so keep working on that beautiful slice of rainforest. In the meantime, here's a suggestion. Treat this project like true school research. It'll help take your understanding much further, it'll impress your parents with your hard work, it'll show your desire to educate yourself (rather than playing video games), and most importantly...it'll easily lay out the "facts" of dart frog keeping for your parents to easily understand. Lay her worries to rest about them being dangerous in your home. Go as far as listing references. You may include links to the webpages that you found helpful. There's a lot of info on forums such as this and on some of the big vendor sites. I can think of several vendors that have the basic care sheets, the "how-to-guides", and the FAQ's (frequently asked questions). Good luck! Keep in mind, be nice about it...if momma's not happy, nobody's happy.

-Chris


----------



## toadlicker00 (Feb 14, 2013)

Now I would never advocate lying to your mother. Having said that, there are some frogs that are notoriously shy/small.... But seriously your best bet is to show them your genuine interest and try to educate them in a calm rational manner. Sounds like your dad is already leaning toward your side. Maybe try and win him over first and the two of you can take on mom together. I hope everything works out for you.


----------



## Dendrobati (Jul 27, 2012)

ab1000434 said:


> Hi, One day I asked my father if I could build a vivarium with a couple of dart frogs in it. He had already seen me do some research so he said yes because I was then doing something else then playing games on the computer. When we told it to my mother she said she absolutly didnt want it, now she has convinced my father that I am not allowed to get darts. their arguments are that they might escape, which I am not letting happen. their other argument is that it is dangerous because they might be venemous, which is also irrelevant because I am not planning on handling the frogs and they are only venemous in the wild if they eat certain things. I am allowed to get a vivarium (I already started making one) but im not allowed to put any animals in there,
> Can you guys help me convince my parents that I am allowed to get darts
> Plz. give all your arguments, and everything you can come up with.
> 
> ...


Hey Rens,

If you would like to give your parents our number or email, we would be more than glad to answer any questions they might have about dart frogs. 

Just send us a private message and let us know, if you think that will help at all. 

Good Luck!
Marta & Brad


----------



## JayMillz (Jun 27, 2012)

Hey Rens, 

One idea that might help is to do a search on YouTube of "Frog room" and find a video of one of those people opening up all of their vivs to get good footage of their frogs for the camera. Find a video where someone opens about 20 of them up and not 1 frog escapes with the front wide open 

After you have your viv constructed, show it to your mom and ask her to find a spot where a frog could possibly escape from. This is where you better do a very good job of sealing stuff off though because it sounds like the frogs would be gone if your mom finds any fruitfly escapees in the room. Don't forget to mention that the fruit flies we feed them do not actually fly. That seems to be a common misconception whenever I show people my frogs for the first time. If you did a good job then perhaps you will have her in check mate 

I have some vivs that open from the top and some that open from the side. I haven't had a frog jump out in the almost 2 years I've had them now. If anything, they jump the other way and into hiding spots when I open it up to trim plants. Even when I had them in QT in just a simple sweater box I never had any runaways when I would take the lid off to mist/feed. It is really easy to catch them too when you need to, just take a short clear plastic tube and you can put it right over them without them noticing and kind of scoop them up so they attach to the side of the tube and you can move them wherever you need to without actually touching them. 

Give Rens a chance mom! It will help teach responsibility and provide an excuse to do lots of research. My frogs have scored me a couple of As on school projects now. It's a great hobby and you and Rens have access to this board which is full of members that can help you guys out with any questions or problems you would ever have in the future.


----------



## Y0urbestfriend (Jan 31, 2014)

Thx guys, for all the support, I appreciate it.


----------



## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

Did you even get to the part about fruit flies?

Obviously (to us) the frogs aren't poisonous. Did you call them Poison Dart Frogs, or simply Dart Frogs? Maybe the real issue, assuming you already broached the fly aspect, is will you be responsible enough to care for it. I don't think many parents care what your pet is. They care about "who will care for it if my kid stops liking it".


----------



## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Couple quick questions:

Where are you located geographically? (It would be great to find you a local mentor)


----------



## Y0urbestfriend (Jan 31, 2014)

ZookeeperDoug said:


> Couple quick questions:
> 
> Where are you located geographically? (It would be great to find you a local mentor)



I am located in the Netherlands in Emmen (Drenthe).


----------



## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

ab1000434 said:


> I am located in the Netherlands in Emmen (Drenthe).


Sounds like a visit to Dutch Rana is in order. 

Unfortunately, I don't know anyone offer there personally, but there are a lot of EU froggers that should be available to mentor you locally.


----------



## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

You MUST get in touch with this guy. 

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...-new-wooden-hill-stream-tank-constr-jrnl.html


----------



## bradlyb (Jul 22, 2013)

frogface said:


> You MUST get in touch with this guy.
> 
> http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/pa...-new-wooden-hill-stream-tank-constr-jrnl.html


I second that. One of the most epic builds ever. To have the opportunity to see that in person.....


----------



## PumilioTurkey (Feb 25, 2010)

How old are you ab?


Most parents like Doug already stated care about the "what will he do when he gets a new video game/girlfriend/etc".


Poison dart frogs are a time-consuming hobby with some tedious work like preparing insects for you frogs, caring when they're ill etc etc


I've seen several youngsters that were totally in frogs UNTIL the first girlfriend came along etc


----------



## jmdelarosa55 (Jan 17, 2014)

aspidites73 said:


> Did you even get to the part about fruit flies?
> 
> Obviously (to us) the frogs aren't poisonous. Did you call them Poison Dart Frogs, or simply Dart Frogs? Maybe the real issue, assuming you already broached the fly aspect, is will you be responsible enough to care for it. I don't think many parents care what your pet is. They care about "who will care for it if my kid stops liking it".


I would definitely skip the fruit fly part for now. And do as these guys mentioned. Continue building it, in time when they see how much your interested in it, doubt they'll say no. Especially after seeing your finished product. Good Luck!


----------



## carola1155 (Sep 10, 2007)

PumilioTurkey said:


> How old are you ab?


Let's all keep in mind that the User Agreement requires members to be 18... Please don't ask him to potentially reveal that he is breaking the rules. 

Outside of it violating the rules of the User Agreement... it is generally safer for a minor not to speak of their age on the internet. 

Thank you for your cooperation.


----------



## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

aspidites73 said:


> Obviously (to us) the frogs aren't poisonous.


I've got to flag this as it isn't really true... while captive bred frogs are very unlikely to have alkaloid toxins, there isn't anything to prevent them from producing a number of wide spread peptides that are not alkaloids and can cause an unpleasant reaction. 

Some comments 

Ed


----------



## mfsidore (Oct 10, 2012)

Well, you could do what I did an ask my mother until she swore her head me and said yes and to shut up. I agree with everyone else though, there is at this point, no point of stopping your project. My parent also gave in because of how much research I did. So keep doing it. Good luck.


----------



## punctata (Jan 31, 2011)

Involve your school work to it. Impress your teachers and hopefully that will impress your parents. If you want to go to college for some type of Biology, try an use that to relate it to your parents better. Good luck. At least you will have a nice tank ready to go.


----------



## Matecho (Dec 16, 2013)

When i first wanted to get dart frogs my parents said absolutely not. Then we started talking about how their isn't that much work with them. They are an animal that you have to mist once in a while and feed once in a while. Thats about it. Then i showed them some of the "How-to guides" on Josh's Frogs and they found out they aren't that hard of an animal to keep. If your parents are scared of the animal escaping get a full glass lid that fits tightly on your vivarium. If they are worried it will still escape tell them that some tincs get up to 2 inches in length. Although that's not "big" for an animal its big for a frog and it wont be able to escape.


----------



## Enlightened Rogue (Mar 21, 2006)

Give your parents time, they`ll come around.

Kind of reminds me of my first tattoo....of coarse I got the tattoo FIRST and then showed
my parents.

I don`t know what that has to do with anything.


----------



## Aldross (Dec 30, 2013)

You could do what I did with my wife. She said no more frogs. To that I said "fine I want to get back into tarantulas". Bam more frogs.


----------



## aspidites73 (Oct 2, 2012)

Whatever you end up doing. Please, do not call them safe!


----------



## Dendroguy (Dec 4, 2010)

Enlightened Rogue said:


> Give your parents time, they`ll come around.
> 
> Kind of reminds me of my first tattoo....of coarse I got the tattoo FIRST and then showed
> my parents.
> ...


Ahahaha

D


----------

