# breeding phyllobates terribilis



## evanillathunder (Feb 27, 2017)

So Ive had a group of 4 terribilis for a little over 4 years now. a little over a month ago they finally started breeding. This is my first experience with breeding PDFs, so far Ive got 11 tadpoles and another clutch of 11 that are about to hatch. I was just curious if there is much of a demand for terribilis froglets? and if people who do breed, do you just sell on this board? or are there other avenues? I never planned on trying to make money off of my frogs, just been ejoying the process of hatching tadpoles and watching them morph, but will soon have way more froglets than I intended to keep.


----------



## SMenigoz (Feb 17, 2004)

Congrats on patiently waiting out your terribs-- when it finally does happen, they'll give you large clutches. There always is a demand for frogs that are fearless, you only obstacle is having the capacity to deal with the large clutches.


evanillathunder said:


> So Ive had a group of 4 terribilis for a little over 4 years now. a little over a month ago they finally started breeding. This is my first experience with breeding PDFs, so far Ive got 11 tadpoles and another clutch of 11 that are about to hatch. I was just curious if there is much of a demand for terribilis froglets? and if people who do breed, do you just sell on this board? or are there other avenues? I never planned on trying to make money off of my frogs, just been ejoying the process of hatching tadpoles and watching them morph, but will soon have way more froglets than I intended to keep.


----------



## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

Demand for most of the 'common' species of dart frogs fluctuates according to availability and trends (driven these days by social media). One year everyone's hunting for Mints, a couple years later they're all on sale, another couple of years later no one's breeding them again.

I would enjoy raising some clutches and then try to shut them down again before they overwhelm you with clutches, which they're fully capable of. I'm actually not breeding any of my Blackfoots this year, giving the females a break and avoiding too many froglets.

Shutting them down can be tricky; reduced misting with somewhat reduced caloric intake seems to do the trick. You obviously want to avoid dehydrating them; what's worked for me is making sure they have adequate access to moisture by providing them with clay-based mud wallows (there are a few threads on this board regarding Montmorillonite clay) while ensuring the leaf litter dries out.


----------



## evanillathunder (Feb 27, 2017)

Thanks, this was going to be my next question! 



Fahad said:


> Shutting them down can be tricky; reduced misting with somewhat reduced caloric intake seems to do the trick. You obviously want to avoid dehydrating them; what's worked for me is making sure they have adequate access to moisture by providing them with clay-based mud wallows (there are a few threads on this board regarding Montmorillonite clay) while ensuring the leaf litter dries out.


----------



## evanillathunder (Feb 27, 2017)

Ive got a whole room in my house dedicated just to frogs. just went and bought a bookshelf to hold all of the tadpoles, Ive been doing the method Joshs Frogs recommends using deli cups for each tadpole with RO water, tadpole tea and almond leaves. Been working out so far.



SMenigoz said:


> Congrats on patiently waiting out your terribs-- when it finally does happen, they'll give you large clutches. There always is a demand for frogs that are fearless, you only obstacle is having the capacity to deal with the large clutches.


----------



## lork-the-mighty (May 11, 2021)

evanillathunder said:


> , Ive been doing the method Joshs Frogs recommends using deli cups for each tadpole with RO water, tadpole tea and almond leaves. Been working out so far.


Correct me if I'm wrong but I think you can raise terribilis tadpoles communally just fine. No need for 300 individual cups.


----------



## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

lork-the-mighty said:


> Correct me if I'm wrong but I think you can raise terribilis tadpoles communally just fine. No need for 300 individual cups.


This is correct. I used to raise them individually to monitor them but find they do fine communally -- in fact I think their feeding response is stronger, maybe spurred by competition.


----------



## evanillathunder (Feb 27, 2017)

Oh thats good to know, Thanks!


----------



## aapuzzo (Apr 20, 2020)

I thought terribilis use clean water with just java moss and you didn't use tadpole tea for them since they breed in clean water. When I have purchased tadpoles the tincs and luecs would come in tea but terribilis in clear water. I have raised them in straight ro water with a piece of java moss with success. Just keep the water cleaner and make sure your moss stays alive since you don't have the added benefit of acidic water to Keep bacteria from growing. Stay on top of cleaning it more with a turkey baster or similar.

For some reason the quoting is using the wrong post for me but I saw it mentioned above to use tadpole tea. I would love to know what is correct too.


----------



## Tijl (Feb 28, 2019)

aapuzzo said:


> I thought terribilis use clean water with just java moss and you didn't use tadpole tea for them since they breed in clean water. When I have purchased tadpoles the tincs and luecs would come in tea but terribilis in clear water. I have raised them in straight ro water with a piece of java moss with success. Just keep the water cleaner and make sure your moss stays alive since you don't have the added benefit of acidic water to Keep bacteria from growing. Stay on top of cleaning it more with a turkey baster or similar.
> 
> For some reason the quoting is using the wrong post for me but I saw it mentioned above to use tadpole tea. I would love to know what is correct too.


Clean water? For starters Terribilis do not breed in water.

I raise around a 80 terribilis a year and never do any waterchanges with any of species tadpoles. Minerals are essential for raising healty froglets, so pure RO is all but recommend..

I also see no use for javamoss.


----------



## Eurydactylodes (Sep 7, 2021)

evanillathunder said:


> So Ive had a group of 4 terribilis for a little over 4 years now. a little over a month ago they finally started breeding. This is my first experience with breeding PDFs, so far Ive got 11 tadpoles and another clutch of 11 that are about to hatch. I was just curious if there is much of a demand for terribilis froglets? and if people who do breed, do you just sell on this board? or are there other avenues? I never planned on trying to make money off of my frogs, just been ejoying the process of hatching tadpoles and watching them morph, but will soon have way more froglets than I intended to keep.


With such fecund animals as terribilis, demand is almost irrelevant unless you are a well established breeder; you will almost always produce more frogs than you can sell. That is why I don’t keep them right now.


----------



## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

aapuzzo said:


> I thought terribilis use clean water with just java moss and you didn't use tadpole tea for them since they breed in clean water. When I have purchased tadpoles the tincs and luecs would come in tea but terribilis in clear water. I have raised them in straight ro water with a piece of java moss with success. Just keep the water cleaner and make sure your moss stays alive since you don't have the added benefit of acidic water to Keep bacteria from growing. Stay on top of cleaning it more with a turkey baster or similar.
> 
> For some reason the quoting is using the wrong post for me but I saw it mentioned above to use tadpole tea. I would love to know what is correct too.


This has not been my experience. I've used spring water or distilled water with a little blackwater extract added or distilled water with almond leaves. No Java Moss, no particular worries about it being spotless. I've raised many in this way. I would never use RO or distilled without additives as described above. I imagine the tadpoles are probably adaptable to a wide range of water conditions given things like rainfall, phytotelmata environments etc. etc.


----------

