# Environment enrichment and dart frogs



## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

Hi everyone, 

This isn't a topic I see discussed on here very much (or at all). 

In my (albeit somewhat limited) experience, I've noticed that whenever I add a new element to one of my vivariums that the frogs are inquisitive, and investigate the new object. 

Example: yesterday I added a couple of suspended water dishes for tadpole depositing in my _Ranitomeya sirensis _ tank. Within about 15 minutes one of the frogs had gone to investigate what the new object was. 










I've observed similar patterns of behaviour with other darts as well, new objects lead to investigation. 

Is this something other people have observed as well?


----------



## Frogmanjared (Jul 17, 2020)

Think about their behavior in the wild. If something new falls to the forest floor, it’s something to check out. There may be food, it could be a new vantage point for calling or seeing intruders. There are probably many other reasons a frog does what it does. My guess is food, or mapping it’s territory. Enrichment is always a good thing, I’m new so I wouldn’t try yet, reading on how easily they stress.


----------



## Fahad (Aug 25, 2019)

All of the species I’ve kept react to additions as well as disturbance — moved leaf litter, trimmed plants etc.

They’ll often scatter while it’s going on but return in short order to forage the disturbed area.

They turn up for quite a bit of exploration after every ‘leaf fall’ when I add significant amounts of fresh leaf litter.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


----------



## Kmc (Jul 26, 2019)

It's really just to enchant us into spending all our money and time 

But really it's what it's all about for me. Vivarium as lens into behaviors, designing opportunities for pleasant exertion, stimulation, using their gifts.


----------



## Encyclia (Aug 23, 2013)

This is a really interesting topic, FG! I have noticed that when I make major changes to their tanks, overall behavior of the frogs changes pretty drastically, at least for a while. It makes me wonder how "smart" frogs actually are. I am not sure smart is actually the right word since it comes loaded with so much anthropomorphism, but I am curious how much complex thought goes through our frogs' tiny heads. If we knew for fact that they were capable and prone to more complex thought, it might make a difference in how we keep them. Pretty sure I sell my frogs short in this category.

Mark


----------



## fishingguy12345 (Apr 7, 2019)

I'm planning a few more minor changes to a couple of frog tanks, I'll do my best to observe how they do or don't interact with new objects and update this thread.


----------



## azandis (Sep 13, 2020)

TBH, this is probably something all of us that keep frogs should consider more seriously.

Dendrobatids have some of the best spatial memory of any frog species. Some researchers attached GPS backpacks to Tincs and _Ameerega trivittata_ in the wild to see how far they go to find new waterholes for their tadpoles (check out this video about the project). A. t. traveled up to 766m to deposit tadpoles! Most interestingly, the frogs often passed up available deposit sites in favor of sites further away [1]. And, they often split up their tads across multiple sites. That indicates that, not only to these frogs explore areas of hundreds of meters, but they also remember multiple, specific tadpole pool locations.

Other studies have shown that frogs remember sites between years and may transport tads further away in consecutive years, likely to avoid competition among their offspring [2, 3].

Given all that, I'm pretty confident that we radically underestimate how smart our frogs are. And I'm certain that they definitely appreciate any enrichment you provide!

References:
[1] Pašukonis, A., Loretto, M.-C., & Rojas, B. (2019). How far do tadpoles travel in the rainforest? Parent-assisted dispersal in poison frogs. Evolutionary Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10682-019-09994-z

[2] Ringler, E., Szipl, G., Harrigan, R. J., Bartl-Binder, P., Mangione, R., & Ringler, M. (2018). Hierarchical decision-making balances current and future reproductive success. Molecular Ecology, 27(9), 2289–2301.

[3] Beck, K. B., Loretto, M.-C., Ringler, M., Hödl, W., & Pašukonis, A. (2017). Relying on known or exploring for new? Movement patterns and reproductive resource use in a tadpole-transporting frog. PeerJ, 5, e3745.


----------

