# Can I use dart frogs in a Paludarium?



## eschaton (Jun 27, 2007)

When I move to my new house I plan on setting up a 115 gallon paludarium. It should be 2/3rds water and 1/3rd land. I've been trying to research animals for the land side and decided a small frog and a small lizard are the best bets. 

I had some initial interest in dart frogs for several reasons (too small to eat the fish, will like it humid and 78 degrees, fruit flies which drown will just get eaten by my dwarf rainbows, etc). However, I just read that dart frogs can actually drown. Can anyone give me more detail on this? If I had a gentle slope and tons of exposed bog-wood, would that be enough to ensure they could crawl to land?

If I have to disqualify dart frogs for this project, can anyone tell me some other good tiny frogs?


----------



## kyle1745 (Feb 15, 2004)

It depends on the setup. If you create ways they can get out of the water and setup a good amount of land space it can work.


----------



## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

You might want to consider floating frogs. They are a commonly imported little frog that is mostly aquatic, but not totally.


----------



## leucofrog (Dec 16, 2006)

if you want a lizard just do an anole... but i think you can use pacman frogs for the land side... they basically just burrow. green treefrogs could be ok in there too i think..


----------



## brettlt (Oct 5, 2006)

Leucomelas sometimes like to go for a swim. Just give them lots of ways out and maybe some islands with rocks or something.


----------



## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

PDFs are decent enough swimmers, it's just a few man made deals in the tank that put them in situations where they can drown.

- *They don't understand glass* - they think since they can see thru it they should be able to go thru it. When swimming in a pond, they will continue to swim against the invisible barrier. They just don't understand.
- *Can't climb when wet *- While they do have toepads, they are not as good as treefrog teopads, and when the frog is wet, all bets are off. A glass wall they'd normally scramble up they will not be able to attach to when wet from entering a body of water. Think of them this way... a little wet means they are tacky on the glass. A lot wet means they slide right back down.
- *Corners are the ultimate evil* - Goes along with not understanding glass... but when a frog swims against a flat pane of glass it will eventually be led in one way or another, and if you've got something for them to pull out on, great! If they swim into a corner, they may continue to swim into that corner until they are too tired to swim anymore.

Oddly enough, sometimes a LACK of corners is also an "ultimate evil" - when you put a round container as pond in the tank, and they'll swim around in circles until they get tired and drown 

Solutions... put lots of things in the water! Doesn't have to come out of the water, even a rock under the water that they can stand on and hold most of their body out of the water. Put them in every corner. Put them along a pane of glass if it's too long. I like putting them every 8 or so inches. With something to pull out on, the frog will calm down, stop panicing, take a look around, and usually head back to safe land.

I would NOT make the tank 2/3 water with these frogs, i'd have it 2/3 land. Much better to get a semi terrestrial frog, rather than a purely terrestrial one. FBTs might be a better option. Or marsh dwelling treefrogs like the false glass frogs and clown treefrogs from Suriname, or reed frogs from africa. Even mantellas probably handle water better (but I'd still want 2/3 land with all the above restrictions).

Pacman/horned frogs I think could be worse in a tank like this.. they are less agile than PDFs and would have worse times pulling themselves out of water.

If you really want to try PDFs, the most common species won't be the best ones for you. Colostethus live and breed in streams, and there is one guy on this board who has some breeding, but I'll fight you for them  Some of the new epipedobates from Peru also live around streams and might do better... but they are large and expensive. Anthonyi might work ok if you follow enough of the restrictions, and they are around somewhat, but that's still a lot of water.


----------

