Form Carara Pacific Costa Rica






Cuna Yala form






Special Panama type

Breeding results

The first breeding results with poison dart frogs in captivity from 1932 concerned Dendrobates auratus. It was the Heidelbergean Botanicus Oeser, known from his studies on Tillandsia, who bred “Dendrobates tinctorius” which actually were auratuses.  Articles by Oeser and his companion Senfft about the breeding and territorial behavior appeared in the late 30’s of the past century. In the late sixties of that century, the interest in the colourful frogs was awakening again. The Dutch importer van Oostveen had a lot to do with that, as he imported many animals form Costa Rica to the Netherlands and from there to Germany and Belgium. Reports about the captive reproduction of Dendrobates followed soon.

In the late seventies, the Dendrobates auratus was the most commonly offered poison dart frog in pet shops. Being common in pet shops is often confused with being an easy to be kept animal. A species for starters, so they say. Dendrobates auratus may be not that much harder to keep than many of its congeners, but it’s not the species I would advise starting hobbyists to start with. Species like Dendrobates tinctorius and Phyllobates bicolor are indeed easier to keep and are often much boulder then the often rather shy auratus.  The frogs are hard to sex to and the males are a bit territorial.


Vivaria

In vivaria these frogs need warmth (22 to 29 ºC) and humidity and the usual amount of fruit flies and such.
The fact that it’s rather shy (but some individuals are not shy at all) makes it sometimes harder to keep a keen eye on the frogs condition, but for the serious frog keeper that should not be a problem.
 
Variety of forms

Dendrobates auratus means golden tree walker. ‘Golden’ is a rather strange term for a green and black frog. That combination of colours is the form you find in Costa Rica, but in Panama, an amazing array of colours appears, just like in Dendrobates pumilio. One of these colour types is has a combination of golden green and bronze. Others are blue and black, and some are a rather drab tan and sepia. But, even in the last type, the pattern is very interesting and makes it an attractive frog anyway. These tan and sepia forms are supposed to come from Cuna Yala in Panama and do fairly well in captivity.
There is also a form, which has been named ‘hawaii’, and indeed on Hawaii a form looking like this one has become indigenous. It wasn’t of course before the introduction of the species somewhere in the last century. But now it is in several places on these tropical islands. This is an indication of how capable these frogs are to adapt themselves to other habitats then their own.