Well, even though I am still new to darts, I do have quite a bit of experience with mantella's, in which the basic same type of care can go into some of these topics.
Topic 1: quarantining- This is very important for new acquistions to a colony, or new frogs in general. If they are new frogs being introduced to a colony, I highly advise that you quarantine them for atleast 1 month. This is the time to observe, medicate if needed, and get fecals done. Keept he quarantine chamber simple, maybe a coco hut, a plant or two, and a few places to hide. I have even used little disposable glad ware containers for froglets.
topic 2: Housing - This is where mantella's and darts really differ. I have heard that for darts, make sure you have 5 gallons per frog. I would have to differ with this however, and say that it depends on the personality of the specific frog species, or even individual. SOme thumbs can be raised in much higher population to conainer size than others. Vents may do well with 4 in a 15 gallon. I myself am going to try 5 which have been raised together in a 10 vert. Then, when you get into the bigger frogs such as the tincs or azureus, I would have to say atleast 10 gallons per frog. Keep in mind this is for adults, froglets can be housed in tighter quarters until they become sexually mature/aggressive. I have 8 mantella viridis right now in a 55 gallon, viridis being comparable to about the size of a hawaiian auratus. I would not feel comfortable keeping more than 10 in a tank this size. Then you have pumilios. They are very aggressive towards each other, and should not even be kept together in more than a pair unless they have PLENTY of room. I have a 75 gallon I am working on, and I don't think I will put more than 4 pums in it. Please correct if I am wrong all you dart experts.
Topic 3 Meds: This is not my field, talk to Dr. Frye
Topic 4 Fecals: Talk to Dr. Frye
Topic 5 Food/supplements: This is one of the most important aspect to keeping and breeding darts. The more types of food you have the better. In the wild, they would naturally have their selection of hundreds of different types of isopods, insects, myriapods, etc. By sticking them singly on fruit flies, or crickets is not a good idea. It is however hard to rear many types of insects, so we get stuck with just flies or crickets. Here are other options : Spring tails (best for froglets or thumbs), mini mealworms (best for larger frogs ie auratus, tincs, azureus), waxworms, confused flour rice beetles, and I have heard of people feeding lobster roaches, but they seem to big to me. Another source of food is field sweepings, but this can be the most dangerous method of feeding. When I give my hand at it, i am going to the top of a mountain next to my house where few people ever travel. I have heard that even the most reluctant of eaters will take field sweepings though. Also, the more species of flies you keep, the better. I have 2 subspecies of d. melongaster, and 1 species of hydei. Small houseflies can be used as well. Even if you find a egg sac from a spider, you can hatch it and feed the spiderlings to the frogs. This is not the best method to use with thumbnails though.
Topic 6 Beginners frogs:This is a tough question as well. What is the best beginner dart? Most people would disagree with me here, but I would say to first start with mantella's. They are cheap, relatively easy to keep, and are beautiful. This is where I got my start with darts, and have yet to lose a dart in the last 8 months I ahve been keeping them. If you want to go with darts first though, I would say get some auratus. They are $20 or less usually, and are rather bold, and get big enough where you can feed them crickets on food shortages. ONce you get the mantella's or auratus down, then you can move on to better looking frogs, such as leucs or azureus. Also, for thumbnails, I have come to the conclusion that d. ventrimaculatus is the best to start with. they are built like tanks, and are quite easy to breed.
I hope this helps someone out. And please, rich, I know you have WAY more experience than me, so correct me on anything that you feel is incorrect information. I am still learning as well, so I would not be hurt by anything
. Good luck to all you beginner dart- ers
Ed Parker