Dart Den

I have been doing research for the past week or so on the hobby of keeping dart frogs and have decided to start my own viv. I was telling my friends about it when he brought up an interesting point that i have not truely found an answer to. This question is as follows; are dart frogs considered an illegal exotic pet? meaning are they illegal in the U.S. to import and posses. Also are dart frogs an endangered species?

Another question would be i understand that the majority of the frogs in the trade are captive bred but how do i trust that the dealer has not imported the frogs? Do i simply have to trust the dealer?

One final question would be i understand that the dart frogs are incredibly poinsonous in the wild but in captive they are quit the opposite due to a change in their diet. If i were to buy a frog from a dealer who told me the frog was captive bred but was actually wild caught and imported would the frog still be poisonous? How long does it take for the poison to disapte?

Thank you, nate

Hi Nate,
The vast majority of darts you will find advertised are not illegal in any way. check your local policies for exact facts on local legality. Imports are not necessarily bad or illegal.
There are only a few darts that are truly very poisonous. The chance of getting one of those from a country that has been closed to exports for some time now is very un-likely. Don't handle your frogs and there is nothing to worry about.

http://sea.unep-wcmc.org/citestrade/trade.cfm

Rich

I would add that some states do list pdfs as illegal. It seems like CT might be a state that they are illegal in. MO actually has a bill before their state congress that would make them illegal in MO.
In most states they are legal.

Like Rich said, only 3 frogs are extremely poisonious. The rest might make you sick if you ate them. But I can't imagine anyone eating a dart frog, so you should be safe.

Most species of darts are not endangered yet. I do not have a breakdown on the status of each one.

ok, thanks to all for the help. It is much appreciated.

i live in mo how do i find out more info on the legality of pdf

There is a post on dendroboard. But they are down today for maint.
It is in the general forum and was posted in the past week.