General 'Sexing' dart frog pointers

[Philsuma]

Sexing most Dart Frogs is far from an exact science. Very few hobbyists, even the experienced one's are going to ever be close to 100%, in fact, most people still go by: If it calls- it's a male and if it lays eggs...it's a female. That may should funny and even condescending, but it's actually pretty spot on when it comes right down to it.

1. It’s easiest to sex a mature or large ‘adult’ dart frog. Most dart frogs are sexually mature @ 8-12 months of age. Some of the smaller ‘thumbnail’ species can mature a little earlier and some of the larger species such as Terribilis can take well over a year. Small or young frogs are just way too hard to come up with anything but a good guess in most cases.

2. Males have Larger Front Toe pads: Male Dendrobates tinctorius tend to have larger, heart shaped toe pads on their front feet that sometimes look like a little catcher’s mitt. Females will have much smaller and ‘thinner’ toe pads. None of these pointers are even close to 100%, but this one is close to 80% for Dendrobates Tinctorius and similar species.

3. Females have more 'Back Arch': Female Tincs tend to have a higher back arch and will just look ‘bigger’ than a male of the same age.

4. Females can be larger Size: As a general rule, female dart frogs will be larger and MUCH more ‘pear shaped and hippy” than males. Don’t confuse overall fatness or possible obese marble shaped with definite female traits. Remember…think ‘big hips” (pear shape) for females.

[Philsuma]

Sexing is usually very hard, especially in CB animals, since they tend to be less mature when transferred to people wanting to find out their sex.

Sometimes you really only can know if they call (male) or lay eggs (female)- a funny statement but actually very spot on.

There is no 'cliff notes' version to help out here.

[RichFrye]

I was actually thinking about starting a thread on pum sexing, so , here's my input.
I have noticed while taking pics ( thousands upon thousands) that juvi/ 'as of yet not definatively sexed' pumilio will almost always display either a dominant or passive manner while being photographed.
I 'pose' many of my frogs for shots and once they feel comfortable they will either be ' in your face' or they want to fold in upon themselves, and it becomes fairly clear after five or ten minutes of watching the frogs react what sex they are. Now,there are 'whimpy' males ( as an example, males which were placed with other males and never call until by themselves) but woosie male pums are a rarity .
Also, as a side note, grannies really like the little chirp my Leica P+P makes once it has auto-focused and is a great tool to keep their attention while snapping pics.

[Philsuma]

Male pumilio are going to have a small dark spot/patch on their throat from calling - kinda like stretch marks.

When placed into a brand new WELL planted and constructed vivarium, male pumilio will often climb to a high area and call to establish territory. Like Rich said, they are aggressive little buggers for their size.

If you have, say, a group of 5 pumilio and you want to sex them....then they should be split up into two groups of 0.0.2 and 0.0.3. That way, you can try to not have a submissive male or a 'third wheel' in a group, as much as possible.

When placed in newly made groups in brand new well planted vivs, sexual dominance and breeding can often occur within an hour if not minutes.

[Sherman]

Here is a nice, clear example of the sexual dimorphism that can occur in D. tinctorius toepads.
The male is on the left and the female the right.