The poison dart frog - AmericaNowNews.com

Untouchable pets: Poison dart frog

The next time you see a movie with a snake, spider or other creepy-crawly in it, there's a good chance it belongs to Jules Sylvester. So if anyone knows something about an "untouchable pet" it's Jules – and this colorful guy is one of his favorites!

"The cobalt blue poison dart frog from South America is actually one of the largest poisonous frogs in the world," says Sylvester. "This is exactly the guy that the Indians used to wipe their darts on, put it in the blow gun and the monkey goes ‘eek' and falls out of the tree. They're very prolific in the jungles from Costa Rica all the way down through Brazil. People are actually breeding them in captivity now. The price of this one here is anywhere from 45 to 75 dollars."

Poison dart frogs are extremely delicate, so Sylvester warns that if you can't care for it properly, you shouldn't invest.

"Keep in mind where it comes from. It's a tropical jungle animal," he says. "So when you build your vivarium where you're going to keep this thing, keep in mind it's got to be 100 percent humidity, 85 to 89 degrees. He'll eat small fruit flies. Little things that live on fruit. Little tiny bugs and vast quantities of them." 

But don't even think about giving your frog a roommate.

"If you have other frogs that live in a similar environment, do not mix these frogs with them," Sylvester adds. "Frogs are cannibalistic and they're opportunistic eaters."

Copyright 2012 America Now. All rights reserved.

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