What do poison dart frogs eat

Please join our alliance to keep forests standing:. Yes, I agree to receive occasional emails from the Rainforest Alliance. Habitat Poison dart frogs can be found in the tropical rainforests of Central and South America. Diet Poison dart frogs are insectivores, preferring to eat ants and other small insects that they can hunt among the leaf litter of the forest floor.

Threats Due to their toxicity, poison dart frogs have only one natural predator — the Leimadophis epinephelus , a species of snake that has developed a resistance to their venom. Did You Know Many species of poison dart frogs are very attentive parents.

Sources Jukofsky, Diane. Encyclopedia of Rainforests. Connecticut: Oryx Press, National Geographic Smithsonian National Zoo. Tags: Environmental Curriculum for Schools. You Might Also Like Species Profile Northern Glass Frog. Fish-Eating Anemone. Frogspawn coral. Giant Amazon River Turtle.

Giant Green Polyp Duncan. Giant Hawkfish. Green-spotted Puffer Fish. Hippo Tang Blue Tang. Hispaniolan Rhinoceros Iguana. Kimberley Rock Monitor. Leather Star. Longhorn Cowfish. Madagascar Hissing Cockroach. Moon Jellyfish. Neon Day Gecko. Ochre Sea Star. Orange Banded Pipefish. Orange Capricornis. Prehensile-tailed Skink. Pumpkinseed Sunfish. Sally Lightfoot Crab. Scarlet Skunk Cleaner shrimp. Spotted Turtle. Sunflower Star. Poison frogs are generally small species, about 0.

Poison frogs can be heard calling in the flooded forest. Most species of frogs have well-developed vocal structures capable of producing a variety of sounds that serve to attract mates, advertise territories or express distress. Sound production is often the most common form of communication in animals that jump or fly because they would otherwise have a difficult time communicating by scent.

Species of frogs can be identified based on their calls. Poison frogs feed mostly on small insects such as ants and termites, which they find on the forest floor. Many species capture their prey by using their sticky, retractable tongues. Scientists believe that poison frogs gain their poison from a specific arthropod and other insects that they eat in the wild and that these insects most likely acquire the poison from their plant diet.

As a result, poison frogs in human care on a diet of crickets and other non-poisonous insects are not poisonous themselves. Most species have omnivorous tadpoles that will eat all sorts of food from algae and detritus to insect larvae and dead insects. Some species tend to be more carnivorous such as the tri-colored poison frog and eat insect larvae and other tadpoles. Females of some poison frog species place individual tadpoles in water in bromeliads and then periodically return to the site of each tadpole and deposit unfertilized eggs, which the tadpoles eat.

Occasionally insects are coated with vitamin powder for extra nutrition. In wet tropical rainforests, both sexes breed throughout the year, with rainfall being the primary factor controlling the timing of reproductive activity. Poison dart frogs display elaborate and diverse courtship behaviors. In general, the male will lead the female to a site that he has chosen to lay the eggs.

Most of these species of frogs deposit their eggs inside leaf-litter, where it is dark and moist. At the Zoo, keepers make an artificial breeding "hut" for the frogs. Some species also deposit their eggs in bromeliads. Courtship behavior can last for several hours and normally, the pair visit several deposition sites before they start mating. Courtship continues at the deposition site where the frogs start a mating "dance" consisting of mutual stroking and cleaning of the surface of the leaves.

Poison frogs' clutch size varies between species from one to 40 eggs per clutch. After the eggs are laid, the male fertilizes the clutch. However, in some species, the male releases his sperm before the eggs are laid.