General Information

Dendrobates pumilio is a relatively small species of Dart Frog that occurs on the Caribbean coast of Central America from Nicaragua to Panama, inhabiting lowland rainforests from sea level, to about 950 meters. They have a large range, and are quite common, even abundant throughout most of their range. In some areas, there are frogs everywhere you look. D. pumilio seems to have adapted well to life around humans, and can be found in high numbers around discarded piles of coconut shells or in cacao or banana plantations. Some of the areas they inhabit are relatively hot and dry. The temperature in some areas can get over 90º Fahrenheit, but it is somewhat cooler in the shade of the trees where they reside. Although it appears very dry, it is still very humid. There are no droplets of water dripping from leaves as one might think in a rainforest, and there is a lot of dry leaf litter on the ground, but below the leaf litter it is still pretty moist. In some areas one might look around and think “there is no way there could be frogs here, its too dry”, but once your eyes pick out one of them hopping around, you’ll soon notice them all around you.

Dendrobates pumilio goes about their business here. Males can be heard calling in all directions, sometimes wrestling with other calling males for territory and mates. Their sound is somewhat of a rapid chirp, and is surprisingly loud for such a small frog. The male’s vocal sac inflates like a balloon when he calls, giving his throat a gray discoloration, which is often used to distinguish sex in captive animals. Females will follow the calling males to a site, predetermined by the male, to lay her eggs. This is usually in a secluded place in the leaf litter, or on plants and bromeliads. When the tadpoles of D. pumilio hatch, the female frog allows them to climb onto her back, and she transports them to small, individual pockets of water in bromeliads, coconut shells, seashells, or anything else she finds appropriate. She will return throughout her tadpole’s developmental period and lay infertile eggs in the water to feed them. The tadpoles of D. pumilio are adapted to feed only on the eggs that are laid for food. After about 6 weeks, the froglets emerge, to start the rest of their lives on their own.

There are many different forms of D. pumilio from Nicaragua to Panama. “Standard” forms of D. pumilio come from Nicaragua and Costa Rica. They are, for the most part, red with blue legs, but standard is hardly an appropriate word when it comes to describing this species. D. pumilio has a huge range of colors, and sizes, and even behavior. The bulk of the diversity within this species comes from the Caribbean coast of Panama, and the various islands there, prompting some to speculate whether or not they are all of the same species. We’re not going to get into that here, but whatever the case, the colors you can come across in Panama alone, is nothing short of impressive. You can find Blue, Green, Red, Orange, Yellow, Black & White, Red & White, Orange & White, Green & Yellow, it goes on and on. You can find them with, small spots, large spots, or no spots. On the island of Bastimentos, off the coast of Panama, you can find a whole mix of colors within one population alone.

D. pumilio in captivity

With the large variety of colors, and the interesting behavior of D. pumilio, it’s no wonder why this species of frog is so popular among Dart Frog Hobbyists. In captivity, D. pumilio can have a range of temperaments. Some forms are very shy and some are bold. Some are easier to breed than others. No matter what form you have, they can make excellent captives. Many forms of D. pumilio are represented in the hobby today. There are still “standard” forms that come in wild caught. Wild caught D. pumilio can be hard to acclimate. Most come in extremely stressed, and normal bacteria and parasite loads can take a toll on a stressed animal. If you can get past the first several months of acclimation, D. pumilio are very hardy captives. There are many Hobbyists who have successfully bred some of the forms, so one can now buy captive-bred D. pumilio, where in the past, this was hardly an option.

Captive husbandry of D. pumilio has not been worked to the point that it’s down to a science, but there has been a lot of breeding success, especially in recent years. For the most part, it is still widely thought that the best way to get D. pumilio to breed is to place them in a very large, well-planted terrarium with a lot of bromeliads. Like most things in life, there is more than one way to get them to breed, so my advice is to find out what works best for you, make sure your frogs are cared for properly, that their environmental needs are being met, and let them do what they do best. Parental rearing is still the best way to ensure healthy froglets. Though it is possible to raise the tadpoles without having the female feed them, most methods are lengthy, and have a lower success rate.

In captivity, most D. pumilio will take 6 to 8 weeks to raise their tadpoles. Many hobbyists keep a good portion of their collection in the mid 70º-F range, but D. pumilio prefer it warmer than that, doing better in the lower to mid 80º-F. range. There are hobbyists who have found that raising them in groups work best for them. In general, I have found that pairs have always worked best for me. When D. pumilio breed in captivity, the courtship is the same. Often times the pair will lay their clutches of eggs at the tips of bromeliad leaves, out in the open. D. pumilio, as with other “egg-feeders” will, most often, raise 1 to 3 tadpoles to metamorphosis. Certain forms such as those from Bastimentos, will raise as many as 6 in one cycle. This usually takes 6 – 8 weeks. Froglets of the Bastimentos form can be started right away on true pinhead crickets. Some other forms may need smaller food items when they first emerge, such as springtails. Some individual breeding pairs will continue to breed sporadically while raising tads, but for the most part, breeding activity ceases when there are tadpoles in the water. I find that it is a good indication that froglets are about to emerge, when the calling, courtship, and egg-laying resumes. Froglets usually stay at the edge of the water in the leaf axils until they start feeding. At this time, you can either remove the froglet or raise it with its parents. The froglets don’t seem intimidated by their parents, and they don’t keep the parents from breeding either, so leaving them in should not be a problem. It might be a good idea however, to time their removal with a period when the adults are not rearing tadpoles so that the chaos of removing the froglets does not stop them from continuing their parental duties.

D. pumilio make very interesting captives, and are a joy to watch. Many of the forms are brightly colored and are very active, so despite their small size, are easily seen in the enclosures. Their calls are pleasant to hear, and if you are stealthy enough, they will go through their entire courtship behavior right in front of you. They are easily one of our favorite species to work with.

Thoughts on Bastimentos D. pumilio

It has been a long known fact that D. pumilio that comes from the island of Bastimentos are very diverse in color pattern. The colors range through Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, and even White. Again, there can be large spots, small spots and sometimes, even no spots. For the most part the color on the belly is white, but they can occasionally have some amount of the dorsal coloration on the belly, and even the white of their bellies can range from a clean white, to white with a greenish tinge to it. What was unique about this island is that all of these different colored frogs could be found living side by side. That’s not all, it was found that two “red” parents or any combination for that matter, could produce the range color in their froglets. While this has been part of the reason why Bastimentos frogs have become so well known in the Dart Frog Hobby, there has been some confusion that the entire island produces this entire range of frogs, and this is not the case. While there are sections of the island that has populations of frogs that do exhibit this “range” of color, there are other populations on Bastimentos that produce none of this drastic color diversity. The dominant coloration in these populations seems to be red/orange. As one travels from the western end of the island toward the middle of the island, the frogs only vary slightly in the depth of red, but there was no evidence of the color diversity that the island is famed for. Knowing this, the use of color to depict a form (i.e. Red Bastimentos, Golden Bastimentos, Orange Bastimentos, etc.) in the case of Bastimentos D. pumilio might be misleading. A froglet that would be red in the wild can fade to orange in captivity due to an insufficient diet, but to perpetuate this “line” as a different form of Orange Bastimentos is inaccurate. Since there are differences among the different populations on Bastimentos, it is important to keep the groups intact. If collection, or (at least) import data is available, we should be trying to preserve the integrity of the original group. When there is an importation of frogs, there a better chance that the animals from that single importation share a common collection site, as opposed to animals from many different importations. In the early to mid 90’s Bastimentos pumilio were imported by the hundreds. There are still a number of animals from these importations present in the hobby today. It may not be a good idea to mix these bloodlines with more recent imports. Try to find out as much as you can on the lineage of a group. We feel this would be the best was to maintain the integrity of the different forms, even from a single island. If you have any comments, or questions, we would be glad to hear them. Please e-mail them to  info@pumilio.com