Phyllobates vittatus are a really cool frog. We really like all of the Phyllobates species, they are usually very bold and active frogs Vittatus do not get as big as terribillis or bicolors but they have just as much personality and nice call. There are 2 commonly available color morphs: copper banded or thin lined (pictured here) and the yellow banded. We believe that these are another ideal beginner dart frog, but they are not comonly available. P. vittatus are not fussy eaters and accept a large variety of foods, and some large food items. . Another point for the beginning frogger is that most P. vittatus rarely hide, but ours do, so the frogs are easily observed even in a well-planted terrarium. We keep our P. vittatus in a well planted vivarium with a lot of leaf litter.

Phyllobates vittatus are fairly prolific egg layers, once they get started. The eggs are usually laid in a coco hut or similar bower. We leave the eggs in the enclosure for at least 24 hours after finding them to make sure that they are fertilized. The hatch rate for P. vittatus eggs is usually good. We raise our tadpoles communally in a critter keeper or Rubbermaid container that is filtered with a small sponge type air filter. There are pathos and aquatic plants in the rearing enclosure. Tads are fed a mixture of spirulina, chlorella, stinging nettle and bee pollen (2:2:1:1), we also feed "Aquarian" fish food about once a week. After the rear legs develop we expose the tads to UVB lighting daily. They morph out fairly large and are fed Drosophila melanogaster that are dusted daily with Repcal. We also dust several times a weekwith Herptivite. We follow this dusting regime with our adult frogs too. The frogs reach maturity in 12-15 months.

Our frogs are young and old, but they are healthy and great eaters.

P, vittatus can be kept in groups and we have witnessed no agression between animals.

We also supplement our vittatus with paprika to enhance the red color of the stripes

Summation:
Size- 24 - 34 mm, females are slightly larger than males
Care- Easy to care for
Food- all types of fruit flies, small- medium crickets, waxworms, confused flowerbeetle larvae, termites, field sweeping
Eggs and Tads- large clutches, tads are omnivorous and can be kept communally
Temperature- 70°-80°