Reptile Forum, Reptile Classifieds - CaptiveBred

loulou

"Poison frogs of Central America acquire their toxic arsenal by extracting it from the mites they eat - not by synthesising it themselves, a new study reveals."

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11855-mites-give-poison-frogs-their-toxic-might.html

davo · Posted: Thu May 17, 2007 4:23 pm Post subject:

i always thought they got it from their food (although i think i was under the impression it was ants Rolling Eyes

).

negri · CaptiveBred Addict! Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 585

yea i was under the impression that the got their toxicity from there diet

thats why captive bred ones arent so bad as they dont eat the same toxic food
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christophermchale · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 3:26 pm Post subject:

im 100% its from a certain type of ant.

i remember a show i went to a few years back there was a guy who had imported and bred a bunch of these ants and was selling them to make your frogs toxic again.

personally i dont see the point in captivity, but to each their own.

i do happen to think dart frogs are rad i just wish they were way bigger, like bullfrog size.
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MJ · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 4:15 pm Post subject:

The old knowledge was that it comes from ants and other insects that make up the frogs natural diet.... not actually from the ants themselves but via transferance of the alkaloids in the plant material the ants and other insect have ingested.
I think it's hilarious people actually fell for such a croch of sh!t Laughing

it's a cool study for sure Cool

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negri · CaptiveBred Addict! Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 585

MJ · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:36 pm Post subject:

OK I'll try to explain it....

in thier natural habitat there are some plants (most) that have high alcoloid (sp?) content, which are eaten by inverts that are then eaten by a dart frog.... the frogs system the takes out the alcoloid content and turns it into poisen. (I hope thta makes sense I just got home from a night out so I may need to edit this later Laughing

)

so........

Plant contains alcoloids----- ant eats the plant so the ant contains a high alcoloid count----- frog eats and and then synthasizes (spelling is way of sorry) the alcoloid content of that ant into poison, thats how captive frogs are harmless.
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For all your Tropical plant and Naturalistic Vivarium needs please enjoy Urban Bromeliad

MJ · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 2:57 pm Post subject:

oh ad to clarify this

negri · CaptiveBred Addict! Joined: 05 Jun 2006 Posts: 585

FrogGirl · Posted: Tue Jan 29, 2008 12:27 pm Post subject:

So does this mean that frogs like poison dart frogs aren't actually poisonous in captivity?
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