Hi everyone,

I've been a long time fan of dart frogs, but never knew they could be kept as pets until I found out last year. I have not kept any other type of amphibian or reptile since most other amphibians don't really interest me and I'm sure my parents wouldn't want a scary looking lizard or snake in the house!

I have, however, grown up with various basic pets in the house such as gerbils, cats, dogs and small birds such as finches. The only two exotic animals I've had the pleasure of taking care of have been a small parrot we obtained from Mexico named Perica (perica is basically how you would say parrot in Spanish. I was real little at the time and thought that was literally her name. I think she might have been a conure.) and my current, 15 year old Congo African Grey parrot named Solomon.

So far, I've read through many of the threads on this site and love the wealth of information found on here. I originally wanted to later get a pair of cobalt tincs after the vivarium becomes established. However, I have a 12x12x18 exo terra so I would need to probably get something different. I've read that thumbnails would be better suited for this small, vertical enclosure, but I've also read discrepancies between whether they are good beginner frogs or not (especially the imitators). I attempted a search of the forums here and didn't find too much on the topic of imitators being good beginner dart frogs or not.

Any help on this topic? Are there other good beginner frogs that would be good to place in a 12x12x18 vertical enclosure? Also, what does the nominate imitator look like? I tried google, but the pics just show various morphs. :/

Please and thank you

-Kelly

Welcome aboard, Kelly.

Here's some photos of Imitators and others from UE. Ranitomeya imitator | Understory Enterprises

Most of my collection is compiled of larger frogs. Tinctorius, Leucomelas and some Auratus. I do have some Ranitomeya as well. With a tank that size I would only recommend a pair of Imis. They seem to be labeled as intermediate frogs, but I suspect that is more pointed towards breeding them than caring for them, They can also hide well and this can be bothersome to people that are new to the hobby. They are also very fast! If you can get past not seeing them at times, without worrying, I see no reason why they couldn't be a good starter frog for you.

Hi Glenn,

Thank you for the link, info and advice. Those are beautiful frogs! I will do my research based off of constructing a habitat for the imis then.

I'll update when I'm ready to begin working on the viv.

-Kelly

Welcome to DartFrgoz Kelly!