Should I buy a Humidity gauge of some type?

Nope. They are almost all, cheap trash. Do not waste your money. 98% of them - retail sold, are not meant to be inside a humid vivarium, and 80-90% almost constant humidity will cause them to fail and have false readings. Stay away from them.

Use the 'Eyeball and finger" method.

First, make sure you have some standing water in your false bottom. Don't know what a 'false bottom' is? It's the hollow space under your substrate that hold excess water. You need it or your enclosure will be a sloppy wet mess and your plants will die.

When you have some water in your false bottom, you can literally see that there is some degree of humidity inside the enclosure. I like to have between 1 and 3" of water down there at all times.

Won't it get stinky and dank and need changed? Nope. It really doesn't smell. There is a zookeeper in NJ that says it's clean enough and without problems that he will drink false bottom water. Seriously. 

You need to HAND mist your enclosure. Do not buy a silly fogger. They are dangerous, get hot, malfunction, shit the bed after prolonged use and only add SURFACE moisture, not long lasting deeper water humidity.  Foggers are crap just like gauges. 

Initially Spray your whole tank down - everything. Get all the substrate hit with spray. Now, pause and take some dirt (substrate) and ball it up and squeeze it in your fist. Is it too dry? Is it so wet that water pours out. You want MOIST....not wet...not dry.

Same with plants and wood and tank hardscape - moist a couple times a day...never totally dry. The tank should have a lower humidity period - mine gets 50-65% guestimate of course, during the day and 70-90% at night and early morning. You will get good at looking and feeling and judging the humidity. It just takes a little time.

Lastly, make sure you have a GLASS lid. Not saran wrap, not plexiglas...a proper glass lid. Also make sure it's not sealed. Frogs must have airflow or they will die from lack of O2 or evaporative inability - similar but cause by heat plus lack of O2.

You lid should have @ 15-20 percent of it be either holes or screen or some other venting near the front of the tank.

Question: At what age or size should pumilio be kept separate for safety and/or best breeding results

Well, it’s always hard to give EXACT ages, sizes ect, so this answer will be ‘ballpark’ like so many things in this hobby. These animals live and grow at different rates, and what is a big 3-month-old Colon for one person, may seem like a really small frog for someone else. That’s why I really don’t like to quote ages. Now SIZE is a little more useful to qualify.

Newly morphed pumilio inhabit the bottom of the enclosure almost always. They forage in the leaf little and stay on the bottom. The top region of the tank is the domain of the breeding male and female. When the froglets get to be sub adult, the breeding pair may aggressively herd them, possibly physically, to the bottom or even force them to hide under the leaf litter or behind cork or wood features ect. This is why you must separate the young froglets sooner than later. Adults may stress them out and cause them to not feed or have access to humidity gradients and they often die.
Sub adult frogs are almost as big as breeders. They can be introduced to a lone breeder adult. I always caution throwing a ‘third wheel’ into the mix as there is often female on female aggression.

Never put two males together even if the tank is large. Why? There is no need to subject them to stress.
Sometimes a 3rd or even 4th female is ok, and adds to the tadpole raising communally, but this is a lot harder and rare than people imagine. If you already have a good ‘factory’ going with a 1.1 I would almost NEVER chance it by changing thing and adding another female. If it ain’t broke….
So to recap – 1.1 is best, like 90% of ALL dart frog hobby animals. It just is safer and best.

Back to size again. Obviously, you want similar sized animals, but again, if it is just 2 pumilio, then a little larger or smaller is ok….as long as it’s never to males.
There is NO tips or tricks to get the frogs to breed quicker or better – there is NOT. Frogs are like people -sometimes bam…. other times 2 years later, nothing. Nothing can predict this. If you don’t have patience, then this may not be a good hobby for you. Want to know how long I am waiting for a couple different pairs of obligates to breed? Going over two years now! HA. Stick with it and enjoy the hobby and do not get so caught up in the Breed Breed Breed aspect.

Southern Live Oak - small leaves

Magnolia - bigger leaves, so you need less of em.

Sea Grape - large circular and flat. It has it's uses. 


You can use any single leaf ya want...well, some may be aromatic or unsuitable in that regard. The rate that all other leaves will disintegrate is so fast, that it doesn't make sense to even use the effort to collect them, IMO. Leaf little composting is ok for microfauna and soil but you def want some longer laster stuff, hence the live oak and magnolia.

the delicate leaves will decompose really fast and some of that is good - decomp for the clean up crew for instance but you absolutely want some of the tougher waxy leaves like magnolia and live oak that will hang around for a while.

I was wondering if there were any breeders that work with this species.  I’m not looking for any specific color but bright colors are preferred. Im looking to get 3-4 of these frogs.

Are there any sellers of Ameerega ba. in Florida?  Im looking for 2-3 of these frogs

I am setting up a Vivarium for (hope to find) Ranitomeya Fantasica True Nominal frogs. My enclosure is 24"W x 18"D x 36 "T. I am struggling with finding lighting that is appropriate. Suggestions please for something that is not several hundred $$. I do want LED...

By Kimmich - Rarely I see an article so important that I copy it here. This is one.

There are a few different things people mean when they talk about the inevitability of insects and vivs:

1) Fruit flies will escape your cultures and viv. I don't mind seeing a lone wingless fruitfly crawling across the coffee table from time to time - but for some people that is an unacceptable infestation.

2) Moist vivariums will sustain fungus gnats. Depending on your ambient humidity outside the viv, however, you may never see escapees - or you may find them near your sink drains.

2) Fruit fly cultures will attract mites. These are usually harmless species and even commercially-produced cultures have them. Depending on the observer, a normal population of grain mites in a FF culture may be unnoticed or perceived as a chronic infestation. In both cases the FF cultures are actually fine and the mites are not a problem - but people tend to be bug-phobic especially in their homes.

3) Insect introductions and boom/bust population cycles will happen to all vivs. People tend to overreact to these when they occur even though, in most cases, an infestation will disappear on its own without any intervention.

4) A house without a viv will certainly have fewer insects than a house with a viv, all things being equal. For some people, one escaped fruitfly or isopod is too many - those people, or their housemates, are likely the ones posting about insects problems with having vivs.

5) There will be spiders. Anytime there are flies - there will be spiders. 

Looking for a r. imitator "yurimaguas" - female. Looking to purchase or trade for a male. I have 3 calling males up for trade. Thanks

Here is my vivarium. Huge thanks to this sites owner for offering advice and some cuttings.

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I am looking to possibly trade my plants for your Oophaga.  I have been out of the hobby for several years and I am looking to get back in.  This list is a small portion of what we have.  Feel free to ask any questions in the comments or pms if you prefer.  


Monstera

M. Dubia

M. Tuberculata

M. Siltipecana

M. Adensonii (narrow form, round form, soon to have friedrichsthalii, and blanchetii.)
M. Peru
M. Standiliana (green/albo)



Philodendron

P. Brandiatum

P. Scandens (standard/variagata)

P. Hetaracium (green/neon/micans/Brazil/silver stripe)

P. Werneri mini (standand/rotunda)

P. Mini midget
P.
 Burle marx fantasy

(40+ other varieties available however these are the best suited for viv use due to mostly size constraints.)



Raphidophora hayi

Pepperomia frost

Vanilla planifolia variagata

Epipremnum pinnatum “cebu blue”

Purple passion vine

Ficus pumilia variagata

Pothos (not aware of any variety we do not have)



Begonia

b. u093

B. u540

B. u549

B. Immense
60+ varieties of Hoya and many others from these and other mafilies of plants.  We have selected these specifically for their comparability with vivarium.