PHYLLOBATES BICOLOR

Phyllobates Bicolor is native to Columbia, South America.  In the wild, it is one of the most toxic of all the poison dart frog species.  In fact it is reported that each adult bicolor has, at any given time, enough poison on his body to kill ten men.  However, in captivity the toxin levels are greatly reduced.  It is not known why this is.  One theory is that the frogs' diet in captivity does not contain the alkaloids necessary for the production of the toxins. This species is very outgoing.  In my vivarium they are the first to poke their heads out in the morning, and the last to bed down for the night, spending the majority of the day out in the open areas.  They are mostly terrestrial and have shown a tendency toward being quite territorial. While they do climb and hop around the entire vivarium, they always keep an eye on "their" section of the landscape and will vigorously try to evict any frog that enters it.  As you can see by the photographs, my bicolors are mostly orange/yellow with black legs and underbelly.  They started out quite yellow and have progressively grown more and more orange as time has gone by.   I like them because they're almost entirely fearless.  If I have to readjust a plant or move something in the vivarium, the other frogs will run to some safe spot to hide unitil the activity is over.  The bicolors, by contrast, will stick around to watch the action.  They're like little kids at a construction site, often getting in the way of the work that has to be done. Very cool..