Golden Poison Frog — Fact Sheet

Phyllobates terribilis · Golden Poison Frog

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• A planted 60 × 45 × 45 cm enclosure offers a practical starting space for a compatible pair; use more floor area for a group.
• Provide multiple feeding and shelter sites and separate a suppressed animal.
• Keep species and locality lines apart.

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Provide 5–8 cm of suitable soil mix above drainage, plentiful broad leaf litter, low cork shelters and pesticide-free plants.
• Keep several open feeding patches without sacrificing cover.
• Remove waste and spoiled food; springtails and other clean-up organisms do not replace sanitation.

💡 Lighting

• Provide 12 hours of diffuse daylight, avoiding direct sun on the glass.
• Plant lights must not overheat the enclosure.
• Low-level UVB can be used only with measured exposure, dense shade and a coordinated supplementation plan; do not place a strong reptile basking lamp over these frogs.

🌡️ Temperature

• Aim for air temperatures of 21–24 °C by day and 18–21 °C at night.
• This is a cool tropical forest animal, not a hot basking reptile.
• Check temperatures at frog level and prepare room cooling before summer.
• Do not use direct ice contact or rapid chilling to correct overheating; a distressed frog needs urgent veterinary advice.

💧 Humidity & water

• Maintain roughly 80–100% humidity with gentle ventilation and damp, drained substrate.
• Allow some leaf surfaces to dry between misting rather than keeping every surface submerged.
• Use amphibian-safe dechlorinated water and keep drainage below the substrate.
• A shallow accessible water dish can be offered; a deep ornamental pool is unnecessary.

🪳 Diet

Staple foods — follow the feeding schedule:

• Feed cultured flightless fruit flies and appropriately small crickets or other safe tiny prey.
• Offer juveniles small meals daily and adults daily or every other day, adjusting to body condition.
• Maintain backup fly cultures before acquiring frogs.
• Choose prey no wider than the space between the eyes; offer smaller items if swallowing looks difficult.

In moderation:

• Offer measured small meals; check that every frog feeds without becoming overweight.

Avoid:

• Pesticide-contaminated food, spoiled leftovers and unverified wild-collected foods.

Supplements:

• Dust meals with an amphibian-appropriate calcium and vitamin programme, including vitamin A and D3 at label-directed intervals.
• Avoid stacking several vitamin products, expired supplements and wild insects.

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Loss of weight, red or ulcerated skin, abnormal posture and refusal of food require an amphibian veterinarian.
• Transfer with a clean container; if necessary use fresh powder-free gloves rinsed with amphibian-safe water.
• Keep secretions away from eyes, mouth and broken skin.
• Suspected exposure to an unknown-origin frog’s toxin needs urgent poison-centre or emergency medical advice.