Poison Frogs - Species - Dendrobates Leucomelas

Discovery	F. Steindachner (1864)
Classification	Dendrobates leucomelas, belongs to the Dendrobates leucornelas group ( also dendrobates auratus and D. truncatus ), genus : dendrobates, Family : dendrobatidae, Order : Anurans, Class : Amphibians
Geography	Venezuela, northern Brazil, Both Guyana's and the south east of Colombia
Biotope	Forest soil, humid stones, wet ( dripping ) tree trunks and roots of rainforest trees, altitude 50 - 800 m above sea level
Care and conditions	Required space is at least 35 liter per specimen, they are best kept in groups of 5 or more. They tend to choose a single mate of these groups and form steady pairs. The temperature should be high, around 26 degrees Celcius during the day. During the night the temperature can drop up to 20 degrees Celsius. Humidity should be high more than 90%.
personal experience	These frogs show up in the lower but also climb all the way to the top of the vivarium, they are relatively slow compared to the Phyllobates Vittatus that i ones had in the vivarium or even the dendrobates auratus. Their body form is somewhat more plump. They tend to rest or relax in the bromelaids which are of course available. In the evening they usually rest ( sleep ) in the lower bromelaid. They are good climbers and also climb the glass walls, but can also jump quite a distance, which is amazing since their legs don't look very powerful in relation to the body structure, but i have seen them jumping 5 - 6 times the length of their body. The size of the specimens in my vivarium is a full grown 4 cm and i have a few smaller one's too. The male specimens can only be recognized by me by their calling behavior, one of the frogs regularly calls for a wife from a hidden position. The sound he makes best resembles a fan with a small paper in it ( a medium to high pitched rattle ). Click here if you want to hear the sound of this beautifull creature again. Below I have finally captured this calling on film, now this is not easy, usually when he starts calling he stops right away when i took my video camera and pointed it at him ( outside the vivarium ). By recording the sound of his call and playing this sound 5 times with hard volume on my computer, he went completely mad and kept on calling. Now i pointed the video camera to him and played the previously recorded sound again. This was to much for him and he forgot about the camera completely calling several times, so that i could take a good shot. The calling normally starts just after the "rain" and can't be missed. The trick with the calling of the male is to find female that show the trouble of finding him, a kind of hard to get game that is usual for these highly developed breeders. The final intention is to get a female in his bower ( what else).
Foto's
Films	Dendrobates leucomelas film, 350 KB, 24/04/01 Start Dendrobates Leucomelas film Male Leucomelas calling Start Dendrobates Leucomelas male calling film ( 2,2 MB !!)

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