Ranitomeya prices on

Ranitomeya (also known as Thumbnails) are some of the smallest Poison Dart Frogs in the hobby.  They are mainly found in Peru and Brazil. There is a huge variety of thumbnails and their vibrant, jewel-like colours make them a favourite of most dart frog enthusiasts. They are extremely fast so be sure to keep an eye on them when the vivarium door is open and make sure the vivarium is escape proof.

Ranitomeya are non-obligate egg eaters. The male (occasionally the female) will pick up the hatched tadpoles and take them to a pool in a bromeliad, film canister or some other pool that won't dry up. After the tadpoles are happily in their pools, the male will keep an eye on them and call the female when they should be fed. The female will deposit non fertilized eggs in with the tadpole and they will live off of the eggs, flies that fall in their pools, algae etc. The tadpoles, if healthy and well taken care of, will grow and morph in the deposit site. Once a tadpole has its front and back legs and their tail is gone, or almost gone, the freshly morphed froglet will emerge from it's pond and start to live life outside of the water. OR you could raise the tadpole yourself using a variety of food, which could include tadpole pellets, fish food, and spirulina.

Ranitomeya are great group frogs when young but when they reach maturity many morphs/locales may become territorial and aggressive.  Breeders often separate these frogs and keep only breeding pairs together.  We haven't had too many problems with a group but did have one female vanzolinii that was a bully and we had to remove a male that became very skinny. We nursed him back to health, put him back in the group and we haven't had any further issues. There are some morphs that are happy in groups and do well, even breed in groups, our example are the amazonica Iquitos. 

Some Ranitomeya are very shy and will seldom be seen while others are more bold and fascinating to watch. Some morphs are teeny compared to others as well. 

Vanzolinii do like to be able to hide fast when startled and will tuck into leaf litter and plants to virtually disappear.  When they feel more secure they will come out where they can be seen and climb all over the glass and plants.  

Naturalistic terrariums are best for all dart frogs and the same goes for Ranitomeya. They do spend a lot of time climbing, a taller tank with taller plants and landscaping is preferable but when you consider life in the wild, the difference is really negligible.

Humidity should be kept over 70%, the higher the better, and the more visible they become. Temperature should be kept between 15.5 - 26.6 C, but ideally 22-24C, they are heat sensitive and will die if overheated.

We feed vitamin dusted melanogaster fruit flies and their vivariums are seeded with springtails, which they love to hunt for and eat in the leaf litter. We also add more springtails frequently.

They reach sexual maturity as early as 6 months of age. The male has a relatively loud call that sounds like a cricket chirping. Females usually lay 1 to 4 eggs. They are extremely attentive parents.