First, dart frogs are still being imported legally. They are protected by Cities, different frogs have different protection levels, but they are still making their way in from the wild. Like any animal wild caught animals tend to be for the advanced hobbist, so if you are considering getting a dart frog stick with the captive born animals.
Regarding if they are poisonous...it depends. The 3 most poisonous species are from the Phyllobates family. In the wild, one frog has enough poison to kill 10 adults!!!! D. Auratus can also be poisonous if they are imported from the wild, but for the most part they will only cause you a little bit of pain. All captive born poison frogs are NOT toxic. It is believed the insects in the wild each poisonous plants. The alkolds in these plants/insects are part of the reason the frog is poisonous. Now, here is the weird part...if the wild diet is reintroduced to a captive born animal, they will not produce the toxins. No one knows why. Most of the other species are toxic - but will not kill you if you touch them.
Mantellas vs Darts - for the most part Darts are larger than mantellas. There are exeptions, I know but most darts are larger exept for thumbnails & pumillos (strawberrys). Their care is different as well. In general, mantellas like it cooler than the darts. I have kept mantellas & darts side by side - loosing all my mantellas to a heat spike where the darts survived it. Mark Staniszewski has a wonder book(s) on them I recommend reading.
Feel free to visit our site
http://www.qualitycaptives.com for some general information, but detailed info can be found at David Doyle's site -
nullDoyle's Dart Den. David has a wealth of information out there and is a good place to start.
Feel free to contact me if anyone has any questions!!
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