Red-backed poison frog

The red backed poison frog is a species of poison dart frog known by the scientific name Ranitomeya reticulates. All dart frogs are brightly colored. This frog is one of the smaller species of poison dart frogs that exist today. The red backed poison dart frogs coloring consists of black legs with sky blue or cobalt blue pattering’s on them. Sometimes their spots will collide with another spot and it will make a line. Their backs are usually either a fiery orange color or a scarlet color. The male frogs are usually smaller than the females and have remarkable behavioral characteristics of caring for their offspring.

Body Design


The red backed poison dart frog is one of the smaller species of poison dart frogs that exist today. The feet of this frog are like sucker like disks, so it is very easy to stick to things and hang. They also have very strong feet. The length of the poison dart frog will vary in length. Usually the males are smaller than the females. The male’s length is usually 12 mm from snout to vent and the female is usually 15 mm from snout to vent (the anal opening on the frog). All poison dart frogs are very vividly colored and patterned. Like the red back poison dart frog. Which has black legs with sky blue or cobalt blue pattering’s on them. There belly has the same design as well. Sometimes there spots will colloid with another spot and it will make a line. Their backs are usually either a fiery orange color or a scarlet color. The name of this dart frog matches perfectly with the color on its back. This poison dart frog’s texture is rough, not smooth like some people expect.[]

Life Cycle
In some poison dart frog species the male frog will look after the eggs, and the newly hatched tadpoles. For other ones the female will look after the young.

All frogs including the red backed poison dart frog have remarkable behavioral characteristics of caring for their offspring. When the eggs turn into tadpoles and the mama frog leaves her young. In some dart frog species the mom will come back and bring protein filled eggs for her young. The male frog will take the female frog to an appropriate spot that he picked out to deposit the eggs. The eggs are usually laid on leaves, where the high humidity provides the necessary environment for developing eggs. Once the tadpoles hatch from the eggs they maneuver themselves onto their parents back. The poison dart frog will climb a tree and put a tadpole on a leaf. The tadpoles face some dangers though, in the tree they could get eaten by another tadpole. Or they can get attacked by giant damselflies. They grow up here and leave when they are ready to.

Ecology
The red backed poison dart frog likes moist floors of tropical rain forests and areas in the shade. They like to be near pools or streams, or pretty much anything that has water. They are usually found in central and south America. They have also been located on islands in Hawaii. They were introduced to Hawaii in 1932. They are found in Ecuador, Venezuela, French Guyana, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, Bolivia, and Columbia. Also in Brazil.[]

Poison
There are many kinds of poisonous animals out there one of them is the poison dart frogs. The golden poison dart frog has enough poison to kill up to 10 men. But the red backed poison dart frog has very weak toxins. Its skin secretes pumiliotoxin c which is a less potent version of the poison pumiliotoxins. Pumiliotoxin c interferes with muscle contraction in the heart and the skeletal muscle. Even though this dart frog doesn't have a lot of poison it’s still enough to cause an illness in humans. So stat away from bright color frogs and don’t touch them.

There are three different types of toxins A, B, and C. Toxins work by affecting the calcium channels. Pumiliotoxins is the worst kind of poison in the dart frogs. It causes partial paralysis, having difficulty moving, being hyperactive, and even death sometimes may occur.

Video
BBC: Poison Dart Frogs - Wild Caribbean sfENSyycPQ4