Joe
As one of the concerned, where exactly were you looking?

Curious about the dart frog - how does the poison aspect work? I see that you're able to pick it up without having a reaction. Does the toxin have to enter your blood stream to be effective? Or do you have to lick it?! My husband and I were wondering about it when we saw them in Tortuguero.

Linda, not to alarm you, but snakes are everywhere at bosque. Most people walk right past them and never see them. They are nothing to fear.

Volcanogirl, dart frogs consume ants and beetles that have toxic alkaloids in them and the frogs concentrate and store these substances in their skin. The dart frogs from central america are not toxic enough to poison you merely by handling them and you'd have to consume one to get sick. In Colombia there are dart frogs that are so potent that merely handling them can mess you up. Typically the salts, oils and bug spray on your hands will hurt the dart frog much more than its secretions will hurt you!

Your pictures are wonderful!!! The colors are really vibrant - thank you so much for posting! Looks like a successful trip!

VG - our guide at Selva Verde told us that the only way you would have problems holding poison dart frogs was if you had an open cut on your hand and the secretions from the frog enter your bloodstream via the cut.

Okay, makes sense - thanks for the explanations. Nothing to fear in little froggies.

To add to what colibri said - It's important to wash your hands afterward. Serious badness if you get in your mouth, eyes, etc. Yuck.

Point is, vgirl, don't go around licking frogs. ;-)

I think you pretty well summed it up Virgo! ha ha...

Yes, I will cross that off my to-do list - hee, hee!!

OK Joe, I just went through your photos again (which are still quite impressive). I have to know how you saw so many frogs during the daylight hours. Also, where did you find the dart frogs? They have been hard to come by from what I here. A

Thanks again Alan. BTW, are you friends with Kim the owner's parents? I think I had dinner with them and they were talking about you. Sorry if I have you confused with someone else. Ok, regarding the frogs... well I saw so many during the day because I know how to look for them ;-) The "fieldherper" part of my user name refers to someone who goes out looking for reptiles and amphibians in the wild. So, like a bird watcher or a fisherman knows how to find his quarry, I know how to find mine. If it's frogs you're after that's no problem... To find the nocturnals durning the day sift through some of the hyacinths that are floating in the pond. Also look on the undersides of the broad-leafed vegetation around the pond and creeks. Also, you know those big dried out leaves that are laying all around the pond and among the hyacinths? Crack open the curled up sections of those (especially from the leaves that are laying in the aquatic plants out in the pond) and you'll find various little frogs. For the diurnal stuff like the dart frogs and some other little mystery frogs i saw and still haven't identified, you can find them just hopping about during the day. The black and green darts were very common among the leaf little along the trails, even far from water. The Gulfo Dulce Dart frog was fond under a rotting lot that I turned over near the creek on the pacific beach side. I also "flipped" a few weird little frogs under stones along that creek during the day. Hope that helps!! Are you going back soon?

We walked right past some dart frogs in the leaf litter at BdC and only stopped when a photographer there leaned way down to take some pictures.

I saw lots of dart frogs on the beginning of the Gulce Dulce Trail in February without even looking.... :)

Thanks for the tips Joe. I have been a little tentative to turn things over for fear of hurting something or worse yet uncovering something I don't want to find (The Fer De Lance is probably the only thing I wouldn't want to find). Next time, I will look a little harder because I love the dart frogs and tree frogs.

Based on your comments and the subsequent ones by Volcanogirl and Cattail, it seems like the dart frogs may be making a comeback. We only saw 2 our whole trip last year.

We are off to Belize this summer (Chan Chich) but hope to return to Costa Rica in 2011.

Yes, I struck up a friendship with Kim's Mom. She's starting to get into photography and doing quite nicely. Plus, they visit BDC at least once if not twice a year so I get to hear the stories. I am still waiting to hear how her recent trip was.

Ok that's right, you had said you were going to Belize.

Regarding those dart frogs, I can't speak of previous numbers, but current numbers are high on the pacific trail, gulfo dulce trail and the trail from garden area to main grounds. They were literally hopping all over the place. The Phyllobates vittatus is always in lower numbers i believe.

This sounds rather ridiculous, but I actually packed and brought disposable latex gloves with me down there so i could gently handle and pose the frogs without the salts and skin secretions irritating them. The pic with the dart frog on my hand was an unexpected encounter on our first walk down the pacific trail. The little guy hopped right over.

Do be careful of ye ole Bothrops asper... in Belize too.

The most we've ever seen were in Tortuguero. There were so many of the strawberry/blue jean frogs on the trails that we literally had to watch every step to avoid stepping on them. CO, does the weather affect how many you'll see? It was really wet in Tortuguero when we were there. We wondered if they tend to come out more in the rain or when the ground is wet.

So glad you had a successful trip and I LOVE your photos!!! I obviously will not show them to my daughters (19 & 24 yrs) until we return from our trip to BdC in July!! LOL! :)

I take that last comment back. I will show my girls the 2nd set up photos before the trip and the snake pictures when we return. :) Again, all your photos are amazing!

Thanks very much for the compliments on the photos Susie. I hope you have a blast on your trip!

Volcanogirl, I don't have any personal experience with D. pumilio, but as a rule temperatures and moisture affect the activity of reptiles and amphibians. You're probably right about seeing them out more when it's wet. Excessively hot and dry conditions tend to inhibit amphibian (and reptile) activity. One night at Bosque it rained really hard and the next day the dart frogs were really out in force!

Hi Joe,

Love your photos, I too am a reptile enthusiast and seeing your photos makes our trip in June to Bosque del Cabo seem that much closer!

If you could email me I have a few questions about the locations you found some of the snakes (as that's what I will be seeking out).

Thanks a ton,
Ryan

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