Creating Connections With Nature

Josh’s Frogs is driven by our main mission and that is bringing nature into people's homes by doing everything we can to strengthen that connection. We strive to bring our customers the best products, the most accurate and helpful information, and the strongest customer support for the easiest ways to bring glass boxes filled with natural wonder and so much more into their home.

Consequently, we feel very strongly about conservation and work hard to ensure that we are responsible in what we do. Conservation through commercialization is the theory we live by. By producing healthy, captive-bred animals and making them available to the pet trade, we can help reduce or eliminate demand for their wild-caught counterparts. This allows wild animals to stay where they belong - in the wild!

Dan's Azureus

Along with many other programs we support and donate to, our staff engages in outreaches to schools, tours within our facility, and many other activities that promote the spread of accurate information to not just our customers, but to amphibian lovers worldwide. These are great ways to promote education. But we want to do one better!

We are opening up an old project we lovingly call ""Dan’s Azureus"". Several years ago, a long-time customer of ours named Dan took a job that required him to travel a lot. As a result, he passed on his pair of Dendrobates tinctorius 'Azureus' Dart Frogs to his retired mother, who had quite a bit of success breeding them. Dan would stop by Josh's Frogs every couple of months to pick up fruit flies and supplies and to drop off any Azureus froglets that had come out of the water since his last visit. After Dan passed away unexpectedly due to cancer, we continued to provide flies to his mother and decided to offer any offspring from Dan's breeding pair of frogs free of charge to teachers. Since then, we've had other contributors donate to this cause as well!

This project is meant to provide classrooms with an Azureus Dart Frog free of charge. We strongly believe that even a seemingly small gift of just one dart frog in one classroom can change hundreds or even thousands of children’s lives. So many people have become disconnected with nature, so we want to start that re-connection early on! As further incentive, we're also providing these teachers with 20% off supplies to get their vivarium set up correctly.

Qualifications

In order to qualify, a teacher must contact us from a school email, and provide pictures of a properly set-up and complete Dart Frog Vivarium. The vivarium must meet all requirements for Dart Frogs to thrive in. Once the vivarium is verified by our animal experts to be set up properly, the teacher will be qualified to order a Dan’s Azureus through our customer service representatives. In order to ensure the effectiveness of this program, we ask that teachers with other class pets refrain from using this program to allow more classrooms to build a new connection with nature.

The frogs that are used from this program are provided from generous contributions from the dart frog community. Each frog is brought into our facility, quarantined for 3 months, tested for diseases and then cared for until the proper classroom vivarium is ready.

We are very excited to have the Dan’s Azureus Project back in motion! If you would like to get involved with this project email us from your school email address at [email protected].

Dan's Azureus Official Rules

1. Only one Dan’s Azureus frog will be donated per classroom.
2. Applicants must be teachers with physical classrooms and the intention of setting up the vivarium in the classroom. This will be verified via email from a school account. Supplies needed to set up these vivariums will be provided at 20% off.
3. Teacher must provide proof of proper habitat for dart frogs and general competence for care to [email protected].
4. Teacher must provide payment for FedEx Priority Overnight animal shipping ($39.99 flat rate).

Steps To Success

Step #1: Research

We have a ton of information in the ‘Blog’ section of our website as well as an extensive collection of YouTube tutorial videos via our YouTube Channel. This includes general care, set-up, and a wealth of other information. The blogs listed below are great places to start. If you have any questions along the way you can contact us for additional information or clarification. Simply email [email protected].

• How to Keep Dart Frogs in a Classroom
• Care Information for Dendrobates tinctorius
• How to Keep Dart Frogs as Pets
• Things to think about before you commit to Dart Frogs

Step #2: Be Sure You're Prepared

Although simple to care for once their vivarium is set up, dart frogs are still a commitment. Do you have the 15-20 minutes a week it’ll take to attend to your frog? Are you willing to transport the frog home when school is out of session for the Summer months? Can you guarantee that your classroom will stay at dart frog safe temperatures (65-80° Fahrenheit)?

Step #3: Build The Vivarium

We have kits on our website that come with everything you need to build a fantastic and engaging environment for Dart Frogs to thrive in. If you purchase the kit through us, you are eligible for 20% off supplies. Simply call our customer service representatives at 1 (800) 691-8178 to reserve your Dan's Azureus and place your order.

It's not necessary to purchase your kit though us, but you will still need provide us with proof of your fully set up and ready-to-go vivarium by emailing pictures and a description to [email protected]. In an effort to protect the animals we care about so much, Josh’s Frogs reserves the right to reject any request for a Dan’s Azureus frog at any time. If your request is rejected, we will work with you on how to improve your environment to ensure the frogs are placed in a good home. Once accepted, the first available animal will be chosen for your classroom.

Step #4: Wait For Froggy

Now that your vivarium is set up, you're ready for your froggy! Live animals are only shipped via FedEx Priority Overnight and we always check the temperature in your area. If the temperature is too hot or too cold, the frogs may not be able to be shipped. Sometimes when temperatures are close to being too hot or too cold, we require the package to be picked up at a FedEx facility in order to reduce the time they are traveling in trucks that are not temperature controlled. For our full frog shipping policies, please read our Live Arrival Guarantee.

Step #5: Add Your Frog To The Vivarium

As with any new animal, the first few weeks are filled with new experiences. It’s perfectly normal for the frog to exhibit ""escape behavior"". This includes climbing everywhere as a result of trying to get back to its prior home, etc. Typically, this will last for a few weeks, followed by a period of hiding. Feeding the animal and performing general maintenance can take some getting used to. As always, we are here to help you every step of the way! Simply refer to our blogs or videos or shoot us a call or email with any questions you might have.