The Strawberry Poison-Dart Frog actually gets the toxins secreted by its skin from the diet that it ingests, which produces the toxin during the chemical reactions of its digestion.

Distribution

The Strawberry Poison-dart Frog is found in Southern Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Northern Panama. The Frog, also known as the Blue-jeans Frog, is commonly found in humid lowlands and premontane forests.

Mating & Reproduction

The Blue-jeans Frog or Strawberry Poison-dart Frog is one animal among only a few others that exhibits a strong degree of parental care. Both the mother and the father will take care of their young as a pair. The father can be found watering the tadpoles which the mother normally lays in bromeliad sacs, whereas the mother watches over the eggs and feed a clutch of generally four to six tadpoles over the period of time it takes for the tadpoles to metamorphose.

Behavior

Males in this species of toxic skinned frog are excessively protective of the small areas they consider theirs, but, in contrast, females are quite sociable. Unlike many other frogs and toads found in Costa Rica that are primarily arboreal, these little guys and gals are terrestrial. They can be found in bromeliads and fallen leaves on the forest floor.

The Strawberry Poison-dart Frog or Blue Jeans Frog forages on formicine ants and mites which cause the frogs to become poisonous due to the alkaloid toxins produced from the combination of carbon. The Pumiliotoxin 251D, if ingested by other animals, then results in a disruption in cardiac function, paralysis, convulsions and death. It is best to avoid licking these frogs!

Miscellaneous Info

There are somewhere between fifteen and thirty varieties of Strawberry Poison-dart Frogs or Blue Jeans Frogs in terms of color. Color morphs can vary as much as having green dorsal sections with black spots and white legs with black spots to being entirely strawberry colored. Their variety in color might be attributed to both their diet, their location and the complex gene pools that make up their DNA.

Where to see it in Costa Rica:  Tortuguero National Park, La Selva Biological Station, Rincón de la Vieja Volcano National Park, Arenal Volcano National Park
Diet: formicine ants, mites
Habitat: humid lowlands, premontane forests
Size: length=17.5-22 mm weight=undefined
Species: Oophaga Pumilio