The other day, Eddie saw a green and black poison dart frog not far from our house when he was taking out our compost.  He told me about it when he came back for my camera to take a photo of it.  We saw our little green and black friend again very early the following morning.  Eddie opened our front door and he was sitting right there.  As we were admiring him, I turned to Eddie and said, “I hope he doesn’t hop into the house.”  The words were barely out of my mouth when the dart frog hopped into the house!  At first Eddie tried directing him toward the door with a pair of flip-flops, but the little dart frog was too fast.  Remembering that this cute little frog that looks like a child’s toy was poisonous, I put on my heavy duty rubber gloves to protect my hands.  We had a time trying to catch this little guy; he was a quick hopper!  Eddie lifted the sofa and big chairs so that I could look under them.  Finally, Eddie managed to chase our pretty dart frog out from behind the desk and I caught him between my hands mid-hop!  I ran outside quickly and put him on top of the grass next to our house.  (He was so light and my rubber gloves are thick, so I wasn’t positive that I had really captured him until I released him.)  Since I had just gotten out of bed and still in my nightgown, I wouldn’t let Eddie take a picture of me, but he took several photos of our tiny friend.

The following is some basic information about the green and black dart frog that you might find interesting:  Dendrobates auratus, also known as the green and black poison dart frog or green and black poison arrow frog, and sometimes mint poison frog is brightly colored and has many variants.  Most of them are black and either green or light blue with the black in bands or spots.  The green and black dart frog is the largest poison dart frog in Costa Rica.  The average adult is about an inch and a half long.  According to National Geographic, the green and black poison frog, while not the most toxic poison dart frog, is still a highly toxic animal.  The very small amount of poison the frog possesses throughout the surface of its body is still enough to make a human ill.  Like most poison dart frogs, the green and black poison dart frog will only release its poison if it feels threatened.  As with all poison dart frogs, the green and black frog is not poisonous in captivity.  Scientists suspect this is due to a change in diet.  A fun fact:  Poison dart frogs are so named because some Amerindian tribes used the secretions from the frogs to poison the tips of their darts.