# Frogs & Toads > Mantella & Other Mantellidae > General Discussion >  Mantella questions

## AbranV

I've been doing a lot of research lately on various darts and pacmans. During all of this, mantellas never really crossed my mind, but I saw some the other day and it got me curious.

I made it back to the store and got a pic or two. The store had little to no info on the type of mantella these are. Any thoughts?

Also, I just read a post mentioning how difficult these guys are to keep. Why is that so?

Thanks again for all the help

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## bill

They are most likely M. ebenaui. They were my fist mantella. They are relatively hardy. Great frogs. Mine were bold and active, but Paul's were very secretive. 

They are more of a challenge to breed that darts. They need to be cycled through seasons, much like a tree frog. In my experience, they are much more sensitive to temps. They are also most likely wc frogs, which poses another challenge. My 4 M. baroni I had were wc and just never seemed to acclimate.  :Frown: 

That being said, remember, they were just my experiences. Josh (mantellaguy) is truly tops in the field when it comes to them and hopefully he'll pop in and offer better advice than I can.  :Smile: 


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

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## Paul

Mantella are great frogs, but are typically not as bold as some of the species that can be found in the dendrobates family. They are beautiful in their own way and require different type of Vivariums and care. They are much more sensitive to temps than Dendrobates. I recently lost my 5 Mantella Ebenaui because of a rapid drop in temp this winter. 

Bill is right Mantellaguy is the best person to offer advice and tips for you.

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## AbranV

Thanks guys, I've downloaded Mantellas Guy's articles, I just need to see if I can open them.

As far as their temperature sensitivity is concerned. Is it because of a small temperature window? Or do they not adapt/adjust quick enough to a rapid temp change?

On a side note, how do heat your vivariums? I've been experimenting with an aquarium heater and its trickier than anticipated. Right now I'm sitting at 73&#176; and 87% humidity. That's with nothing in the tank but the background and false bottom. Will the addition of substrate and plants help retain heat? 

Thanks again for the help.

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## Paul

I currently heat all my tanks through ambient room temp in the frog room. I control the temp through a combination of a space heater and heat cables running under the tanks. In the past I heated all my tanks with aquatic heaters and it works beautifully. Soil and plants will help keep the humidity up more. The temp of your tank will be affected by the ambient temp outside the tank as the heat radiating off the water fights the coolness of the vivarium glass. I did find that I had to set my Aquatic heaters a few degrees higher than I wanted to keep the Viv temp where I wanted.

Mantella are very sensative to cold temps. They do not handle dips below 68. We had winter lows hit us that were well below 0 for several weeks and overnight my space heater couldnt keep up and all my vivariums dipped into the mid 60's. I caught the dip at midnight and placed a 2nd space heater in the room and wrapped my shelves in blankets. All my other frogs are fine, but the next morning I found my group of 5 Ebenaui and they had not made it. 

Another trick (I picked up from Lynn) is that I now have an Aquatic heater in my 5 gallon reservoir for my misting system. This removes in temperature dips that misting with room temp or cooler water might cause.

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