14 Aug 03

My name is Jon Fuller, and I've been keeping dart frogs for about ten years now. I'm a dentist in private practice in Moab, Utah, but before that, I spent 13 years in the Air Force, stemming the tide of Communist aggression.......and fixing teeth. The AF afforded me the opportunity to live in Panama from 1980-83, where I volunteered with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, photographing herps, primarily lizards (see pages 50-51 of the Jan. 1983 National Geographic for my photo of a basilisk lizard running--my first picture ever published in a magazine.) It was there that I heard about, and saw, my first PDF -- the black with green spots Canal Zone auratus. I also got to see the Taboga Island morph in the wild when I lived in Panama. In fact, I could see Taboga from my house on Howard AFB.

I currently keep 9 species of dart frogs. All but two of those species have bred in my care (I don't breed them--I let them do that for themselves), and one of those two (imitators from Tor) just started calling after about a year. I probably have the distinction of being the only person to keep tricolors for several years and never have them breed successfully. Oh well. I have, however, successfully drilled several tanks, from 10 gallon to 120 gallon size, for drains, etc, and have built a vertical terrarium with a side-opening door which still hasn't fallen off after a year, so while I can't tell you how to get tricolors to breed, I can give advice on these issues. Also on brushing and flossing.

My first dart frogs I ordered from a guy in Sacramento back in 1993, whose name I can't remember. After sending me my first Hawaiin auratus he proceeded to rip off everyone else who sent him money until he disappeared. My next buy was 6 leucs at a herp show in Dallas from a guy from Miami who, not long after, got himself arrested for smuggling dart frogs from Venezuela. He even got written up in Reptiles for it. After that, I started dealing with somewhat more reputable characters like Chuck Powell, Todd, Tor, Steve, and Anthony Hundt. I've never made it to the IAD meeting, but I've been to Frog Day in San Jose several times and have gotten to know lots of great people there, many of whom are still around on Frognet.

Here's to meeting more of you.

Dr. Jon Fuller
Moab, Utah







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