Golden Mantella — Fact Sheet

Mantella aurantiaca · Golden Mantella

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• Indoor, front-opening planted vivarium; at least 45 x 45 x 45 cm for a small compatible group
• 8-10 cm drained soil/leaf-mould substrate with abundant leaf litter
• Secure every drainage gap and cable port against 1 cm froglets
• Avoid fertilised soil, sharp gravel, aromatic wood and exposed drainage media

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Several cork and coconut hides, dense low plants and dark nesting crevices
• Multiple feeding stations and visual barriers between male territories
• Very shallow, easy-exit water dishes; no deep permanent pool
• Cool damp retreat plus partially drier surface leaf litter

💡 Lighting

• Low-output Ferguson Zone 1 UVB recommended; about UVI 0.5-1.0 at the brightest usable point
• Full shade in hides; moderate plant LED only by day
• Replace UVB by measured output or manufacturer schedule
• Photoperiod: gradually vary from 14 h wet season to 10 h cool season

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: No dedicated basking spot

• Warm zone: 18-24 °C

• Cool zone: 15-20 °C in the seasonal cool phase

• Night: 15-20 °C

• Prolonged temperature above 24 °C is unsafe; treat 26 °C as an alarm threshold

• Measure at frog level and within leaf litter; cool the room in summer if necessary

• Avoid under-tank heat and direct sun

💧 Humidity & water

• Wet season: 80-90% RH; cool phase: around 70% without complete drying
• Keep deeper substrate damp but allow surface leaves to dry partially
• Use dechlorinated, temperature-matched water and change dishes daily
• Pair high humidity with cross-ventilation; never maintain stagnant saturated soil

🪱 Diet

Feed regularly:

• Flightless fruit flies, springtails, pinhead crickets and bean beetles

In moderation:

• Tiny roach nymphs and captive-cultured micro-isopods

Avoid:

• Wild-caught insects, oversized prey and fatty larvae as staples

Supplements:

• Gut-load 24-48 h; light plain calcium regularly; amphibian multivitamin usually weekly according to label and UVB

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Gaping, frantic movement or collapse → heat stress; urgent cooling and veterinary help
• Wrinkled skin or weakness → dehydration, heat or failed humid retreat
• Weak limbs or deformity → calcium/UVB/supplement imbalance
• Red skin, ulcers or lethargy → bacterial dermatitis; urgent examination
• Abnormal shedding, weight loss or sudden death → chytrid, ranavirus or parasites
• One thin frog in a feeding group → competition or unequal food access

Consult an amphibian-experienced exotics veterinarian promptly for systemic signs, skin disease or persistent anorexia.