Feeders 

POTENTIAL BASE / MAIN FEEDERS:

• Flightless fruit flies (D. melanogaster 'Wingless', 'Flightless', 'Turkish Glider'; D. hydei 'Black/standard', and 'Golden').  Also referred to as ff (fruit flies), or fff (flightless fruit flies). 

Fruit flies are the staple in the hobby because they are a great size, soft-bodied, easy and cheap to culture, and readily eaten. It would have been very difficult for froggers to be able to keep so many frogs without such a good and stable feeder.

A good walkthrough on how to culture fruit flies can be found here:
Fruitfly Cultures - Creation & Pests

• Wingless melanogaster fruit flies are the smallest, with no ability to grow wings (outside of genetic contamination). They only crawl and cannot jump/glide. An embarrassment to their species, perhaps they should be called "fruit walks" instead ;) 

• Flightless melanogaster fruit flies are the most common in the hobby, until wingless takes their place that is.  Flightless do have wings, but they are misshapen and cannot fly or glide. Their flight ability is based on a temperature-dependent protein that will fold correctly and produce flying wings if the fruit flies are kept too warm during the pupae stage. To make sure this doesn't occur, keep the cultures in a cool area, in the 70s*F (21-26*C). 

• Turkish Glider melanogaster fruit flies are very fast producers, outpacing wingless and flightless. They have semi-functional wings and can hop and glide. Some people love them for their reproduction speed and active movement, making the frogs chase them down a bit more. Some find them a bother and difficult to control.

• Hydei fruit flies are about twice the size of melanogaster and require a bit more media to produce a boom. Comparing to melanogaster, they take a few days more to produce, and are more of a boom-bust culture. They produce a lot at one time, hatch from pupae all at once, and if not split quickly enough they can die sooner than if used. They can be helpful though for filling the bellies of larger frogs such as D. tinctorius, Phyllobates, and Ameerega.  

• Firebrats (Thermobia domestica) [not to be confused with Silverfish (Lepisma saccharinum).

Firebrats are readily accepted by all dart species, assuming feeder size is accounted for. A colony can be time consuming to establish as the firebrats must grow 6-8 months before able to reproduce. A high-heat area 80-100*F (26.7-37.8*C) is best for reproduction and can be achieved by a heat mat. Once the colony is established, they make for a good back-up or occasional feeder.
These are not yet established in the USA as a base feeder. More of an oddity in USA, but across the pond in Europe they are more common and are a valued feeder for microgeckos.

• Pea aphids (not currently established in USA)

Pea aphids have not taken off in the USA as of this writing, though there have been a few attempts by various keepers over the years. It is currently thought that the species tried in the USA are not the same as what is readily available across the pond, or perhaps it is simply many missteps in colony management. Pea aphids are raised on various species of pea shoots such as black-eyed pea. They must have a consistent, stable source of new pea shoots or risk dying out. They are readily eaten by most species and do not become pests to the vivarium plants.

• Pinhead crickets 

Pinhead crickets are crickets <2 weeks from hatching. Usually they are sold a little older than that also, but they are markedly smaller than crickets one can get at most pet stores. They are good feeders when they are tiny, but they do have risk of growing up and biting the frogs, scarring their skin. 

SUPPLEMENT FEEDERS / TREATS:

• Springtails

Springtails are extremely tiny creatures that are recommended adding to the vivarium upon creating. For many species of froglets they are very important feeder, bridging the size gap before the froglets can eat small fruit flies. 

• Isopods

Isopods are often recommended adding to the vivarium upon creating. They eat dying plants, leaves, detritus, even dead animals. Many of the larger species will eat live plants, moss, and have potential of biting and scaring dart frog skin. Dwarf isopods are the best option for dart frogs. The young and subadults are easily eaten, and they are good producers. Dwarf Whites, Dwarf Purple, Dwarf Grey, and Florida Fast isopods are all considered dwarf. 

• Flour beetle larvae

Flour beetle adults are distasteful to dart frogs. Culturing them is as easy using flour as their base. Harvesting can be a bit irritating, but using a small sifter makes it easier. Put the larvae + adults into a glass bowl with a paper towel tube/cardboard in it. the adults can climb on the cardboard, but the larvae will remain in the dish.  

• Bean beetles / Bean weevils 

The bean beetle is technically a type of weevil, and both names are used. These are high in chitin and are associated with prolapse in young frogs or when fed too many at a time. They are incredibly easy to culture and can make a good variation in diet, provided fed to adults and not too many at a time.

• Micro roaches

Micro roaches such as Schwarzi hooded roach (Compsodes schwarzi) and the Malaysian Micro Roach (Nocticola sp. Malaysia) are both tiny, soft-bodied roaches that have been cultured to supplement feedings to small frogs such as Oophaga, Ranitomeya, and Mantella froglets. They are fairly slow to produce, which is why they are not included as a potential base feeder. They could make a good addition to increase diet variability.

• Termites

Termites are very fatty and great for boosting calories and putting fat on thin darts. Termites are not established as colonies available for sell. The idea of keeping them much like ant colonies has some interest but has not established itself as anything other than an offshoot discussion. Wild harvest is still the main source of gathering. A good collection tactic is to drill many holes in a large PVC tube, fill the tube with rolled up cardboard, pour water into the PVC to wet it, cap the PVC tube, and bury it into the ground. It might take a few weeks for termites to find it, but afterwards should provide a stable harvest source. 

• Wax worms

Wax worms are very fatty and should be treated as termites - too fatty for a base food. Xsmall wax worms are taken by adult Dendrobates and other such sized darts, whereas the larger can be eaten by Phyllobates and Ameerega. Stupidly easy to culture, a plastic bin with a cheerio-honey mixture and wax paper is all that is needed. Harvest process can be time consuming, and an older culture's smell is unpleasant.

• Mantid hatchlings

Chinese mantids are an established invasive in the United States and their eggs (ootheca) are easily identified especially in winter. These can be set in the enclosure and allowed to hatch as a feast for larger frogs such as Phyllobates and Ameerega. For smaller frogs such as D. leucomelas, or if you are unsure of their safety, best to hatch them separately and try offering them a few at a time. If you are housing micro geckos in the same tank as the frogs, they will readily pick off whatever the dart frogs do not/cannot eat. Mantid hatchlings are certainly not for smaller frogs such as Oophaga pumilio, Ranitomeya, or Mantella froglets. You don't want them growing up and becoming a predator of the frogs themselves, so caution is advised until sure that they will be eaten.