Cupcakes and Dart Frogs


I am adding poison dart frogs to some of my smaller cupcake paintings.

what i have learned about this one so far in the process:

there is such a froggy species as a "strawberry dart frog"

and... that the ants/beetles they will eat for food will make the chemical that is the poison, so dietary changes is how some are kept non-poisonous in captivity i guess? (I have personally never kept one of these type frogs, this is what the Wiki tells me?) but aside from my strawberry frosting on the cupcake as pure coincidence before picking which frog, it reminded me of the beetle shells as an additive in some of the "strawberry flavor" in some food products. or was it peanut butter? or was it.... nevermind. Eating bugs are in now, right?

 I can think of one off the top of my head (not calling it out!) but I am unsure if others may have been exaggerated in the news. I originally did one of these on a record as a "pick your poison" piece, with poison of literal meaning vs poison of indirect sickness like diabetes or cancer, but I am also using dyes in my other paper/mixedmedia pieces from poisonous berries-

So I am looking at working on a series of poison-themed pieces, since poison is not always the same thing for everyone today.

here's a cute video of the frog from National Geographic- the dads carry the tadpoles on their backs!
-Strawberry Dart Frog video (click me!)

and detail shot of piece- still need to varnish and add a few things. it's very small but the other one is larger.
"Strawberry Frosting"
by Amanda Christine Shelton
detail shot
Stay tuned for more of these and have a good week! >_>



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