[3][4][1] The frog's natural habitats are tropical moist lowland forests, where it has been observed as high as 600 meters above sea level.

[1] The IUCN classifies this frog as least concern of extinction and notes that it has shown some tolerance to habitat disturbance.

[5] The species is relatively common in captivity and regularly bred, but the wild populations are still at risk from illegal collection.

[5] It has been speculated that some morphs were separate species, but genetic testing have revealed virtually no difference between them (including a distinctive variant from Cristalino State Park with a yellow-and-black netted pattern) and the distributions of the morphs do not follow a clear geographic pattern as expected if they were separate species.

One longstanding interpretation is that the bright colors are aposematic, warning predators that the frog will poison them if they attempt to eat it.