[jbates]

I was upset, but not entirely surprised, when the weakest member of the trio I purchased died a few days ago. If you've read my previous posts, that frog was the one that "feigned" death on a previous occasion. He was rather spindly when I bought him, but they were sold as a trio and, as I'm sure you know, it's very difficult to pass up a deal on thumbnail darts.

Now, *another* frog appears to be losing weight. He's still quite active, but is a really lousy hunter. I make sure that food is constantly available, but this frog doesn't seem to be able to capture flies very well at all. He'll lunge at them enthusiastically, but he always seems to miss!

The pair is housed in a large Rubbermaid container while their terrarium is under construction. There is plenty of leaf litter and hide spots. The temps are 78-81 during the day, with a drop to 72 at night. I'm feeding D. melanogaster dusted with Dendrocare and RepCal w/D3.

My other D. fantasticus is "fat and happy," but I can't bear to lose another one! Any suggestions for long term strategy / triage for the little guy would be most appreciated.

-John

 

[Guest]

Have you tried putting a piece of rotten fruit in their 'cage'? I usually use a slice of almost rotten banana. The fruit flies congregate and it makes it a lot easier for the frog to find and devour them.
Good luck!!

 

[Guest]

did you send you a fecal to Dr frye? are they youngin's? make sure they got a little water dish to help them out and some folks on frognet were loosing frogs to what they thought might have been dendrocare. Just some idea's that poped in my head first thing in the mornig. I sorry you lost one and hope you don't loose the others.

 

[tkavan01]

I know exactly what you mean by "He'll lunge at them enthusiastically, but he always seems to miss!" I had 2 frogs that did that, one passed away, the second is just barely hangin on, as suggested by people here I place him in a 32 Oz deli cup with a paper towel in the bottom with pedia light in it, and a bunch of flies, while his aim is not any better he usually is able to get a few of them before he wears out, i do this twice a day, and i usually see him catch at least five flies before he tires out, and then i put him back in his rubbermaid shoebox, which also has ff's crawlig around too...

 

[Guest]

At IAD this was brought up in one of the lechers. I was not on dartfrogs but it was on the Wyoming toad ..i think? Any ways they called it short tong syndrome and they had thought that it was from a lack of vitamin A. So maybe this could be it?
Brian

 

[benmz]

I don't think vit A deficiency is a culprit. Dendrocare has some, in fact some people think it has too much. I would definatley contact Dr. Frye. Also try to give him/her a more fattening food source such as termites, flour beetle larvae, waxworms or even fruit fly larvae (although the ff larvae seem to be hard to get them to stick to the tongue and may tire the poor thing out faster).

 

[jbates]

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone.

I'm going to buy two smaller Rubbermaid containers tonight and separate the frogs. The cages will be a bit more sparse, with a paper towel substrate. If nothing else, I'll be able to monitor their feeding more closely and collect a fecal, if possible.

I've heard about issues with Dendrocare as well. I've got some Herptivite at home, and I'm going to switch back to that, for fear of exacerbating whatever problem the little guy has. Perhaps I'll try the Pedialyte soaks, as well.

This is extremely frustrating! I lost one of my juvenile azureus many months ago to a similar problem. I feared I'd lose another, but he began eating more effectively after a temporary separation from the other frogs. In fact, he just fathered a clutch of eggs!

-John

 

[kyle1745]

I would get a fecal off to Dr. Frye ASAP, sounds like you could have something in your collection...

Thanks very much for the advice, everyone.

I'm going to buy two smaller Rubbermaid containers tonight and separate the frogs. The cages will be a bit more sparse, with a paper towel substrate. If nothing else, I'll be able to monitor their feeding more closely and collect a fecal, if possible.

I've heard about issues with Dendrocare as well. I've got some Herptivite at home, and I'm going to switch back to that, for fear of exacerbating whatever problem the little guy has. Perhaps I'll try the Pedialyte soaks, as well.

This is extremely frustrating! I lost one of my juvenile azureus many months ago to a similar problem. I feared I'd lose another, but he began eating more effectively after a temporary separation from the other frogs. In fact, he just fathered a clutch of eggs!

-John