[fishingguy12345]

I have a freshly morphed Ranitomeya sirensis "Rio Pachitea yellow" froglet that has a deformed leg. The lower section of the rear leg is permanently facing away from the frog.

I feed the adults flightless melanogaster fruit flies, dusted with Repashy calcium plus every feeding except once a month when I use Repashy vitamin A instead. Both supplements are kept in the fridge and replaced every 6 months.

The tadpoles get crushed fish flakes and zoo med tadpole bites.

The frog seems to move around ok in its rearing container.

Thoughts on what could have caused it?
Thoughts on what I should do with the frog, other than continue to observe it?

Here's a picture, how its leg is set in the picture is how it always is set.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

That's pretty severe. Injury perhaps?

I'd personally cull it.

 

[Encyclia]

Sorry, FG. I think stuff like this just happens sometimes. It could be injury, like SM said, or it could be some sort of issue that happened during development. A lot has to go right between egg and froglet. I am a bit surprised it goes right as often as it does. Based on what you write and the fact that I know you know what you are doing, I would treat this as an outlier. If you start to see it repeatedly, it might be something that needs to be addressed. I certainly have some frogs that are prone to problematic breeding. For now, though, I would not making any changes to your husbandry.

Mark

 

[fishingguy12345]

That's pretty severe. Injury perhaps?

I'd personally cull it.

Sorry, FG. I think stuff like this just happens sometimes. It could be injury, like SM said, or it could be some sort of issue that happened during development. A lot has to go right between egg and froglet. I am a bit surprised it goes right as often as it does. Based on what you write and the fact that I know you know what you are doing, I would treat this as an outlier. If you start to see it repeatedly, it might be something that needs to be addressed. I certainly have some frogs that are prone to problematic breeding. For now, though, I would not making any changes to your husbandry.

Mark

Thanks guys.

Culling it is off the table per my wife's instructions, unless it shows difficulty moving around/feeding (which so far is not the case)

I have a spare 12x12x18" terrarium that I'll set up for it. I'll work the hardscape so that the frog can move around easily.

 

[Tijl]

Agree, this is the exception and is not SLS or something like that. Possible injury.

 

[Woodswalker]

There's a frogger local to me who has kept a frog with a very similar deformity for several years, now. It's also a thumbnail, and he keeps it alone. He has a thread about it here on DB. As of March 2017, I inquired and the frog was still doing well, though I have no more recent updates.

From my understanding, deformities of the rear legs are less problematic than those of the front, since the front legs are more critical to aiming when striking at flies. There is a similar observation among dogs with amputations, which I have heard from my own veterinarian and those who work at the shelter where I volunteer; dogs adapt to the loss of rear legs more easily than to the loss of front legs.

So, if you monitor it closely, and keep it in such a way that minimizes its competition for flies, it could do quite well and possibly live a normal lifespan. It would not, in any way, make a good breeding candidate, of course.

 

[fishingguy12345]

There's a frogger local to me who has kept a frog with a very similar deformity for several years, now. It's also a thumbnail, and he keeps it alone. He has a thread about it here on DB. As of March 2017, I inquired and the frog was still doing well, though I have no more recent updates.



From my understanding, deformities of the rear legs are less problematic than those of the front, since the front legs are more critical to aiming when striking at flies. There is a similar observation among dogs with amputations, which I have heard from my own veterinarian and those who work at the shelter where I volunteer; dogs adapt to the loss of rear legs more easily than to the loss of front legs.



So, if you monitor it closely, and keep it in such a way that minimizes its competition for flies, it could do quite well and possibly live a normal lifespan. It would not, in any way, make a good breeding candidate, of course.

Thanks for this and for the link to the old thread.

I'm planning to keep this little guy as a non breeding group, on his lonesome (I say "his" but I call all my frogs males for no real reason), and see how great of a life I can give him.

 

[Kmc]

Recieved an imitator with a malformation - found in a give away tank - thick with deadish plants and a couple inches of muddy water! Little survivor. Teeny tiny super hero.

The deformity sure doesnt get in the way of how careful I have to be opening the doors.

 

[Paskui]

I think is not SLS


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[fishingguy12345]

Recieved an imitator with a malformation - found in a give away tank - thick with deadish plants and a couple inches of muddy water! Little survivor. Teeny tiny super hero.



The deformity sure doesnt get in the way of how careful I have to be opening the doors.

Ya, my malformed little guy moves around more than his sibling who emerged from the water on the same day. I'm hopeful he'll have a long happy life.

 

[Kmc]

Its nice to catch a little guy in a cup of compassion.

 

[fishingguy12345]

Update: the froglet seems to be doing ok. He/she is in their new tank, a 12x12x18" exo terra. The froglet moves around fairly well, actively hunting springtails and fruit flies.

Looks like he's/she's going to make it.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

That's good to hear.

I saw a happy-looking, fast-running three-legged cat a few days ago, and immediately thought of your frog. Animals are pretty resilient.

 

[Woodswalker]

That's really good to hear! I hope he/she continues to thrive.

 

[fishingguy12345]

Update: the froglet didn't make it.

I hadn't seen it in a few days (not unusual since it hides a lot), I went through its tank today and the froglet was on its death bed, I tried an ICU with damp paper towels, but no success, it was too far gone. :-( poor little thing.

 

[Socratic Monologue]

I'm sorry, fishingguy. You did everything possible, it seems. Thanks for updating.

 

[Woodswalker]

Thank you for updating us. I'm sorry you lost your little guy.

 

[Broseph]

Didn't feel right to "like" that post, and we lost the "thank you for the useful post" button. But thanks for updating us on this.

Moving forward, do you think you would advise culling a specimen like this? I've never had to take action to cull a frog before and it would be a tough call to make.

 

[fishingguy12345]

Personal opinion: where there's a reasonable chance the frog can survive, then let it try to survive, do your best to help out along, see what happens.