[nataliebradt]

So a year and a half ago, I got three d. auratus, they live in a 24x18x18 medium wide exo-terra fully planted, drainage layer and all that terrarium. I had 2 males and 1 female. One of the boys was always really skinny, but he started getting skinnier and skinnier and recently passed away. I'm not sure what the problem was, he seemed to be eating as much as the other two...
So they have always been fairly shy, and in the past few months they've started getting bolder, and coming out for short hops if people were standing there as well as eating in front of us more. But since the little guy passed, the remaining two have been way bolder! They go for hops all around, they sit out in their puddle, and are basically out all the time. Is it weird that they are happier with just the two of them? Should I only have gotten two to begin with? I never saw any aggression, but could that have been happening, and been part of the problem with the little guy?

 

[Tijl]

Tanks size, dominance among sexes.. could
be lot's of different reasons. I always recommend keeping frogs in pairs so you eliminatie stuff like rivalry and dominance..

Could be your light losing strength aswell.. you'll probably never know for sure

 

[bssknox]

Even though Auratus are "good group frogs" it doesn't eliminate bullying/struggle for dominance. Not to say that's what caused your male to die with 100% accuracy, but it's a decent chance.

I have had similar cases with other "group frogs" such as my Terribilis and Leucs. I had to remove certain frogs to prevent their demise.

 

[minorhero]

Another possibility is time. If your frogs were young when you got them they might simply have matured to a point where they are bold. My next viv will be auratus and all my research says that they are bolder when mature vs when young.

 

[Johanovich]

Another possibility is time. If your frogs were young when you got them they might simply have matured to a point where they are bold. My next viv will be auratus and all my research says that they are bolder when mature vs when young.

That might be possible, however this observation is often obscured by the fact that usually people buy young frogs and let them mature in their vivs. So then the "becoming bolder" might also just be the frogs getting adjusted to their new home. Not saying that it is not age related, just saying that it's often difficult to disentangle the two.

 

[aapuzzo]

My Green and Bronze Auratus trio I believe to be 1 male 2 female will hop over when they hear the 18x18x24 vivarium open and and eat the ffies that fall as I am shaking them out of a 32oz cup only a few inches above their head. I got them as juveniles around January and I don't believe they are fully matured yet. When I first added them to the vivarium from a tub it took about a month before I started to see them outside of feeding time. I used to drop the flies in the back of the vivarium along the sides and I would catch glimpses of them. Fast forward 6 months and they are out almost all day. The only time I see them hiding now is if they need a good misting & at night.

My azureus all grew at completely different speeds. One could barely get a fly down and would spit it out half the time while another developed to about 2x as big in a few months. What I started doing was making sure I dropped a few flies near the smallest one a few times a day while he was by himself because he would quickly try and eat a few but not chase them. If he missed I swear he tough he go it and would slow down. I was going to separate them if the situation didn't start to improve with my extra effort but it did.

I know more about lizards than frogs but I was always under the impression if an animal is eating well and losing weight it could "possibly" be parasites. With them it's usually a bigger problem with wild caught specimens and not as common in captive breed. Most of our frogs are captive breed so I am not sure how common of an issue parasites are.

 

[Tijl]

Parasites or worms are always present. Depending on how you keep and feed frogs, it can become probalamatic.

Low 'quality' captive bred animals also contribute and are more common than good quality animals.