Please urgent read: Is my budgetts frog sick.

Originally Posted by frognerd101

Hello, it's Andrew.


I recently purchased a Budgetts frog from my local reptile expo, and he is a really cool frog. I know that you are supposed to have them in an aquatic habitat, and I am getting a filter and some other stuff for an aquatic habitat this week, but for now I have him in a terrestrial habitat with a very large, shallow water dish. Oh and I forgot to mention that he is a baby.

He just sits in his water dish all day, which is what I would expect from an aquatic frog, but this morning I found him lying upside down in the water dish, so I thought he was dead. I picked him out with a net, but he was still alive. I just purchased him yesterday, and he has already eaten 3 crickets with no problem.

Please tell me if I am doing anything wrong with this guy or if he is sick. Thank you very much

I'm no expert and don't own Bugett's frogs, but usually if they flip over on their back it is a sign of severe stress. Maybe place a background on 3 sides of the tank to make him feel secure. Pacmans will do this if severely stressed. If he has eaten though he is probably fine. I've noticed that they calm down more after they've eaten.

I would probably provide a larger slightly deeper water dish for him. Sounds like he is trying to soak/swim and there is no water causing stree.
Like Grif said, cover some sides of the tank, i would also make sure the tank is in a quiet low traffic area of the house.

Frogs flipping over is probably a stress response. I have seen many frogs in captivity on their backs when I worked at the zoo. The only conclusion that we were able to come up with is that frogs often perceive that something is wrong or danger is imminent. Grif and Don are on the right track Thanks!

Agree with others; but also want to ask you about your water source and to check that you are using a water conditioner if using tap.

Thank you all very much for your help. He is actually eating and doing very better. He was doing this a lot the day after I purchased him and a little bit the next day, but he seems to slowly get better every day.


And I am using a water conditioner instead of tap. I use non-chlorinated water for all of my frogs.

Originally Posted by frognerd101

Thank you all very much for your help. He is actually eating and doing very better. He was doing this a lot the day after I purchased him and a little bit the next day, but he seems to slowly get better every day.


And I am using a water conditioner instead of tap. I use non-chlorinated water for all of my frogs.

Good to here. How about some pics?