To dig, or not to dig up your pyxie

[dsmalex97]

Haha, sorry for the stupid title! But my pyxie is driving me nuts! She's been buried in the dirt for 2 weeks now, and still has yet to eat on a schedule for me...I got maybe 4 worms in her for the month I've had her. And since then she's been burrowed. I got temps at 80-85, and humidity is anywhere from 40%-80%. I got her on coco fiber, with a big water dish for her to soak. None of the above has helped. Is something wrong? And at what point do you dig them up to see whats up lol? I feel like I'm doing something wrong and its making me ! Why do they do this? And why do they do it for so long? I also have yet to see any feces...This WILL be the last time I buy an adult reptile of any kind...I'm sticking to raising the little bugger myself. Also, I was curious if anyone has ever opted for a water setup rather then a dirt substrate.

[Sublime]

Nice title. Honestly, with the rest of the threads you've posted on here and we've tried to help you... You should really take her to a vet now, she's not aestivating because it's not the right conditions. It's very abnormal not to see feces for almost a month now, that's not good. My assumption is she's weak and she has parasites or it's stress that is making her become lethargic and not eat.

JimiFrog or whatever his name is does an all water setup. He had bad incidents with coco fiber and switched to all water for all of his pixies.

[dsmalex97]

Realllllly? I find that kind of interesting. Water almost seems like the more natural thing. Don't they live in dry arid area's, and in little ponds? I'm not saying they don't come on land and do their thing, but I wonder if they "prefer" a water setup. How does Jimifrog do it exactly?

I mean not for anything, I wouldn't even know if she did poop she's been buried...lol. I've tried to refrain from bothering her, but I really want to know whats going on with her...

And how much does a frog vet bill usually cost?

[Jimifrog]

It is really simple. I have a filter, a water heater, and a basking area with a light over the top. I siphon out the solid waste as quickly as I can. For the smaller pixies, I make sure that there isn't a place in the tank where they can't stand with their nose out of the water. The larger ones have no problem, as I keep the water no more than three to four inches deep.

[Sublime]

They live near ponds in a humid, tropical wetland in the Sub-Saharan part of South Africa. They do spend a considerable amount of time in the water, so there's nothing wrong in keeping them in all water as long as it's not deep and they have basking areas to sit on. The summer months they spend buried aestivating because it's cool in South Africa and there's no rain.

Here's a video of Jimifrog's youtube video to show you a little bit of his setup (He's got other videos of his water setup on his channel, so you can check out the rest):



You would of seen the poop, it's like the size of your thumb or pinkie. Unless her poop is runny which indicates she has overwhelming parasites in her intestines. Then you would need to treat her with "Flagyl" or take her to a vet to make sure she is diagnosed by a professional.

A vet bill specialized for a frog in an exotic veterinarian office is probably going to run anywhere from $50-200 depending on how serious it is. I'm not entirely sure about this since I've never taken my frog to the vet, but that's an estimate I would assume normal.

Yeah just keep exposure to a minimum with her. Adults can go longer than babies and juveniles without eating, although they do need to get nutrition as some point or else there can be serious problems. Nutrient defiency, etc.

[Jcal]

My dr charges 55 just for a visit.

[MonsterPyxie]

I would also agree its time to go to a vet, or the frog could die randomly, atleast thats what i would be fearing for my frog.

Is there no sign's of the her going into aestivation/hibernation?

[dsmalex97]

What are the signs exactly?

[BG]

Try the rodent test .if she fails then have her examened. Alot of vendors get wc animals with parasites.and disease.

[steest]

+1 to what BG said, and also even some captive bred frogs have diseases and parasites as well. 2 months ago i bought a pacman, it was just a froglet about 3/4 inch, and after a month it started showing signs of chytrid. Being a complete noob I did not catch it in time. (before I found this excellent forum) I tried to treat it but too late and it passed. Even if it is captive bred, you do not know the conditions that the previos owner had it in. Please go to vet.

[dsmalex97]

I got an appointment for the 31.

Until then, I removed coco fiber and have her in an all water setup with a small area to climb out. When I dug her up, her belly was kind of cool. I'm assuming it was because she went to the very bottom, (below 4-5 inches of substrate) which was getting any kind of direct heat. Maybe she was just too cool once she dug herself down, and her metabolism slowed? She was also in the middle of a shed. She looks beautiful now! Really bright green! So far she's responding quite nicely to the change, and seems to be content. She likes to completely go under the water and submerge her face, and when I hover above the tank she pops up lol! Now, you guys are saying to do the rodent test? Should I wait to see her poop before feeding her again?

[Sublime]

@dsm No, if the temperature is high enough (i.e. 80-90F) you don't have to wait for her to expel waste. Just push a frozen-thawed rat up against her mouth or force feed it to her. If you can find or buy a syringe, also buy liquid calcium w/ d3 and liquid vitamins made for reptiles and amphibians... Inject the mouse with it to pack it with nutrition.

Just feed an appropriate sized mouse to her (half size rule). Seems like she's acclimating real well to the water setup... Nice.

[dsmalex97]

So now, being that I got he to eat those night crawlers should I hold off with the rat? And if she doesn't go for it, how do I force feed it to her? I saw some videos on youtube and it seems a lot easier then force feeding a snake (such a pain in the neck).

[dsmalex97]

I believe so too! Fingers are crossed!

I'm going to wait for her to poop before I go forcing a mouse into her I think...I watched a couple of videos on force feeding and it doesn't seem hard compared to force feeding a snake lol. My one ball python clutch had a couple of problem feeders, and I'm still force feeding them every week, and its a miserable experience to say the least!

**Sorry for the double post! lol! I thought it deleted my text and didn't post the above one...Idk whats going on with my computer...

[Sublime]

That's good that you got her to eat night crawlers. If she willingly ate the night crawlers, you don't have to force feed the mouse. I meant to say mouse, not rat. Even now you shouldn't need to force feed anything now that she's eating. I would suggest feeding a mouse since she hasn't eaten for while, it would be good to get extra nutrition in her other than the night crawlers.

Just thaw out a mouse or use a live one and put it in front of her face with tongs. Or you can try to rub it against her mouth. You really don't need to force feed unless she hasn't eaten for weeks and now yours is eating night crawlers. Just keep feeding her a bunch of night crawlers.

[dsmalex97]

That's good that you got her to eat night crawlers. If she willingly ate the night crawlers, you don't have to force feed the mouse. I meant to say mouse, not rat. Even now you shouldn't need to force feed anything now that she's eating. I would suggest feeding a mouse since she hasn't eaten for while, it would be good to get extra nutrition in her other than the night crawlers.

Just thaw out a mouse or use a live one and put it in front of her face with tongs. Or you can try to rub it against her mouth. You really don't need to force feed unless she hasn't eaten for weeks and now yours is eating night crawlers. Just keep feeding her a bunch of night crawlers.

There's the kicker! She always gets bored or something of the night crawlers...She'll take two to three of them, and then it seems shes gets annoyed with me offering them to her lol. When I first got her she ate four of them, and then the number slowly decreased. Still trying to figure out a good staple for her because she seems to be picky. I want to get some dubia's for her. I will try the mouse soon! Now, if she doesn't go for it, should I try to open her mouth up so she takes it?

[Sublime]

Another good staple is crickets while you're trying to get your dubia colony established. Try for the next few days just feeding night crawlers and crickets to let her get settled into feeding before you try the mouse. When you do feed the mouse, if she resists it... Don't force her; just toss the mouse out. They're only a dollar at reptile shops for a frozen one. Forcing her to eat it when it's not necessary will stress her out. Don't want to do that when she's already skittish when eating.

[Sublime]

I forgot to mention this. When you got her to eat the night crawlers... Did you dust them with supplements or vitamins? It would be a good idea to dust heavily - not overdosing, but enough calcium w/ d3 and vitamins once a week. Get her back up and healthy. Good luck.

[Eel Noob]

One thing we have to remember is these frogs don't need to eat all the time. As long as the frogs looks to be at normal weight with no bones showing it should be fine. I wouldn't force feed any animal unless it's will die from starvation, you'll just be stressing out the animal even more.