Pink in Red-Eyed Tree Frog's feces... is this normal? Photo attached.

[MantidBro]

Hey guys!

First off I wanted to ask if this is normal? I seen some pink color when I tested Frenchy's feces... I hadn't seen this before and am a bit worried. He seems fine, not acting odd, he is acting quite healthy. Sleeps during the day as he should, wakes up during the night when the lights go out as he should, hunts and eats his dusted crickets every night, does his shedding once in a while. Loves his new plants. I find him every morning sleeping on one. He is not doing anything out-of-character. But even though he's acting regularly, might something be wrong internally?

Here's a photo I took of the bit of paper towel that I used to squish the feces. You can see some pinkish there on the left. I had not fed him anything pink, just dusted crickets. The crickets are fed lettuce, apple, cucumber, carrot, celery, spinach and fluckers cricket quencher. I was told not to feed the crickets tomato or cabbage because it can mess with the frog's insides and so refrain from doing that.



The only thing I can imagine that caused it is that I fed him larger crickets recently, adults. Is it possible that the spikes on their legs tore his insides? Might adults be too big? He's a little under 2 1/2 inches. But I had been feeding him small-medium sized crickets previously and hadn't seen any of this pink coloration then...

Any advice or opinions you can offer would really be a help.

[LilyPad]

What kind of vitamin dust are you using and how often? I noticed if my vitamin dust touches water, it turns red. So maybe that is a possibility? Is the cricket quencher dyed?

EDIT - Do your crickets wander the tank that they may be eating a plant in there before your frog gets them?

[MantidBro]

What kind of vitamin dust are you using and how often? I noticed if my vitamin dust touches water, it turns red. So maybe that is a possibility? Is the cricket quencher dyed?

EDIT - Do your crickets wander the tank that they may be eating a plant in there before your frog gets them?

It's calcium/D3, I dust his crickets every other night. Is that the kind you have that turns red? I would hope that's all it is. The cricket quencher is wet, its the yellow type. No i stopped letting them wander, bowl feed, so i dont think its that.

[LilyPad]

I use Repashy. I guess I have not ever noticed their feces being pink though. I haven't looked carefully at them since they were in QT though. Then it was really only to make sure they were solid.

[MantidBro]

I use Repashy. I guess I have not ever noticed their feces being pink though. I haven't looked carefully at them since they were in QT though. Then it was really only to make sure they were solid.

His feces look healthy otherwise, just that weird coloration has got me a bit worried. They are solid though, a bit less than an inch long. They always look the same really, size-wise and solid-wise. Sometimes I find bits of cricket in his feces, is that normal? should those bits of cricket have been digested completely? also a lot of it looks like substrate, maybe some crickets have been escaping the bowl. I wake up to find none in there. I'm going to watch him closer tonight, stay up a bit later.

[MantidBro]

He just pooped. I checked it immediately, there was no pink this time what so ever. Hmm. Weird. but im comforted by that!

[flybyferns]

His feces look healthy otherwise, just that weird coloration has got me a bit worried. They are solid though, a bit less than an inch long. They always look the same really, size-wise and solid-wise. Sometimes I find bits of cricket in his feces, is that normal? should those bits of cricket have been digested completely? also a lot of it looks like substrate, maybe some crickets have been escaping the bowl. I wake up to find none in there. I'm going to watch him closer tonight, stay up a bit later.

Hi
Diarrhea and lethargy is what you worry about.
Yes ..it's normal to find bits and pcs of crickets in the poop.
Obviously, this is more noticeable if found in the water dish.

Sometimes the cricks hitch a ride out of the bowl on the frog.
Use a bowl with higher sides; a nice wide one the frogs can climb into and sit on the bottom of the bowl.

Some ideas:
http://www.frogforum.net/general-dis...eder-bowl.html

[MantidBro]

Hi
Diarrhea and lethargy is what you worry about.
Yes ..it's normal to find bits and pcs of crickets in the poop.
Obviously, this is more noticeable if found in the water dish.

Sometimes the cricks hitch a ride out of the bowl on the frog.
Use a bowl with higher sides; a nice wide one the frogs can climb into and sit on the bottom of the bowl.

Some ideas:
http://www.frogforum.net/general-dis...eder-bowl.html

Okay hes not having diarrhea or is lethargic so thats good.

He usually poops on the substrate, not in the water bowl. He goes on a stick, pokes him bum off the side, lol.

Okay ill use a bigger bowl. I think a cricket had indeed escaped, Frenchy was opening and closing his mouth like he just ate something, and there was actually substrate in his mouth. Could that cause any problems?? its coconut fiber. I realized when he sheds, and opens and closes his mouth, you know how they pull the shedding into their mouths? some substrate if its on his shedding skin goes into his mouth when he sucks it in.

Edit, thanks for the link!

[LilyPad]

What size is his tank? Do you have plenty of branches and other things for him to perch on? I don't think I have ever seen mine touch the ground to get substrate on themselves. I also have the viv floor covered with leaf litter, so that helps prevent that. If they are covered with a lot of substrate when they shed, it could be an issue, but not really likely.

[MantidBro]

What size is his tank? Do you have plenty of branches and other things for him to perch on? I don't think I have ever seen mine touch the ground to get substrate on themselves. I also have the viv floor covered with leaf litter, so that helps prevent that. If they are covered with a lot of substrate when they shed, it could be an issue, but not really likely.

[MantidBro]

Oh yeah should probably let you guys know my gauge is off by about 7 degrees
And heres how much substrate usually is on the poor dude...

It doesnt seem to effect his shedding process fortunately, ive watched him shed a number of times, seems fine

[Heatheranne]

Looks a smidge dry? Can you mist a bit more to 70-80%.

Then he'll be nicely hydrated and will shed easily .

[DigitalPunk]

Adding some Leaf liter to the bottom of the tank will help keep him/her clean when they venture down to feed

[MantidBro]

Looks a smidge dry? Can you mist a bit more to 70-80%.

Then he'll be nicely hydrated and will shed easily .

His humidity is always reading as 99%... the other gauge says 88%. You sure it's too dry? Seems pretty wet in there to me.

[MantidBro]

Adding some Leaf liter to the bottom of the tank will help keep him/her clean when they venture down to feed

I had leaves in there previously for that very reason, but they started molding, even after having been baked? I'm a bit uneasy about it.

[LilyPad]

Digital hygrometers tend to suck. I've only had one read accurately and it ended up dying on me recently. Make sure the humidity probes are outside of the tank a majority of the time and just drop them in randomly to check the readings.

What kind of leaf litter were you using? White mold will not hurt your viv and is normal when you first set it up.

[MantidBro]

Digital hygrometers tend to suck. I've only had one read accurately and it ended up dying on me recently. Make sure the humidity probes are outside of the tank a majority of the time and just drop them in randomly to check the readings.

What kind of leaf litter were you using? White mold will not hurt your viv and is normal when you first set it up.

analogs suck... digitals suck... so they all suck? LOL

How are us frog people supposed to work with these faulty things!

I just go mostly by how Frenchy seems to be doing. When I had the humidity lower he didn't seem as healthy. Wasn't active or eating. Right when it got higher he started being active and eating. Unless if it was just cause he finally adapted, but it seems coincidental that he adapted just after the humidity got higher?

it wasnt so much leaf litter, just leaves from outside, oak tree leaves i think. they were baked. i put them in as whole leaves, covered the substrate. yeah it was white mold that started growing on them, i thought thatd be bad for Frenchy so i threw them out. so white mold is okay...??

[MantidBro]

Found out what caused the pink in Frenchy's poop!

I put some moss from frenchys tank into my tarantulas tank... Some of that moss got into his water bowl, which at the moment is a pill bottle cap because hes not yet full grown. I just rinsed out the water to give him fresh water and the bottom of the cap, where the moss had been sitting, was stained reddish pinkish.

So apparently when that moss is wet it stains things pink!

And thats why frenchys poop isnt always pink... Because only the crickets that escape are able to munch on the moss (thats why it wasnt happening with the little crickets, cause its harder for them to escape than the big crickets). Unless if frenchy is getting some moss into his mouth. I dont think so though, the only bits left are pretty small, i removed all moss from his tank, except those tiny bits that got left behind. It makes more sense to me that the escapee crickets searched it out and found it, than that a cricket was eating moss just as frenchy saw it and took both into his mouth at once. I dont see moss in his poop and im sure itd be visible. I think its just miniscule remaints of it that had been chewed up by escapees.

So the solution.... A deeper feeding bowl!