Desperate need of assistance, possibly fatal!

[nuggetfriend]

I've been a frequent lurker of these forums for a few years and you've done wonders with pictures of frogs and how to take care of them. I really need your help with this one, you guys and gals are my last hope at possibly saving my latest frog friend to join the family. So recently, only 2 weeks ago, I got a pixie frog! He is about the size of my thumb, maybe a lil smaller, and I absolutely love him. (ordered as a male, but could be thrown for a loop and could be female! I'm not the expert here...) I did some research for a few days, just to be sure I was completely ready for him, had all that good stuff waiting for him. So the day comes and I put him into his new home. I think the wallpaper on the tank makes it look really nice! I didn't want to immediately put food in there, as he might be a bit too spooked to eat since he is in a new home and all, so I gave it a couple hours. Some hours pass, and I put in a few small crickets, appropriately sized for someone like him. He doesn't really do anything though and ignores them. I've read that they usually eat every day, or at least some every few days. I was worried, but you know, new home, could be nervous, decided to just wait a few days and see what happens.

He digs some craters, hops around, explores, gets in his pool a few times, explores some more, looks out the glass, all that stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary from the looks of it. A week passes by and I'm getting worried. These frogs are known for their voracious appetite, eating anything that moves, why isn't he eating anything? I get worried, crickets aren't doing anything for him. I make a run to the store and try out nightcrawlers instead. They wiggle and squirm, and they're quite nice for frogs to munch on, seems good! I try the worms, cut appropriately for his size obviously, but he still isn't doing anything. I'm extremely worried now, what is it that is making him not want to eat, or even try eating anything? One night I see him in his pool, and from a lot of those videos of people feeding their frogs while they're in their pool, I decide to give it a try again. I put a worm in there, and he actually looks at it and starts trying to eat it! Now we're getting somewhere! My happiness is short-lived, as a couple of failed attempts and he decides it isn't worth the time or effort to eat them. At that point, I decided that maybe a small cricket would do the trick. At least they don't sink to the bottom of his pool. I put one near him and he looks at it and eats it! Yes, success! Unfortunately, that was all I've ever seen him eat, just that single cricket. He doesn't eat anything else, he looks away, sometimes hops away, and I'm feeling terrible.

Now this is where it gets extremely horrible. Just last night while at work, I get a text from my girlfriend saying it looks like he's trying to poop. I'm not feeling very good, how can he really poop if he hasn't been eating anything? So after my shift, I come back home, and it looks like he had a prolapse. It wasn't a red bubble coming out that end, it was some sort of feathery-looking fleshy substance coming out from back there. Now at this point I just have tears rolling down my face. What happened to him? How could I let this happen? What in the world am I going to do about this how am I going to fix this? I can't get him to eat and now this is happening to him! I've only had him for 2 weeks and it's going awful. I don't think it was of any fault from the site I ordered it from (snakes at sunset) he seemed pretty healthy when he arrived. I thought I was doing all right taking care of him, I thought I had everything correct. There must be something I missed, but I don't know what that is. I really don't want him to die, if you can't tell already. I'd feel awful if a frog that has a life span of over 15 years dies in just 2 weeks all because I screwed something up. I've read about the sugar water bath, so I'm giving that a try as I speak.



1. Size of enclosure?
10 gallon


2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences?
1


3. Humidity?
varies between 70-80%, i tend to keep the water side sprayed more often so he can choose between wet or dry.


4. Temperature?
day time temperatures are 80-83, night time is 70-76


5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish?
water dish is natural spring water. for misting, it's the same deal. I'm really hoping this isn't what has been causing problems, as i've had my pacman for almost 2 years and he hopefully doesn't mind... if there's a different type of water I should be using, please let me know!


6. Materials used for substrate?
loose coconut fiber substrate from eco-earth.


7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials. - How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv?
I have a water dish for him to soak in and I have one of those half logs you can get at any general pet store.


8. Main food source?
i have crickets and nightcrawlers, but he hasn't been eating anything.


9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often?)
hasn't been eating anything so i can't provide these to him.


10. Lighting?
the light from the bulb i use to heat the tank is hopefully sufficient, if the lights in my apartment aren't doing good work already. he isn't in direct sunlight either.


11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure?
At first, i tried one of those 13w tropical fluorescent bulbs, then I recently switched to a Night Heat Infrared Bulb 25W. The bulb switch was before he had these issues, i'm just desperate to figure out how to fix this before something worse happens.


12. When is the last time he/she ate?
it took around a week for him to eat anything. i'm just not sure what to do to help him eat or get him to eat anything. he he doesn't pay any attention to any of the food provided to him. the only time i've gotten him to eat, he was in his pool and at first, I tried nightcrawlers. I did cut it into a smaller piece and he was interested in it, at first anyways. He took a couple of attempts to get it then decided the effort wasn't worth his time so he gave up. I then, put a small cricket near him and he actually ate it! Unfortunately, that was the only thing he ate and wasn't interested in anything else.




13. Have you found poop lately?
nothing at all.


14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
http://imgur.com/a/1Gvw8
The quality is bad, but it's all I've got. These were just taken a few moments ago. If you want any more pictures, just let me know.


15. Describe frog's symptoms and/or recent physical changes; to include it's ventral/belly area.
the frog looks perfectly normal to me, other than whatever the hell is coming out the back.


16. How old is the frog?
don't know the age, but he is quite young.


17. How long have you owned him/her?
since april 14th.


18. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred?
captive i would imagine. he was ordered on snakes at sunset.


19. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats?
crickets and nightcrawlers, won't eat any of them.




20. How often the frog is handled?
extremely rarely, i always be sure to wash my hands before and after handling.


21. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area?
it's just out in the living room with the rest of our frog friends. It's pretty quiet, i'm not sure what I would call low or high traffic to be honest.


22. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)
Whenever he gets out of the pool, the water is replaced with fresh, natural spring water. that's about it really, i haven't had him long enough to change anything else.


Here's a picture of my pacman frog if you've made it this far, at the very least he's been doing okay!
http://imgur.com/Oqwr3mw

[123nave]

If he is as small as your thumb he should be eating food the size of his eye so he doesn't have too big a bite of food. When he gets bigger, than offer bigger food. I would go and try to find a smaller food size, like the 1/8 or 1/4 inch mealworms or baby crickets. Then wait till he is in the dirt waiting for food to get in front of him than drop one in front of his face and see if he eats it. (Make sure he doesn't see you so he is not scared of you.) Or use feeding tongs and stick it in front of him, if he doesn't seem interested, rub it closer to his face, so he knows it's food. If he doesn't go for it until it touches his face, he could be blind in one eye or could be going blind. I would recommend after he gets something to eat, give him calcium with vitamin D supplement on some of his food, regardless of what is wrong with him.

Sent from my SM-T110 using Tapatalk

[nuggetfriend]

Hi there, I really appreciate the tips you've given me on feeding him! These crickets are quite tiny, they should be of a small enough size as to not be too big for him, but I will try your suggestion too! My biggest worry is whatever is coming out from the back of him. It isn't getting any bigger, but it's not getting any smaller either. Is it safe to feed him in the situation he's in? I don't know whats going to happen to him or whatever is coming out if he poops. The tongs are good idea though, do you think a pet store would sell ones appropriate for frogs? If not, do you have any recommendations as to where I could find a nice pair?

[Lija]

Hi, okay, here is what you need to do ASAP.
-take a pic of what sounds like prolapse to confirm. While waiting for reply look around for vets who treat amphibians as a back up.
- place a frog in clean, wet papertowels, chanded daily, put a plant of sorts, I like these handing silk ones, you can get them bigger, stick to the side and half of it will be on a ground. Frog love hides like that. cover 3 sides of the enclosure, sprinkle sugar on the prolapse.
- DO NOT feed! DO NOT try! Not until the prolapse is under control. Keep in mind even if/when it retracts the chances of repeat prolapse is very high and you should stuck to nightcrawlers for a while now. But only after the situation is under control. IF the prolapse doesn't retract on its own you need vet and surgically fix that, otherwise it will end very badly....

based on on what you wrote there was nothing that would point on any fault of yours, husbandry is spot on, temps could be higher, substrate seems a bit dry, but it all really minor things, by any means could not result in prolapse. The most common cause is feeding high chitin containing food ( mealworms, super worms), parasite infestation and ingestion of something that can't be digested - keeping in husk, moss would be the most common.

Keep us updated, I'll try to swing by tomorrow.

[nuggetfriend]

Hi, okay, here is what you need to do ASAP.
-take a pic of what sounds like prolapse to confirm. While waiting for reply look around for vets who treat amphibians as a back up.
- place a frog in clean, wet papertowels, chanded daily, put a plant of sorts, I like these handing silk ones, you can get them bigger, stick to the side and half of it will be on a ground. Frog love hides like that. cover 3 sides of the enclosure, sprinkle sugar on the prolapse.
- DO NOT feed! DO NOT try! Not until the prolapse is under control. Keep in mind even if/when it retracts the chances of repeat prolapse is very high and you should stuck to nightcrawlers for a while now. But only after the situation is under control. IF the prolapse doesn't retract on its own you need vet and surgically fix that, otherwise it will end very badly....

based on on what you wrote there was nothing that would point on any fault of yours, husbandry is spot on, temps could be higher, substrate seems a bit dry, but it all really minor things, by any means could not result in prolapse. The most common cause is feeding high chitin containing food ( mealworms, super worms), parasite infestation and ingestion of something that can't be digested - keeping in husk, moss would be the most common.

Keep us updated, I'll try to swing by tomorrow.

This is the best I could get for a picture: http://imgur.com/dyvMJnH

There is a vet I did find, but it's a 45 minute drive. I am more than willing to make the distance, it will be tough trying to do this while still making it to my job as I work Fri, Sat, and Sun. I'll do whatever I can to schedule an appointment.

How big should this container be that I should be keeping him in? Should there be any of the eco earth at all, or should it JUST be those wet paper towels? Should it be just one of those plastic plants or an actual one? I REALLY appreciate all the advice you've given me so far, I want to do whatever I can to get him back in shape!

[Lija]

It's really hard to see how bad that is.

Papertowels - yes, only on them, the idea here is to keep it clean and wet, it is very dangerous. It might necrotize ( basically the tissue will die) and then a frog will die. It has to be fixed ASAP. Have you tried sugar? Any better? If you see the swelling is going down, you can try to very gently with Vaseline coated qtip to push it back.

But I must tell you honestly, the longer you wait the less chances a frog has. It needs vet now!

[nuggetfriend]

It's really hard to see how bad that is.

Papertowels - yes, only on them, the idea here is to keep it clean and wet, it is very dangerous. It might necrotize ( basically the tissue will die) and then a frog will die. It has to be fixed ASAP. Have you tried sugar? Any better? If you see the swelling is going down, you can try to very gently with Vaseline coated qtip to push it back.

But I must tell you honestly, the longer you wait the less chances a frog has. It needs vet now!

Hello there my friend. I have returned from the vet, and it turns out it wasn't a prolapse! That makes me super happy. It was actually an impaction, but it confuses me how it actually happened in the first place. Maybe he tried to catch food and got mouthfuls of dirt instead? I'm not sure, but I still have him sitting on paper towels and such. I was advised to not have him eat for a few days while we try to get everything out of him by rubbing his abdomen and all that. I may put him in a separate container when it's time to feed him so this doesn't happen again. Any other advice you could give for dealing with this? Impaction is still not good, but it's a lot better than a prolapse!

[Lija]

So glad to hear! Based on your initial post you were doing everything right. My guess is he ate something he shouldn't have before he got to you. Was the impaction treated at the vet? If yes, then you after a few days you can start feeding soft food ( nightcrawlers).

Edit - wait what do you mean by rubbing abdomen? Did the vet do anything? How bad ( big) is a blockage?

[nuggetfriend]

So glad to hear! Based on your initial post you were doing everything right. My guess is he ate something he shouldn't have before he got to you. Was the impaction treated at the vet? If yes, then you after a few days you can start feeding soft food ( nightcrawlers).

Edit - wait what do you mean by rubbing abdomen? Did the vet do anything? How bad ( big) is a blockage?

According to her, she says there's still some left in there, so I should use a qtip and rub his abdomen and try to get the rest out. This is all according to her btw. She grabbed what was coming out, but all this was done in a separate room so I couldn't see exactly what she was doing. Right now he is in his tank and has been under the plant the whole time, I guess he likes the privacy there.