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Thread: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

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    Default New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Hey folks! You probably get a constant stream of questions like this so I'm sorry to be adding to them, but just...ugh.

    So the deal is, I recently bought a 2-ish inch snowflake Whites at the NARBC Tinley show on the 18th. Later that night, I went ahead and fed the frog two crickets and he accepted them off the tongs perfectly. Skip a day (when my other frog was young I did every other day feedings and it seemed to work for him). Next feeding, I do 4 or 5 appropriately sized phoenix worms and the frog enthusiastically eats them both off the tongs and off the floor when dropped in front of him. I think to myself, awesome - this frog's a great eater! And then the trouble starts. I skip a day again. Next feeding, he just absolutely refuses to eat off the tongs anymore and will only slap them away, which persists to this day. He's also not interested in prey that's on the ground. At first I think he's probably just full and needs a while longer. But he refused food every night for the next few days. Eventually, I try a different method and remove all the decor but the water dish from his tank and leave 4-5 little crickets in there over night. He eats. Same thing happens next feeding, refuses everything for days and then eats the crickets overnight. Maybe this is a normal type of feeding schedule for a White's and my previous one was different?

    As of today though it's been almost a week I think since I've been able to get him to eat and I'm getting worried with him still being so young. I keep leaving the crickets in the cage overnight and then removing them in the morning when he doesn't eat them. He also seems to be sloughing off skin? There are like little pieces stuck to the side of the cage and to him and after he's done soaking in his water dish, there's some of it floating around in the water. The underside of his legs is also pretty flushed and if I look closely I can see a thin little vein underneath the skin, but they may have always been like that. The line of his mouth and his earholes have always been a pretty deep pink too, so I kind of doubt that it could be red leg. I couldn't position him well enough to photo the underside of him. Here are a few photos taken today:

    1: http://i.imgur.com/AQXjSwz.jpg?1 He looks really skinny to me here, but some of that could be the position since he looks better in the other pic.
    2: http://i.imgur.com/sY4v0Je.jpg?1 Notice those pieces of sloughed skin I mentioned on the side of the wall. Can kind of see an example with his hands of how pink his thighs are too.
    3: http://i.imgur.com/Ybvvngc.jpg You can see some yellowy strands of sloughed skin sticking to his body if you look closely, I think

    And care info (raised another White's with these specs from about the same age with no issues):

    Daytime temp: 79F
    Nighttime temp: 74-ish F
    Humidity: 50%+
    Cork bark
    Water dish
    Paper towel substrate

    He so far doesn't seem to be acting lethargic at least. I'm just worried that he's ill because of how his feeding habits suddenly changed and the skin thing. I can't take him to a vet for a checkup because there aren't any around me that see amphibians, so if anyone experienced could offer their opinion I would appreciate it as I'm getting frustrated. All I can compare it to is my previous experience with just my single other Whites, so I don't even know what's supposed to be normal or abnormal regarding things like if a frog is looking too skinny or how long it takes for not eating to become something worth worrying over, etc.

  2. #2
    Member Whitestree frog's Avatar
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    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Shedding constantly and not eating are signs of bacterial infection or discomfort. for a bacterial infection it is very expensive so most hobbyists use a type of fish antibiotic. I dont know the exact one. Another poosibility is discomfort. take out your frogs and put them in a small tank that is about 8x4x6 inches and see how that works. make sure they stay warm and wet in the small cage. have you cleaned out the cage? There could be water at the bottom of the tank and that may be th source of the problem. it will make the cage stink of ammonia and make your frogs uncomfortable. About a week ago my whites had the same syptoms and that is exactly what i did. and a month before my other one died of this same problem. I would take them out immediatly. my cage now has special paper under the dirt and under the paper hydro balls that absorb standing water and the paper keeps the dirt from getting to the hydroballs. this has worked great and my frog is very comfortable.

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    Member Whitestree frog's Avatar
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    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Sincerely, whitestree frog

  4. #4

    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Thanks for the response!

    I usually change out the paper towel every 1-3 days or immediately if they've pooped on it, so I think the bottom stays pretty clean and I change out the water in the dish every day. Other than that the only thing in there is the cork bark, which hasn't been used for anything else but him. So maybe it is an infection of some kind I'll try to see if I can find anything online about the fish antibiotic

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    Member Whitestree frog's Avatar
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    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Wait, do you have dirt for the floor of your tank? Also you should be changing water everyday if u arent already. Also only take them out if u need to or if u want to for fun only do it once a week or once every 2 weeks if u do it multiple times. If the cage stinks or stinks more than it did, there is something in the tank.

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    Member Whitestree frog's Avatar
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    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    I will upload pictures of my tank tonight to show you a good setup however I'd like to see your tan setup and understand what your setup is also.

  7. #7

    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Yup I change the water out every day and I don't handle at all unless it's required for some reason. There's no dirt in the cage, I just use moist paper towel as substrate that I change out often. I can still take a picture if you want, but really all the cage consists of is just a couple sheets of paper towel on the bottom, a water dish, and some pieces of cork bark to climb on and hide in. It's a temporary quarantine-like setup until (or if, at this point...) he gets large enough to be housed with my other Whites.

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    100+ Post Member elly's Avatar
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    Default Re: New White's suddenly stopped eating, not sure if stress or ill?

    Setup sounds fine to me. Paper towels grow bacteria more easily than substrate, but you change it frequently so that should be good for a little while.
    The excessive shedding definitely sounds like an infection. If it's fungal, then fish antibiotic might not work. I don't know, but fungus and bacteria are different things. If at all possible I'd look for an exotics vet or call around to see if anyone sees frogs. Testing to see exactly what the infection is would be ideal, but you may just have to guess and try the fish antibiotics. I wish I had something more helpful to offer.

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