Sick red eye tree frog died overnight

[coolicarboy]

Hi, I just received my two red eye tree frogs. When I was looking at one of them, it had a weird white marking on its head/neck. I'm not talking about the normal white freckles you see on their backs. When he was in his cage, he could not climb correctly and kept falling. He was also a dark color most of the time. I know it could have been stress from the shipping process, but I think it got a parasite or fungus. After about 20 minutes when I noticed these weird symptoms, I immediately took him out of the cage and quarantined him from the other frog which looked, and still looks healthy. I watched the frog carefully and it didn't go to sleep for a long time. I went to bed and when I woke up I found out the poor thing didn't make it through the night. Any idea on what it could have been? Heres a picture. You can see the white marking around its head/neck area.


Now that we know something was wrong with it, should I clean out the whole tank which the other frog is still in? The sick frog was only in there for about 20 minutes, and was in one little area of the tank. Im worried because they were in the same shipping container together as well.

As for the substrate, do I have to replace it now?


Not regarding the health issues, how often should I replace the substrate and clean the cage? Should I clean the cage once a week and replace the substrate once every two weeks?

Edit: I also just thought, should I use a different substrate as the one seen in the picture? I can imagine that the crickets would hide in there and it would be hard for my frog to find them.

[John]

That frog was a goner when it arrived. I would demand compensation from the seller if I were you. If they were shipped together, the other one has already been exposed to whatever killed the dead one, so I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Just keep an eye on the live one and make sure it keeps up a healthy appetite.

As a routine, replacing a the substrate depends on what it is, how big the terrarium is, etc. In tropical terrariums I rarely replace the substrate more than once every few months. In dart frog terrariums I may wait 2 years or more, but in tree frog terrariums I would say every 4-6 months. It's one of those things where you have to monitor it under whatever conditions you maintain.

Can't tell you to change substrate type because I can't tell what it is that you're using.

[coolicarboy]

That frog was a goner when it arrived. I would demand compensation from the seller if I were you. If they were shipped together, the other one has already been exposed to whatever killed the dead one, so I wouldn't worry about it at this point. Just keep an eye on the live one and make sure it keeps up a healthy appetite.

As a routine, replacing a the substrate depends on what it is, how big the terrarium is, etc. In tropical terrariums I rarely replace the substrate more than once every few months. In dart frog terrariums I may wait 2 years or more, but in tree frog terrariums I would say every 4-6 months. It's one of those things where you have to monitor it under whatever conditions you maintain.

Can't tell you to change substrate type because I can't tell what it is that you're using.

Thats a shame. Ill demand compensation ASAP. I ordered from reptilecity, so I hope its not an issue. After doing research, I regret ordering from them. Im using terrarium moss. It looks like the crickets could easily hide in there, but I don't know.

If I demand to have another one sent to me, should I quarantine it for awhile to make sure my current frog (and the new frog of course) are healthy?

[John]

Yes to the quarantines.

Moss is not really a substrate. It goes on top of substrate. I would use a tropical terrarium soil, such as "plantation" soil, or even coir (coconut fiber). If you're feeling advwnturous, you could try mixing some organic topsoil with coir.

[coolicarboy]

Will do. Ill go today and get the substrate. Any idea what killed the frog though? Bacterial infection maybe?

I will also keep everyone updated on the replacement process from Reptilecity.com

edit: I just spoke with Felton from reptilecity.com, and he said he would have another one sent to me by tuesday.

Another edit: I was also wondering, is it okay to have the water bowl filled with tap water? What about the misting water?

[Chaser]

No; never use tap water unless you now that the chlorine and other Chemical levels are safe in your area, I use Reptisafe for my red eye. I also put it in my misting water.

[coolicarboy]

Okay, I replaced the tap water with bottled water. Thanks for the info.

The new frog SHOULD be coming in today or tomorrow.

[coolicarboy]

I put in 4 crickets with my alive tree frog last night before I went to bed. This morning I noticed three of them were still there, I didn't look so well for the fourth. Is it normal that he might not eat for a few days because hes stressed from the shipping process? If the crickets are too big will he not eat them?

[DonLisk]

When you receive a new frog going into a newly set up enclosure, the frog will need to acclimate to its new surroundings. Covering three sides of the enclosure will reduce stress and also having the enclosure in a quiet place will also help.

I feed my Red Eyed Tree Frogs with a cricket bowl which is basically a small bowl placed into the substrate to hold the crickets. The bowl is slippery so the crickets are stuck in there. Usually any escaped crickets will eventually fall back into the bowl for later feeding.
This will also help in monitoring how well the frog is eating.

Make sure the crickets are no longer than the width of the frogs head.

I usually buy small crickets for my Red Eyes.

As for setup, if you use plenty of live plants and branches or vines, you will give the frog plenty of places to feel secure and climb and hide.
Your frogs are not usually found on the substrate and will move around the enclosure moving from branch to leaf to vine and so on.
Provide for that by having higher accents.

Also change your water at least every other day if not daily. You probably won't find they dirty the water dish that often but you still need to change it.

[coolicarboy]

When you receive a new frog going into a newly set up enclosure, the frog will need to acclimate to its new surroundings. Covering three sides of the enclosure will reduce stress and also having the enclosure in a quiet place will also help.

I feed my Red Eyed Tree Frogs with a cricket bowl which is basically a small bowl placed into the substrate to hold the crickets. The bowl is slippery so the crickets are stuck in there. Usually any escaped crickets will eventually fall back into the bowl for later feeding.
This will also help in monitoring how well the frog is eating.

Make sure the crickets are no longer than the width of the frogs head.

I usually buy small crickets for my Red Eyes.

As for setup, if you use plenty of live plants and branches or vines, you will give the frog plenty of places to feel secure and climb and hide.
Your frogs are not usually found on the substrate and will move around the enclosure moving from branch to leaf to vine and so on.
Provide for that by having higher accents.

Also change your water at least every other day if not daily. You probably won't find they dirty the water dish that often but you still need to change it.

Ill make sure to cover his cage up. And the cricket bowl is genius, haha. Ill head over to petsmart and get one today. I provided a lot of vines and branches for him, but they're fake. This is acceptable, correct? He sleeps on them and also on the wall of the tank. I also got him a little house like thing that is covered up and has fake leaves on top. I looked in the cage and couldn't see him, so I think hes inside of it, which is a good thing. I think. :P

[DonLisk]

Just use one of the cereal bowls from the house. Glass is best but any will work. Just rinse it well before using.

And sure, fake is fine but routinely you may need to clean the fake leafs and vines.... once a month would work as long as your removing droppings as you find them.
As for substrate, you don't need to change it if your not getting a bad smell or mites in it. If you make a drainage layer you may never need to change it. All depends on how much misting you need to do to keep the humidity in.

[coolicarboy]

Just use one of the cereal bowls from the house. Glass is best but any will work. Just rinse it well before using.

And sure, fake is fine but routinely you may need to clean the fake leafs and vines.... once a month would work as long as your removing droppings as you find them.
As for substrate, you don't need to change it if your not getting a bad smell or mites in it. If you make a drainage layer you may never need to change it. All depends on how much misting you need to do to keep the humidity in.

Ah, okay.

Ill keep all of this is mind. Thank you for the great information. If I have anymore questions, ill post them here.

I'm now awaiting the arrival of my new red eye, which should be arriving tomorrow hopefully.