I have an afc who suddenly stopped gobbling down all her food a week before Christmas. She'll act like she's starving and shoves food into her mouth, but then spits it out, shoves it in her mouth, spits it out again, etc, until letting it float to the bottom of the feeding bucket. At first I though her appetite might be off because her tank needed a good cleaning, but she's still spitting out most off her food. I can get her to eat a few pellets at each feeding time, and when I offered her blood worms she ate most of those. As for the food itself, I haven't changed the food she's offered, I give her All Living Things pellets for frogs, newts, and tadpoles. She still acts and looks normal, swimming all about her tank, and looking a little bit chubby. Does anyone know what might be going on? I've heard that afc's may go off of food for a week in the winter, but she hasn't done this before.
It isn't uncommon for ACFs to go off food for a while. I find it more common for males to do it than females, but it still happens. If your frog is still fat and acting normal, there probably isn't anything to worry about. You could try night crawlers as live food helps stimulate their feeding responses.
I do like to keep an eye on frogs that go off food just in case it is something wrong. Behavior will be the first indicator of many maladies.
Ok, thanks for the reply. I'll keep an eye on her, but so far she has acting normal, swimming about the tank and chilling in her tank decorations.
You're welcome. Let us know how she's doing.
How is she doing?
According to my mom she's been eating a bit. She may have lost a bit of weight but she's still swimming about her tank and acting pretty much normal.
Good news, she ate about 15 food pellets and some blood worms today.
That's good news.
What temp is her tank? Sometimes during the winter, the tank temp drops and frogs will eat less.
Her tank has been pretty steady at the 76-78 degrees F. She's been eating like a pig since I last posted, so she's back to normal.
Clawed frogs need cooler water. I shoot for 72 degrees. The exception is X. tropicalis which can take water up to 78 degrees.
Bloodworms are not the best food for ACFs they often cause bloating. Frozen bloodworms are OK in limited quantity. I feed mine a variety of soft-bodied worms like "red wigglers" and nightcrawlers. Prepared foods, like Repto-Min is also a good choice. As mentioned, the temperature is too high, I keep mine around 68-70 degrees. Higher temperatures can be fatal to Xenopus laevis. Another common species, Silurana (Xenopus) tropicalis, can tolerate higher temperatures.
Terry Gampper
Nebraska Herpetological Society
“If we can discover the meaning in the trilling of a frog, perhaps we may understand why it is for us not merely noise but a song of poetry and emotion.”
--- Adrian Forsyth
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