Sick Red Eyed Tree Frog?

[kimmy]

My boyfriend bought me 2 red eyed tree frogs for my birthday last week, he had them in his house for a month and when we transferred them to my house one died from stress.
They're about 6 months old and I noticed that the one that's left has a dark coloration on his belly near to his legs and arms.
I'm not sure if this is supposed to be this colour or not as I've never kept these before.
My tank is 12"x12"x18"
I have a heat pad on the outside of the tank, there are fake leaves, a shallow water dish that I change every day with bottled water, and a sheet of tissue as substrate that I change every other day.
I feed him 12-15 1st black crickets every night.

Sorry about the poor quality photo ...
That's the best I can get without disturbing him

I'm really concerned about my baby ....

[Badger]

Not sure about the dark coloration, but you are overfeeding him. Growing RETFs only eat 2-3 crickets a night. Adults 2-3 crickets 2-3 times a week. He may have trouble digesting that much food. What's your temp and humidity?

[Badger]

Also do you use any calcium/vitamin supplements?

[kimmy]

Not sure about the dark coloration, but you are overfeeding him. Growing RETFs only eat 2-3 crickets a night. Adults 2-3 crickets 2-3 times a week. He may have trouble digesting that much food. What's your temp and humidity?

I have ordered a temp and humidity gauge for the tank and it hasn't arrived yet .. I try not to spray the tank too much because I don't want it too damp ...
I have a calcium supplement that I put on the crickets every second feed .. It's called Nutrobal

[Badger]

It sounds like it could be dropsy, but I'm no vet.

[ViperJr]

Not sure about the dark coloration, but you are overfeeding him. Growing RETFs only eat 2-3 crickets a night. Adults 2-3 crickets 2-3 times a week. He may have trouble digesting that much food. What's your temp and humidity?

Well, generally it's hard to actually overfeed red eyes, since they regulate themselves in their food intake. They very rarely get obese.

I have ordered a temp and humidity gauge for the tank and it hasn't arrived yet .. I try not to spray the tank too much because I don't want it too damp ...

It's not really want you want, but what the frog wants. Be sure to keep it moist, since the are from the rain forest of central America. Good thing you ordered the hygrometer, it'll make it easy to adjust accordingly.

I have a calcium supplement that I put on the crickets every second feed .. It's called Nutrobal

I'm not familiar with this supplement, but it seems like it contains both calcium and D3 (according to some good ol' googling), which is the two important ingredients. However, it seem to be made for tortoises, so I don't know if it contains anything unhealthy for the frogs, as I'm not so good at these kind of things. Someone else will have to confirm or deny that.

EDIT: You also really want more hiding space for the frog. Stress is a real health-killer when it comes to frogs, and red eyes are not the most stress-tolerant species. They basically want to feel safe, and they do that when they are amongst trees/leaves/etc. Remember that they also travel by climbing from branch to branch (or leave to leave, you get the point), so if you want it to be able to "walk around", you need more climbing space.

[kimmy]

[/QUOTE] I'm not familiar with this supplement, but it seems like it contains both calcium and D3 (according to some good ol' googling), which is the two important ingredients. However, it seem to be made for tortoises, so I don't know if it contains anything unhealthy for the frogs, as I'm not so good at these kind of things. Someone else will have to confirm or deny that.
Thanks , do you know if there is any supplement specifically for the red eyed tree frogs?

EDIT: You also really want more hiding space for the frog. Stress is a real health-killer when it comes to frogs, and red eyes are not the most stress-tolerant species. They basically want to feel safe, and they do that when they are amongst trees/leaves/etc. Remember that they also travel by climbing from branch to branch (or leave to leave, you get the point), so if you want it to be able to "walk around", you need more climbing space.[/QUOTE]

I'm getting more leaves and another vine over the weekend

[ViperJr]

Thanks , do you know if there is any supplement specifically for the red eyed tree frogs?

I don't know if there's anything made especially for tree frogs, but Zoo med have a good calcium/D3 supplement. Repashy also makes a good calcium/d3, which is called Repashy SuperCal (I think...). However, I'm not saying that Nutrobal is bad. I'm just saying that it might be less than optimal since it's designed for tortoises, which are omnivores.

I'm getting more leaves and another vine over the weekend

Good! It can't be stressed enough how important it is to have a proper setup. When keeping red eyes, I would say that 90% (of course, it's just a number that really doesn't mean anything, since I can't actually prove anything scientifically) of the frogs well-being is having a good terrarium. If you want some inspiration, have a look at some of our members tanks. I would recommend Bshmerlie (Cheri) or DonLisk, for example.

[Heatheranne]

The picture is tough to see. Can you take a lighter one and I'll see if I can tell what's wrong. How big is the frog in length? His belly is bloated. Is he pooping for you?

How 'bout take a picture of his home and of him. Give us an idea of the temp and humidity.

There is an article here on care for red eyed tree frogs. It's a good article and helped me quite a bit when I hot mine. Start there. Then send us some pictures and information and we'll try and help.

I'll be waiting to hear back.

[kimmy]

The picture is tough to see. Can you take a lighter one and I'll see if I can tell what's wrong. How big is the frog in length? His belly is bloated. Is he pooping for you?

How 'bout take a picture of his home and of him. Give us an idea of the temp and humidity.

There is an article here on care for red eyed tree frogs. It's a good article and helped me quite a bit when I hot mine. Start there. Then send us some pictures and information and we'll try and help.

I'll be waiting to hear back.

I don't want to disturb him too much so that's the brightest picture I could get for now ... He's about an an inch to an inch and a half in length ... I haven't noticed much poo in the tank, there was a small bit on the side today .. Do you think he could be constipated and how do I fix that?

Thanks for the reply

[Heatheranne]

If he is pooping I'd just cut him back to one cricket a day until his belly shrinks a bit. It should only take a day. Then go to 2 to 3 a day. He's still little. Mine is 1 1/2 inches. I still buy him little bitty crickets (1/4") and let him have 5 a night bc they are tiny and soft, easy to digest. He doesn't always eat them all, but he poops daily and is growing steadily. I gave him 2 small 1/2" crickets this week and he did well. Just watch his belly. He shouldn't look sunken in on the sides, just nicely full. I'll send you some pictures of mine when they wake up this evening.

Retf's look slender when they stretch out and pleasantly full when they curl up to sleep.

They don't soak much. They prefer to absorb through misting. I keep my tank humidity between 70-80 %, and my heat around 76-78. There is both a waterfall in mine and I still mist 2x/day if no heat lamp on, and 3x/day when the infared lamp is on.

[kimmy]

If he is pooping I'd just cut him back to one cricket a day until his belly shrinks a bit. It should only take a day. Then go to 2 to 3 a day. He's still little. Mine is 1 1/2 inches. I still buy him little bitty crickets (1/4") and let him have 5 a night bc they are tiny and soft, easy to digest. He doesn't always eat them all, but he poops daily and is growing steadily. I gave him 2 small 1/2" crickets this week and he did well. Just watch his belly. He shouldn't look sunken in on the sides, just nicely full. I'll send you some pictures of mine when they wake up this evening.

Retf's look slender when they stretch out and pleasantly full when they curl up to sleep.

They don't soak much. They prefer to absorb through misting. I keep my tank humidity between 70-80 %, and my heat around 76-78. There is both a waterfall in mine and I still mist 2x/day if no heat lamp on, and 3x/day when the infared lamp is on.

Thanks for the help, I'll keep an eye on how he's pooing and his belly

[kimmy]

Is he too young to put orchid bark, cocoa soil and sphagnum moss as a substrate?

[Heatheranne]

I have my baby still In her quarantine tank until she gets closer to the size of my adult. This is Bubbles. She is 1 1/2".




My adult female lives in a terrarium. The vivariums that others have made here are better and more like their natural homes. Mine is not done yet. Friends here helped guide me too when I first joined the forum. This is Stickers.

[kimmy]

The first and last pictures are the clearest I could get of his underside .. Do you notice how dark the colouration is or is that just me being over-worried about him ?

The second picture is from this morning when I woke up I noticed that there was this giant poop on the side of his water dish .. Which is a good thing because now I know he's going

The third picture is a back view of him which I took this morning because I cleaned him out and put in a new light

The fourth picture is of his entire tank, I cleaned him out , fresh water (bottled), fresh paper towels (soaked), cleaned off the glass with bottled water and a new day time light ... I'm still waiting on my timer , hygrometer and thermometer

[flybyferns]

The first and last pictures are the clearest I could get of his underside .. Do you notice how dark the colouration is or is that just me being over-worried about him ?

The second picture is from this morning when I woke up I noticed that there was this giant poop on the side of his water dish .. Which is a good thing because now I know he's going

The third picture is a back view of him which I took this morning because I cleaned him out and put in a new light

The fourth picture is of his entire tank, I cleaned him out , fresh water (bottled), fresh paper towels (soaked), cleaned off the glass with bottled water and a new day time light ... I'm still waiting on my timer , hygrometer and thermometer

kimmy,
Let's see what others say as well.

My first thought is -I think it's just the frog's normal coloring.
Hang in there, your doing a great job !!!! Your frog is eating , pooping, and sleeping during the day !!!
ALL GOOD SIGNS!
I do not ever remember one of my red eyed tree frogs ever being up during the day. They sleep 'like-a-rocK'.
If it pooped on the side of the water dish - it means it was sitting there and likely to have soaked !

You might want to use distilled water for cleaning and misting as the other can stain your nice new viv. glass.

Keep the paper really wet to help keep the humidity up until you decide what you will do with the bottom. Your could even put in another dish of water.
When you are able, try to get more plants in there for hiding places.
Plan ahead. When I purchase a plant , I rinse the roots off, rinse the plant well and then it gets re-potted in tropical soil ( coco fiber) and left out of the enclosure for at least 2 weeks. Red eyes love pothos. The leaves are sturdy and wide.

Enjoy your frog !
Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday !

[kimmy]

kimmy,
Let's see what others say as well.

My first thought is -I think it's just the frog's normal coloring.
Hang in there, your doing a great job !!!! Your frog is eating , pooping, and sleeping during the day !!!
ALL GOOD SIGNS!
I do not ever remember one of my red eyed tree frogs ever being up during the day. They sleep 'like-a-rocK'.
If it pooped on the side of the water dish - it means it was sitting there and likely to have soaked !

You might want to use distilled water for cleaning and misting as the other can stain your nice new viv. glass.

Keep the paper really wet to help keep the humidity up until you decide what you will do with the bottom. Your could even put in another dish of water.
When you are able, try to get more plants in there for hiding places.
Plan ahead. When I purchase a plant , I rinse the roots off, rinse the plant well and then it gets re-potted in tropical soil ( coco fiber) and left out of the enclosure for at least 2 weeks. Red eyes love pothos. The leaves are sturdy and wide.

Enjoy your frog !
Oh, and by the way, Happy Birthday !

Hi , Thanks for the reply ...

I was really worried about his colour but I've never kept these frogs before , I'm like an over cautious mother ...

I haven't seen him awake during the day either .. He likes to sleep on the glass now too, it's his new favourite spot .. He wakes up when it gets dark , waits at the door for me to feed him, chomps down on a few crickets and then climbs back up on to the glass and when I wake up in the morning he's fast asleep

I have been looking at some more plants for the tank and when I find the right ones I'll get them .. I think I'll get some more of the plastic plants for now though .. I bought some Bromiliad yesterday which I'll put in when I change to a different substrate , which should be in a few weeks .. I have some cocoa fiber and some sphagnum moss at home too

I also think he's gotten a little bigger since I got him, he's about an inch in length when he's all curled up

Aww thank you very much for the birthday wishes

[Shanny]

That sounds like a good plan you have.
And yes, I agree, I like them having the most natural looking home too
I never usually use sticks from a certain type of tree. I have only used sticks that are already dead on the ground and for the most part already dry. I don't use anything that comes from any kind of pine tree or trees that produce that sticky sap either.
I find that when I'm near a river, is when I can find the best ones. These ones have the bark stripped from them, most likely from a beaver... So they are more smooth. But I have found smaller smooth dead ones in my own yard as well.

[Shanny]

Haha Yoshi, that's a cool name! :-D

[kimmy]

That sounds great , I'll see what branches and twigs I can find for him cause there's plenty around here

I like the idea of having the twigs intertwined as the one in my tank isn't used very much, he might just need some more climbing space

Thank You and I'll keep you posted