Need more help

[SaraBailey]

My little guy hasn't eaten in almost a week and hasn't pooped in almost 1 1/2 weeks. Since she hasn't been eating, I have been forcing her to eat calcium by opening her mouth. She pushes everything away and slapped the calcium away. Her legs seem to go every which way, and only every once in awhile I'll be able to get a weak jump out of her. I have put her in warm water with honey, but she climbs out and sits on the edge of the dish. She doesn't have an issue peeing on me, which I don't know is a good sign or bad. I'm worried about my little girl and don't know what I can to do make her feel better.

[tgampper]

Sorry to hear about your frog. I would stop the calcium and keep the frog in a quiet place. It is probably stressed out. Hand feed food items a little smaller than usual, that way she won't have to work hard for the meal.

[DonLisk]

As Terry said, smaller items and keep an eye on her weight.
If he/she is not under weight, they can go quite a while without eating.

If you can get the frog to eat smaller hand fed items, there is a liquid calcium available you can spray on the meal right before feeding.
I have seen some grind up earthworms with some calcium powder added in and then force fed with an eye dropper.

The honey bath is for a frog that is listless and seems to have no energy. If this is the case then use a piece of Tupperware and make the water only deep enough for the frog to sit in and no be submerged.

[Beardo]

What kind of frog do you have?

An idea just popped into my head, so take it with a grain of salt, but maybe adding some calcium powder to the water you soak the frog in would help a bit? Since they absorb things through their skin perhaps this would be a less stressful method of getting the calcium into the frog? I literally just thought of this, so I have no idea if it would work.....maybe others can chime in with their thoughts.

[GrifTheGreat]

It's not advisable to put the calcium powder in their water source. It can irritate their skin, and it is harder to control the dosage. You can buy liquid calcium. I believe ZooMed makes some. The liquid calcium can be mixed in the water and will give you exact instructions on the proper calcium/water ratio. You can also get ZooMed's Reptisafe water conditioner which has calcium and electrolytes. I hope your frog recovers soon. Please keep us posted.

[Beardo]

Thats interesting that something that woukd irritate their skin is safe for them to ingest. Seeing as the mouth and GI tract is basically nothing but mucus membranes, one would assume if it irritates the skin it would irritate their internal membranes since with frogs there is not as big a difference as with more "dry" species like mammals.

I also doubt anybody doses the amount of powder used when they dust the prey items either.....has anybody here actually tried the method I described above? Just curious what the results were if so.

[GrifTheGreat]

Thats interesting that something that woukd irritate their skin is safe for them to ingest. Seeing as the mouth and GI tract is basically nothing but mucus membranes, one would assume if it irritates the skin it would irritate their internal membranes since with frogs there is not as big a difference as with more "dry" species like mammals.

I also doubt anybody doses the amount of powder used when they dust the prey items either.....has anybody here actually tried the method I described above? Just curious what the results were if so.

Mucus protects against irritants within digestive tracts just as. Like our esophagus is coated with it to protect. In theory their inner organs would be protected as well. Especially with the types of food that they ingest. What I've heard is that the powder building up on the skin causes irritation and stress. Not saying it isn't possible that it would work as I have never done this. Too much calcium is as bad as not enough. Both can be life threatening.

Its a good idea David I've just heard that the powders cause some sort of stress when they adhere to their skin. The calcium in the liquid for is much easier for them to absorb. Not bashing your idea.

[Beardo]

No, I agree....it was just a lightbulb moment that I had (most of which don't pan out lol)....what you said makes total sense to me. Just trying to circumnavigate the stress that arises from force feeding and such.....its a double edged sword for sure.

[DonLisk]

I actually just had a good discussion this past weekend with the owner of black Jungle on this exact topic and was told that the calcium would need to be ingested to get to the blood cells that would benefit the frog. Since I have no knowledge of how this process works I myself have used the liquid with a dart frog recently with no ill effects so far.

What brought this on was a dart having seizures which is a sign of calcium deficiency or other supplement missing from the diet.
Since the initial calcium and supervite bath and upping the calcium dusting to daily she has had no more seizures.

[Beardo]

Very cool info Don. Glad to hear the frog is doing better!

[SaraBailey]

I thought my little guy was getting better because she was able to hold her head up and was climbing more but then again had a seizure and I don't know what to do anymore. I'm beginning to think whatever I try, it will be too late to help. She ate one cricket the other day (I think) and is shedding her skin now (I don't know if that's a good or bad sign) I'm a newbie to being a frog owner, the first one I had died on me in 3 days, which later found out wasn't my fault, and this one I've had for 4 weeks and I've had nothing but bad luck. I'm beginning to think that it's probably me and not the frog that is having issues... what else can I try?