Final Words

[frogluver]

My heart goes out to you and your loss! I'm so sorry to hear this !

Was your bullfrog wild caught? When I first started keeping Wood frogs, which I caught from pond area near my house, I had a juvenile who was really healthy. He ate consistently, his bone and muscle strength were excellent, and he was always very active. But one evening—about a year after I had him in captivity— when I went to feed him, he just flipped over onto his back, stretched out his legs, and started to have seizure/spasm like attacks. He also had temporary paralysis. Fortunately, he didn't die. After the attacks, he appeared very ill and had a few more attacks after that.

Now during that time, we didn't have any vets that specialized in amphibians, in the state of Alaska. So the only thing I could do was research (and pray). But after an hour of research, I found something that resembled what my baby was going through......Heat related muscle spasm syndrome (HRMSS). HRMSS only happens if the temperature continues to be too high for the frog to handle for extended periods of time. The frogs will seize and the hind limbs will stretch out. They will also gape (frogs way of panting) in attempt to cool off. If temperatures persist for 3 or more days the frog will become paralyzed or limp and die. The only way it can be treated if caught early enough is by cooling off the frog.

Wild amphibians found in cooler environments, can easily escape the heat waves in their natural habitats. But when brought into captivity, and if temperatures are too high and not enough ventilation is provided, it can be harder for the frog to escape the heat in its enclosure. I didn’t have the prober lighting for a Wood frog….I had an office lamp and it could get rather hot after several hours of usage. When I realized this and after what had happened, I corrected my husbandry and gave him the proper environmental temperatures/lighting he needed and he recovered.

Is it possible that maybe he had several seizures before and you didn’t notice it? I don’t think you did a bad job in caring for your bullfrog….you did great. Again I’m so sorry for your loss

[Pippin]

That sounds very much like what happened to him, but his tank wasn't even heated, it was probably just a few degrees above room temperature due to the glass, so probably about 76 or 77 degrees, and he passed in the evening when the temperature would have dropped anyways (i turn the air cooler at night) but he did just flip on his back and seize like that. And I am assuming he was wild caught (just a little frog some of my friends had brought to me) so perhaps he had an underlying condition