Quote Originally Posted by flybyferns View Post
Hi Renee

I do not have whites - but I will try to help.
Your Whites has or had MBD ( meteibolic bone disease ) along the way, maybe even as a froglet?
What you see can not be changed , BUT if there is any calcium dificiency it CAN be corrected so that no further damage will occur.
The two points on it's back--- are the upper corners of the sacrum bone. It is shaped in a triangle. Through it runs, a bone call the urostyle.
The urostyle ends at the vent. The little point you see at the vent is the tip of the urostyle.
His dusted crickets are extremely important in an environment that is stress free and there is no competition for food .
Getting some weight on him is important so that those little bony areas do not break the skin. Pick up some wax worms - they are high in fat but not nutritious!
(Just wax worms - the others are too hard to digest) give him a couple a week along w/ a DAILY feeding of crickets. You must calcium dust "Rep-cal" is a good one.
Feed him WELL- daily for now. Dust w/ vitamins and calcium on seperate days. i.e. Calcilum w/ D 3-3X/ week , vits 2x times and 2 days off.
Make dinner easy - the crickets should not be too big.
He should have a thank that is at least 18"- 24" high at some point! For now, what I would do, is put him into a 5 gallon tank ,ALONE.
I would purchase a 2.0 UVB bulb at put it on a timer for 4-5 hours during the day.

Don't worry about him being unable to climb, for now, as it could hurt Keep a simple substrate like clean , dampened paper towels in his hospital tank to monitor food and poop. Handle him VERY ,VERY carefully !!!! dampen your hands. What ever you do ---secure the transport!!!! to be sure he does NOT tank a leap, as he could break a bone if there is any active MBD. Keep a fresh, very clean, shallow soaking dish available at all times. Water should be de-clorinated only (Reptisafe , Aquatize or Amquel).
Keep his tank quite and covered on three sides, if at all possible. Handle him , only, if absolutely necessary ! For now I would not put anything in the hospital tank for him to climb on. * you don't want him to fall* Moving forward----you can monitor his ability to climb on the glass as he progress and gains his strength back.

There is a FF care sheet for Whites !

Hope this helps
Lynn
Lynn,

Thank you SO much for #1-not sounding like I'm a terrible and neglectful pet owner and #2 (most importantly) possibly solving the mystery. For one, I bought Dumpy like this. He looks the same as he did 2 months ago. The pet store where I bought him is a small family owned one who truly care about their animals. When I bought him, I asked them why he's so bony because I did my research before the purchase and the pictures I saw of healthy frogs were far different than the Dumpy. I do know they fed their frogs/toads every other day and keep tight records. Not sure if they include calcium dusting. I use Reptical for every other feeding and I've been feeding him as much as he'll possibly eat (crickets & waxworms) to fatten him up and get some calcium intake. In his terrarium, there's no competition for food because I drop the crickets in right in front of him and watch all my frogs & toads when they eat so I know who's eating and who's not. He has no problem eating

When you mentioned that what I see cannot be changed, what do you mean? Is this MBD the equivalent of human arthritis or osteoporosis? This might explain why he prefers the soft substrate (painful?). If I continue to fatten him up and give calcium supplements, do you think his condition will get better? I'm putting him in another tank by himself tonight and for the past week I've been really monitoring this little guy and he seems to be gaining weight. His hip bones are less noticeable after just a few days, which is great. He appears to be fattening up, although he still likes to burrow. I'm putting a UV light only on him; I think my other frogs will live without it for a little while (getting another one Thurs).

Any other advice you can give and are you pretty certain he has or has had this MBD? Have you had experience with the same problem? Should I take him to a vet if his condition does not improve? I think we have a small pet hospital somewhere close to me.... I am going to do everything on your list to get this little guy better. He's only a baby, per the pet store and I have 3 toads and 2 other tree frogs and have never had any problems with them. Thanks again for your practical and non-judgmental advice. Sometimes people (others) on this and other forums forget that we love and care for our pets too and aren't neglectful if we write in about a problem with a pet. If people were neglectful, would they take the time to post pics of their pets and try to figure out a problem their having? So like I said, thank you for your nonjudgmental reply and help; I'm sure grateful )