RETF help

[Cocinecro]

Your hospital tank looks almost exactly like mine, except I have a small piece of pothos vine in a corner, and I don't have a bowl for my crickets. Putting one in now.

No droppings today, and I found the missing cricket. He's starting to look too thin, so I'm going to start force feeding tonight.

[Cocinecro]

First force feeding failed. Wrapped him in a paper towel to make him easier to handle, pried his mouth open, and tried to feed him a small dusted cricket with no hind legs. He closed his mouth on it for a second, and I thought he was swallowing it, only to have him spit it out the second I put him back in the hospital tank. Didn't want to risk stressing him out even more, so I'm waiting until tomorrow to try again. Going to get the smallest crickets I can find for the next force feeding or try to grind them into a paste and feed with a syringe.

[Cocinecro]

Had a female start to act funny tonight, not bad.. just seemed to have her eyes closed for a couple of minutes at a time while she was exploring her tank. At first I thought she might just be shedding, but since I already have one frog sick, I decided to go through their cage again and see if I could find anything wrong in their cage. I think I found the smoking gun, the piece of grapevine wood I had in the cage was completely soaked through and had mold growing in one of the crevices.

Now I just feel dumb that I didn't catch this earlier. Live and learn I guess, but I learned my lesson about using that wood in a humid terrarium. Threw out that piece, spot cleaned their terrarium, also got rid of the piece in the White's terrarium as well. Their new homes should be complete within the next two days. The only wood in the new terrarium is Cypress driftwood, and a piece of Ghost wood from blackjungle terrarium supply. Anybody else have problems using certain types of wood?

The male specimen seems to have been really stressed from the force feeding attempt. I might just leave him alone until tomorrow night before I try again, hopefully he'll calm down a little.

[DonLisk]

Hi Cocinerco
New vivs will go through a molding stage but should slowly disappear over time. Some wood definitely molds over pretty back compard to others and its probably a good thing you took out the grapevine if it molding pretty bad.
Usually a small amount of mold is not much of an issue for the frogs unless they are spending a lot of time on the mold itself.

Yeah, force feeding is really tough. You can blend up some earth worms and add in small amounts of calcium and try feeding that with a syringe. I have seen some other blended items used also, like the crickets and innards from meal and superworms. Since it is more a liquid form it is easier to swallow and digest for the frog.

You mentioned the one female is closing her eyes occasionally and was wondering if your using a light at night to view them. Most peoples Red Eyes need total darkness at night and I have seen with mine that even the light from the computer screen near the tank will cause them to close their eyes. Sometimes I can use a flashlight to direct only the outer edge of the light on them and have them not close their eyes but any direct light will.

[Cocinecro]

I use a red heating light for their terrarium, but that's the only light I use in their enclosure at night. I have heard people debate on using these with red eyes, but my frogs have never had a problem with them. I did turn on an overhead light to check on the water levels in their mister just before I noticed her, so that may have been the cause. Just checked on her again without turning on a light and she seems fine.

As far as mold goes, do you recommend keeping springtails in enclosures to keep it in check? I've heard a lot of people say they help a lot, and was thinking about picking up some for the new enclosure.

Thanks for the tip on the feeding. I'll grab some mealworms to add to the mix for tomorrow's feeding attempt. I'm thinking ground mealworms, crickets and a small amount of reptical. I feel terrible trying to force feed them, it seems like I'm almost doing more harm than good with the way they react to it, but on the other hand I don't want him to starve either.

Thanks for the help! I'll keep you posted.

[flybyferns]

Hi,
Mine will catnap at night after they grab a cricket.
I have found that even a red light bothers them? In fact, I have wasted lot of $$ on so called "night bulbs".
I have ALL the daytime lights on timers. They like the schedule.
Like Don said - complete darkness - is best.
I heat w/ ceramics-- very carefully
If possible use probe gauges to minitor temp & himidity
Double check the temps- make sure its warm enough and well ventilated.
If you are hand misting - just before- lights out- is a time you want to give the viv a good mist.

Force feeding is terrible ( for you and especially for the frog)
Always use wet paper towel and gloved hands( powerless gloves)
If you do no have gloves - wet hands.
Wash and rinse your hands before and after handling her and beftor going into the main or other enclosures.
I use a small, needleless, thin, 1cc syringe and gently open the mouth w/it.
( so this would have to be a syringe that the needle attaches without the plastic threading on the end)
The total food amount I push into the frogs mouth is about 2/10th of a cc. Push the plunger slowly.
I go to the corner of the mouth closest to me.
NOT the very tip of the mouth- you don't want it to trickle into the frogs lungs.
You might look at a frog anatomy photo /poster

Hold the frog slightly upright after the feeding for a few seconds, and return it to the glass. You should see the frog swallow as usual.
Like Don says , it must be soft BUT not too liquid.

I dust a small cricket w/ V&C then take the head and back legs off of it -- and squish the guts out of a wax worm.
You need to fill the syringe from the opposite end w/ the plunger out.
You don't want to use the skin of larvae- too hard to digest.

I'm not crazy about the spastic spoon idea. Maybe it works okay for a larger frog though?
I guess it is what you get used to.
The edges of the spoon are sharp ?- and then you have to hold the frog and the feeding tools!!!!

Get the metronidazole asap ! So, hopefully your DM friend can accommodate you today?

Hope all goes well !!
Lynn

[DonLisk]

Lynn, you rock. Nice reply.

Cocinecro, just wanted to add in if your doing the mealworms get rid of the heads since they stay pretty hard or even whole.