MOTW - May 6 - May 12 2012 - GrifTheGreat

[wesleybrouwer]

So it is memberS of the week this time

[GrifTheGreat]

So it is memberS of the week this time

Very true Wesley. We have been pretty good at keeping it hush hush.

[Kristen]

Wow I actually had no idea that "GrifTheGreat" was two people!
It's good hearing more about you's. And congrats on your wedding

[frogluver]

It's great to learn more about you two !!

[Jenste]

Tuesday, tell us about your amphibians!

How you came to keep them, mistakes/learning curves, species kept, breedings, how you found Frog Forum etc....we heard enough about you on Monday, let us hear about them frogs!

[GrifTheGreat]

Well, obviously we LOVE frogs!! I think they are amazing, fascinating creatures, beautiful and much smarter than people give them credit for.

We have three Cranwelli Horned Frogs. A brown Cranwelli named Grif, and green Cranwelli named Loki, and another green Cranwelli who just joined our frog family on Friday so we haven’t decided on a name yet. :-)

We got our first frog in February of 2011. Jerrod said he wanted a Pacman or a tarantula… guess which one I voted for! LOL! So once we decided on what we were getting, we went about researching what we would need. I tracked down every book on frogs I could find. I went to the library, four different book stores, spend many hours online. I thought we were prepared, but there was still so much to learn, as we found out. Anyway, we got our first Pac. I remember how tiny she seemed, sitting in that Dixie cup and making that little chirping noise. :-) Based on what we knew at the time, we made an educated guess as to gender. Well, we guessed wrong! As it turned out “he” is a “she.” It wasn’t until she reached eight months and was still not showing any signs of nuptial pads or calling that we realized our error. But we kept the name Grif. It seemed silly to change it after calling her that for eight months already. We got the name from a character on the show Red Vs. Blue. Grif (the character) is lazy and eats a lot, so it seemed like a perfect Pacman name!

Despite our research, it became clear that there was still a lot to learn. So much of the information out there is incomplete or conflicting. I believe you should never stop learning. There is Always more to learn. My search became more frantic when Grif started showing signs of illness at about 4-5 months old. At first, when her appetite slowed down I thought it was just because her growth was slowing. But her attempts to catch food became sloppier and then after a few failed attempts she would give up trying to eat. After a couple of days like that, she stopped even trying to grab food. She became increasing listless and rapidly lost weight. That is when I joined this forum, desperately looking for answers. At that point she hadn’t eaten in a week. Even when she was full of water, her skin was hanging off her bones; when she would pee, she looked like little more than a skeleton. I was so afraid we were going to lose her. At first, I was afraid it might be chytrid, but forum members didn’t think her symptoms fit. They did confirm that she needed to go to a vet asap. I had already been searching for one. I was shocked that even living in a big city it was very hard to find a vet that would treat frogs. Even many of the “exotic vets” still don’t treat amphibians. It took me two days of searching and calling a couple dozen vet offices before I even found one, and it was another two days before they had an available appointment. (This is why I STRONGLY urge everyone to have a vet located BEFORE something goes wrong!!! You don’t want to waste valuable time while your pet is dying.) By the morning of her appointment, she was on her 11^th day without food. The vet could find no physical signs of illness, but diagnosed her as anorexic. I gave him samples of her stool and shed (I kept both as soon as she started showing signs of being sick). He confirmed that it was not chytrid or parasites. He prescribed antibiotics and a de-wormer just in case. He also gave us some canned cat food given to malnourished animals to force feed her. So we gave her the medicine and force fed her nightly, slowly increasing the amount of food. She gained weight back and became somewhat more active, but still made no attempt to eat on her own. After completing the medication but still not seeing a full recovery, we took her back to the vet. This visit didn’t go so well.

Although initially impressed with the vet (he specialized in treating exotics and he had even done work in Argentina), it became clear that he did not know that much about horned frogs, or frogs in general. He was completely stumped as to why she was not recovering. He gave her a shot in case she had tape worms. Then he actually got on the computer and was trying to look stuff up about horned frogs. (He informed us that there was very little information on them in any of the databases.) He started mentioning x-rays and other possible tests, but it became clear that he was more interested in treating her as a test case for learning than in treating her. As soon as he pointed to a spot on her and said, “There should be a vein there.” I said NO and that we were leaving. By the time we got to the front desk to pay, Grif had gone limp. The vet came out and said it was a possible reaction to the shot and offered to keep her over night for “observation” but it really seemed like he was just trying to cover his *** at that point. Every instinct told me that if we left her there she would die, so we took her home. It was a scary ride home. She was so limp and unresponsive. She didn’t even move when Jerrod picked her up. We took her home, gave he a warm honey soak, and she perked back up. My best guess is that she went catatonic from being in cold air conditioning for so long. It was July and they had the AC blasting at the vet office. Between being kept waiting in the lobby for 45 minutes, then the actual appointment, then waiting because he wanted to run another stool sample while we were there, then waiting while he tried to look stuff up on the computer: we were there almost two hours. The cold was just too much for poor Grif. Thankfully she returned to normal after being back in her enclosure. We decided that the best course was to continue force feeding her daily, slowly weaning her off the cat food and onto solid food, nightcrawlers at first and moving on to crickets, hornworms, and a pinky. One day, after about two months of force feeding, she just started eating on her own again. Probably because of the hornworms; she loves them! It took a lot of patience and work, but all of it was more than worth it to have her healthy again!!

Knowing what I know now, most likely her condition was brought on by stress, although we don’t know what caused her to become stressed (most likely the AC; she stopped eating a week or two after we started using the AC in the summer). But she has made a full recovery. She is healthy, rotund, and now measures 4.25 inches SVL. She turned one in February.

In September, we got our second frog. We named him Loki after the god of mischief. He definitely lives up to his name! He quickly got the nickname “Tree Pac” because of his fondness for climbing on his plants and hides. He still does this sometimes, although now that he is bigger, he usually ends up with his belly hanging off one side or the other. ;-) This time we guessed right, as he is indeed a male. He started calling at about five and half months old. It was squeaky at first, but now he is LOUD! He likes to “talk” to the two of us. He knows our voices and will start calling when we talk. It’s funny because if we stop talking to listen to him, he immediately stops calling. However, if we keep talking he keeps calling and increases his volume as he goes. He does not like to call when he hears voices of people he doesn’t recognize though. I love hearing him call, but I have yet to catch him in the act no matter how sneaky I try to be. He is just sneakier! Sometimes he will call while he is completely buried. :-)

Our newest addition joined us on Friday. He is another green Cranwelli. We haven’t decided on a name yet. I think it is amazing how each of them has such distinct personalities that are visible from day one! Grif is very docile (for a Pacman!). She is a total sweetheart. Loki is a brat (which I love about him!); he is always trying to escape. He likes to make his opinions know with his very loud calling. Our new baby has a wise-beyond-his-years air about him. His face doesn’t have that “baby face” look to it; he almost looks more like a miniature adult. He stares very intently at everything. He seems to be very smart too. He even ate from tongs his very first night!

Keeping frogs has been an amazing addition to my life. I love to just watch them; they are so fascinating! I consider them to be a part of our family. :-)

So here is my overall recap/ general advice:

1. Research, research, research BEFORE you get the pet. BEEEEFORE!!
2. Know that no matter how much you research, learning is an ongoing process. There is always more to learn. And a responsible pet owner will do their best to keep learning.
3. Have a vet located.
4. Never take your pets for granted. :-)