Hurt frog,

[keegan86]

I am new to this forum, and new to frogs in general. I was leaving work the other day and found a green tree frog sitting on the asphalt in the 100 plus degree Alabama weather. Hell, I couldn't just leave it there... I put it in a container, and have been feeding it crickets and misting it for about a week now. I don't know what happened to it, but one of its back legs is broken. Its femur and tibia, or whatever the frog equivalents are called, are both broken. Maybe it got ran over, or picked up by a bird or something, I don't know. Honestly, I was sort of hoping it would die from internal injuries, but the little guy is sticking around, which means I have to do something about it's leg... The leg is messed up pretty bad. It flops around. One of its lower leg bones can be seen sticking out through its skin. Like I said, both its upper and lower leg bones are clearly broken. I don't know much about frogs, but I have a hard time thinking they are going to grow back naturally. So here is my question: Is there any chance of this problem resolving itself, or is there anything I can do about it? It's not like I can put a tiny cast on it... As bad as it sounds, I keep thinking I am going to have to cut most of its leg off. If that is the case, are there any relatively fool proof ways of anesthetizing a frog? I have a degree in biology/chemistry, so I think I could handle it, but of course I would rather not. Any advice would be appreciated...

-Keegan (keegan86@aol.com)

[flybyferns]

I am new to this forum, and new to frogs in general. I was leaving work the other day and found a green tree frog sitting on the asphalt in the 100 plus degree Alabama weather. Hell, I couldn't just leave it there... I put it in a container, and have been feeding it crickets and misting it for about a week now. I don't know what happened to it, but one of its back legs is broken. Its femur and tibia, or whatever the frog equivalents are called, are both broken. Maybe it got ran over, or picked up by a bird or something, I don't know. Honestly, I was sort of hoping it would die from internal injuries, but the little guy is sticking around, which means I have to do something about it's leg... The leg is messed up pretty bad. It flops around. One of its lower leg bones can be seen sticking out through its skin. Like I said, both its upper and lower leg bones are clearly broken. I don't know much about frogs, but I have a hard time thinking they are going to grow back naturally. So here is my question: Is there any chance of this problem resolving itself, or is there anything I can do about it? It's not like I can put a tiny cast on it... As bad as it sounds, I keep thinking I am going to have to cut most of its leg off. If that is the case, are there any relatively fool proof ways of anesthetizing a frog? I have a degree in biology/chemistry, so I think I could handle it, but of course I would rather not. Any advice would be appreciated...

-Keegan (keegan86@aol.com)

Hi Keegan,
It it really a wonderful thing you have done, trying to save this poor little guy !
It's a sad story I would take this frog to a herp vet .
Like you, there are many special people / vets that may truly want to help the frog recover, some doing it for no cost at all ; especially when the understand it was found on the roadside. If nothing else, a $40 ( or so ) office visit will help you determine as to whether the frog needs to be euthanized. I'm sorry for him, I hope he recovers!

Good luck! "What comes around goes around"
Someone must of have done something very nice for you, too !!!!!!!

[keegan86]

Gimpy the frog is still with us. He is eating crickets and moving around, but his leg is still in pretty bad shape. We dont really have herp vets around here either. No offense to the frog, but I am not driving to Birmingham for his health care. I'm just gonna cut his dang leg off.... My online research says finquel is the anesthetic of choice. I can handle that I think , and if I screw it up all I will do is euthanize him, which is what the local vet will to do if I take it to them anyway. My question is whether I should give him some kind of pre surgical antibiotics. All of the literature I have read recommends doing this, but none of them actually name the antibiotic of choice. Yea I know there are a lot of antibiotics, depending on whether the infection is gram positive, negative, viral, fungal, etc. I don't have a friggin microscope and lab setup in my basement... I am just trying to take precautionary measures whenever possible. I have also read that some amphibians have a hard time metabolizing some antibiotics, and they can cause fatal liver damage. Like I said, I am totally new to this little hobby, and am completely ignorant when it comes to amphibian welfare. Is there some kind of general, commonly used broad spectrum amphibian antibiotic? Maybe something I could put in his water, or spray onto him? Petco sells tetracycline tablets for fish, and I am sure I can get pretty much anything off of Amazon.com. I really don't want to screw this up, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[GrifTheGreat]

Gimpy the frog is still with us. He is eating crickets and moving around, but his leg is still in pretty bad shape. We dont really have herp vets around here either. No offense to the frog, but I am not driving to Birmingham for his health care. I'm just gonna cut his dang leg off.... My online research says finquel is the anesthetic of choice. I can handle that I think , and if I screw it up all I will do is euthanize him, which is what the local vet will to do if I take it to them anyway. My question is whether I should give him some kind of pre surgical antibiotics. All of the literature I have read recommends doing this, but none of them actually name the antibiotic of choice. Yea I know there are a lot of antibiotics, depending on whether the infection is gram positive, negative, viral, fungal, etc. I don't have a friggin microscope and lab setup in my basement... I am just trying to take precautionary measures whenever possible. I have also read that some amphibians have a hard time metabolizing some antibiotics, and they can cause fatal liver damage. Like I said, I am totally new to this little hobby, and am completely ignorant when it comes to amphibian welfare. Is there some kind of general, commonly used broad spectrum amphibian antibiotic? Maybe something I could put in his water, or spray onto him? Petco sells tetracycline tablets for fish, and I am sure I can get pretty much anything off of Amazon.com. I really don't want to screw this up, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

For most internal bacterial or protozoa infections they use Baytril or Flagyl. There is a member on here that could definitely assist you with this. his screen name is Skeletalfrog. For external wounds you can apply Neosporine WITHOUT PAINKILLER. the painkiller would kill the frog. Just original Neosporine.