My frog escaped!!

[mpmistr]

I came home from work today and my albino ACF apparently flew the coop..!! I tore my tank apart and he was no where to be found but my other two ACF were in the tank.. I found him under my lazy boy which happens to be right next to the tank so he didn't get too far.. I grabbed him and he felt like cold rubber.. so I tossed him back into the tank and he's swimming and he LOOKS normal.. I am just worried because he took a pretty long fall... and he landed on my hardwood floor.. I fed him and he ate like normal so apparently he's not too stressed out.

I am going to lower the water in my tank a lot.. I had a glass lid but I guess he somehow poked out the back through a VERY narrow less than 1/2 an inch gap.. crazy.

I am kind of worried though, are there any extra precautions to take? He doesn't appear hurt.

[rodsboys]

I told you they are crafty when it comes to escaping. If there is a will.... The only thing I would do is isolate him in a bucket for a couple of days instead of dropping him back in the tank and hold off on feeding. The digestion process uses water. Sounds like he was not too dehydrated, but he will be slightly none the less. Let him have some alone chill time to recoop. He will have a broken shed over the next few days too most likely. When my girl got out a while back it took me a day and a half to find her.I am now seriously considering doing away with the aquarium top and going with a screen top.
Glad you found him quickly. Hopefully you and him will grow from this experience. lol

[mpmistr]

I told you they are crafty when it comes to escaping. If there is a will.... The only thing I would do is isolate him in a bucket for a couple of days instead of dropping him back in the tank and hold off on feeding. The digestion process uses water. Sounds like he was not too dehydrated, but he will be slightly none the less. Let him have some alone chill time to recoop. He will have a broken shed over the next few days too most likely. When my girl got out a while back it took me a day and a half to find her.I am now seriously considering doing away with the aquarium top and going with a screen top.
Glad you found him quickly. Hopefully you and him will grow from this experience. lol

It's so crazy he got out. I have two Whisper 40i on the back of my tank.. so all there is back there is the clip that holds the filter on and the power cable.. it really is a fraction of an inch from where the plastic back end of the glass top rests on top of it. I really figured they couldn't fit through that but he some how managed.. I honestly was freaking out I shut my filters off and made sure he wasn't inside them since before I even considered he got out.

I put him back in the tank last night and he's acting normal so I guess I will skip the isolation part. He's not shedding or anything. The second I put him in the aquarium he was off chasing down a ghost shrimp and acting himself I don't think he got out very long.. maybe 3-4 hours at the most. I looked him over pretty good doesn't appear he broke anything on his fall, that's the part I was most worried about because it had to be quite a drop... these are tough frogs lol.

I taped up the back of my aquarium in the mean time.. I have an Eheim 2217 Canister filter coming today.. I guess I will have to find a way to set it up and leave no way for another escape.

It's kind of funny because I had put some feeder mollies in their aquarium the other day because I was breaking down one of my bigger tanks I bred them in to sell it. The other night I took them out and placed them in another tank I set up yesterday. Maybe he went looking for all those delicious fish???

[rodsboys]

I was surprised how tough they are too. Mine fell 18" from the tank top to the counter top, then fell 40" to the floor, then crawled 30+ feet to my sons' closet and into a 6" tall cardboard box under some clothes.

I ordered some sponge filters a while back from Ebay and still waiting for them. The hob filter I have can't handle going any lower because of where the connection to the extension is. It is also annoying having the "waterfall" thing going.

[mpmistr]

I hate the waterfall too that's why I set my water level a bit higher the other day until my canister filter gets here.. I figured with a glass top that was (mostly) secure it wouldn't be a problem. I have a 40B screen top in my closet.. maybe I will try that instead.. I have to find a way to get the canister filter in there without any gaps for escape.

I ran tape across the back to close up any holes in the mean time. That should prevent any further escapes.. I wonder WHY they feel the need to escape?!

[rodsboys]

I wonder WHY they feel the need to escape?!

There are probably lots of things that trigger that behavior. With mine I am sure it was the "new" tank mates. In the weeks leading up to the escape I added my 2 little grow out babies that I have had been growing for 7 months and a few days before the escape I adopted 3 adults from a local couple that was moving out of province. Prior to that Calapyso had not had a tank mate in over 2 years. She probably felt crowded. She has settled in fine now and everyone gets along well.
I am going to upgrade my tank soon too.

[mpmistr]

There are probably lots of things that trigger that behavior. With mine I am sure it was the "new" tank mates. In the weeks leading up to the escape I added my 2 little grow out babies that I have had been growing for 7 months and a few days before the escape I adopted 3 adults from a local couple that was moving out of province. Prior to that Calapyso had not had a tank mate in over 2 years. She probably felt crowded. She has settled in fine now and everyone gets along well.
I am going to upgrade my tank soon too.

I wonder if removing a food source (the fish) triggered it. I keep only 3 juvenile ACF in a 40 gallon breeder.. so it can't be over crowding because the tank is huge for them. My frogs aren't even 8 months old yet so they're not full sized.

[tgampper]

Don't forget to put a secure lid on your ACF tank! There is plenty of evidence to show that these frogs are capable of making short distance nocturnal excursions regularly. Also, they are known to make long distance, overland migrations during extreme conditions. Reports that this frog is fully aquatic are greatly exaggerated

[mpmistr]

Don't forget to put a secure lid on your ACF tank! There is plenty of evidence to show that these frogs are capable of making short distance nocturnal excursions regularly. Also, they are known to make long distance, overland migrations during extreme conditions. Reports that this frog is fully aquatic are greatly exaggerated

I lowered my water depth a few inches and I have taped up any gaps in the lid.. unfortunately I am still using a HOB Whisper 40i (which caused the 1/2 inch gap my frog managed to escape through!) until my new Eheim 2217 accumulates enough 'beneficial bacteria'.

I have no openings now so I am pretty confident now there's no chance of escape, they certainly do seem to work hard at escaping!

Almost makes me wish I had a 3/4 water and 1/4 land set up to see these guys outside of the water now and then..

[tgampper]

Almost makes me wish I had a 3/4 water and 1/4 land set up to see these guys outside of the water now and then..

Interesting idea, but not practical, IMHO. Although there is one particular species, Xenopus (Silurana) tropicalis, that will bask out of the water.