malaysian horned frog!

[kueluck]

Oh my gosh I love these guys. I was thinking about getting some of these, but all I've read on them say they are not easy to keep, that they are for the experienced herpetologist. I've only had native toads & frogs for two years, and snakes for almost a year. I guess I'll have to “live” w/these amazing creatures through this thread. Keep it updated please.

[Lija]

update time
out those 3 in the last pic another one died and second one was showing similar symptoms, one was totally healthy and fat. None of the frogs were responding to treatments, first 2 died very fast showing neuro symptoms and skin lesions, left trio was doing very fine for a few months, and then symptoms kicked in again.
right now working closely with one of top frog vets in north america on getting reasoning and treat it, so far so good, sick one is getting better, eating like a pig again and almost ready to transfer from his hospital set up. I'm going to test our ideas first and will share it with you.
if anyone on here has experience in keeping those frogs i would love to chat.

[Starforce2]

Sounds like these frogs should be avoided. Were they WC?

[Lija]

yes, they were, as far as i know cb are not available anywhere on a pet trade lately, attempts of breeding were made and some were successful, but as far as i know people have hard time keeping them long term, and i think we might came up with why based on our experience.
I don't think they should be avoided, but due to not much captive care information and information about them in general it is hard to keep them, once I do all my research and test theory, I will probably write a care sheet. As with any species the more information you have the easier to keep.

[Mentat]

Hello Lija! Just read your thread, very informative but at the same time sad . I really like these frogs and even found a probable source in U.S. But last thing I want is to get them and watch them wither and die.

Did you and Vet came to any conclusions about your frogs issues? To me it sounded like a very agressive opportunistic bacteria attacked a stress weakened immune system. Some bacteria target the brain and nervous system and are highly lethal. That would explain the neurological symptoms and later skin lesions. Did Vet do autopsy on dead frogs to determine cause of death? Good luck with remaining one !

[Lija]

no, not yet, it is scheduled for necropsy with tissue sampling to be done soon. I can do it myself, but i want to include more pro's in it, more heads better outcome!

yes it is very sad story, but i wanted to share it and hopefully come up with the solution. any experience is good, it is sad for me, but it might help many more frogs in the future. The person who I'm communicating with is top notch and don't have reasons to not believe him, especially given that his suggestions work and explain everything I'm dealing with as well as other people dealt with too.
skin lesions come first, neuro later.

will be updating as it comes, right now i want to dig as deep as it's possible and hopefully to come up with reliable care sheet.

[Starforce2]

well, research isn't for me. I think if I went through the above I'd get frustrated and simply give up on keeping the species. Curious to know how much it is costing you to treat the disease or whatever is going on, if you don't mind saying.

[Lija]

Curious to know how much it is costing you to treat the disease or whatever is going on, if you don't mind saying.

not much since i don't need to pay for vet services or pay minimum if lab is involved but the point is - I got frog species knowing it might be difficult to keep and having not much information of captive care available. They are awesome unique frogs, interesting to watch, but apparently there are things what need to be further investigated in order to ensure success of keeping them in captivity.