Sad Frog Story(luckily no death)

[lovenokia]

Due to some circumstances, I had a rough couple weeks and cared for my frog very poorly for about 3-4 weeks. I became incredibly busy, and had only time to feed frog once a week. I kept a light going nonstop and that was it. When my crazy schedule came to a rest of days, I had to take care of my frog again. I found him nearly dead, in aestivation, in which I immediately decholrinated water and out in in a warm water bowl. I feed him that instance to with a worm. I let him rest, and tried to feed again, but it was no possible. I also put some repta boost to help the frog in the warm water (don't know if this was good or bad). I have been feeding my frog daily. I think that he has recovered because this was the first day it ate a lot. It barely ate the previous days a little bit. I want to know what health concerns that I could be facing with my frig due to to my actions.
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[DVirginiana]

There could be any number of things. I'll reply in more detail later, but the main thing I would worry about is keeping his conditions spot on, and watching him closely after you feed. After that long with no food, ad not being put into estivation properly, you need to watch and make sure he doesn't start bloating up when he is fed.

Just a sentence or two of soapbox time; When you get an animal whose life you are responsible for, being busy isn't an excuse. I'm in grad school, work two jobs as a TA and RA, and have had a lung infection for the past seven weeks. There have been a lot of days recently when I didn't feel like spending time I didn't have on feeding/misting/watering, but I still did it. I'm trying not to get too mad, but how do you think a dog lover would react if you told them how you almost starved your dog to death and left him outside with no shelter for a month because you were too busy? Neglect is neglect.

[lovenokia]

It did not completely go without food, just the last two weeks were rough, in less food. The frog has not dug down, he has gone in one stop, and basically did not go underground. Look I know what I did was wrong, I had other concerns that were my top priority, and no time. I just need to know about moving forward now. I knew this is rough to post on a frog loving forum, but this is where the best information is available.

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[Frogger32]

I'm glad that your frog is doing better. Make sure that you monitor the conditions of his environment, make sure he keeps eating, make sure he is excreting waste.
Also don't leave any sort of fluorescent lighting on him 24/7.

Good luck! Hope he gets strong and healthy again!

[mchell43]

We all make mistakes and learn from them. Glad your frog is ok now

[Lija]

well, I'm sure lovenokia feels bad about it, no need to point fingers, we all learn from our mistakes, but we also need to have courage to admit it.

I'm glad you are doing your best for him now and I'm glad you're seeking for advice. My advice - get timer and hydrotherm, that will do a lot for your busy schedule, it is ok to feed once a week for a 2 weeks, in nature they don't get fed as a clock too. some adult frogs are on once a week schedule depending on their needs, if they are having a big meal it is ok. More importantly you want to monitor your conditions - timer and hydrotherm will do that with zero work/time from you. Those are truly life savers + they help save some $ on your energy bill as well.

so now your frog he is eating, that is good, you're saying he looks better, that is good too. how big he is? and long ago did you found him "almost dead"?
try not to give him a large meals at once, offer smaller amounts but more frequently and watch him, how he behaves, how he poops. reptiboost would be more beneficial is given per os ( per mouth), although some of it will be absorbed from water as well, but you want to do a dechlorinated water bath after soak with reptiboost.
Do a electrolyte ( unflavouted pedialyte) bath for him, 1 part of pedyalyte 10 parts of water. and then give him reptiboost. and after give him space and time. If he is eating he should be just fine.

[GrifTheGreat]

Lija is right. Everyone makes mistakes and we need to learn from them.

She has offered great advice on speeding the recovery of your frog along. If caught early when the frog begins to aestivate they can usually be brought out of it in a day or two with no ill effects. Keep him warm and hydrated. Keep the climate consistant and all should be well.

[DVirginiana]

He/she might not be having any trouble eating, but along with giving smaller meals for awhile it's also a good idea to soak for a few minutes shortly after feeding. Mine had some serious issues awhile back (long story but the health issues sound pretty similar to yours). Every time she ate for a few weeks after that she started retaining fluid really badly. Soaking after feeding helped get that under control.
If yours is eating on its own it's probably not as bad off as mine was, but the soaks couldn't hurt. Just something to keep an eye on.

If she wasn't getting fed much before that's probably lucky. The worst problems with this come from their systems being full when they go into aestivation. The food can go septic in their system.

[Lija]

I would disagree with that, after a meal it is best to not to handle frog too much ( or any other being for that matter), but let him be and digest his food in peace and quiet.
Taking him out of his cage just after his meal for soak will stress his out of being handled, soaking and then being handled again to transfer to his home, they might start bloating or even vomiting just because of being handled. so unless there is a medical necessity to do that I don't think it is a good idea at all.

[GrifTheGreat]

I would disagree with that, after a meal it is best to not to handle frog too much ( or any other being for that matter), but let him be and digest his food in peace and quiet.
Taking him out of his cage just after his meal for soak will stress his out of being handled, soaking and then being handled again to transfer to his home, they might start bloating or even vomiting just because of being handled. so unless there is a medical necessity to do that I don't think it is a good idea at all.

It is ok to set the frog in it's own water dish that is in the enclosure after a meal. No harm done there. It can actually train them to do so on their own. Many will actually have a bowel movement right before or right after a meal.

[DVirginiana]

It is ok to set the frog in it's own water dish that is in the enclosure after a meal. No harm done there. It can atually train them to do so on their own. Many will actually have a bowel movement right before or right after a meal.

That's what I meant.
It probably also depends on the frog. If it's used to getting soaks or being placed in its water dish it probably won't think anything of being put into its water dish a few minutes after eating.

[lovenokia]

Should I be giving the frog a weekly warm water honey soaking?

[lovenokia]

Would like to give an update, three days ago my frig had a huge meal, and decided to let the frog process it out naturally. Today I saw a hard lump in its stomach so I gave it a warm bath, then a warm honey bath, and he was finally able to poop. The frog was jumping around like crazy though, and bite my finger. I realized it was time to feed. One strange thing I noticed was that before I fed the frog, there was some lump on one side on the body. After he ate, it vanished, but I am wondering if that should concern me.
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[DeeDub]

Not if he's pooping. When they eat, and have a turd brewing, it gets tight in there and when yer frog passes the turd the food will naturally reposition to the center. I freaked the first time I saw it and went through all the steps (as you listed above) for a few days. He ended up pooping in his water bowl when he was ready. so no worries. As long as he's crapped recently he should be fine. Keep and eye on him (as we always should even when not worried about em).

If I'm wrong, one of the mods or forum veterans will correct as necessary.