Pacific tree frog has severely swollen mouth/ lips

[Heatheranne]

Yes, the soak will be good to give him a boost.

Try the cut night crawlers. Try using tongs. You can make them extra small and he can eat more of them if it works.

You can also pick up some reptaboost. It's a nutritional supplement for amphibians and reptiles. It is a powder you mix according to his size. It comes with a syringe.

If he cannot get the worms in his mouth, or you cannot get the reptaboost, you'll have to force feed. If you can do it, cut up some night crawler pieces, add a tiny bit of calcium and a very tiny bit of dechlorinated water and blend in a blender until an applesauce like consistency. You could do it with crickets, but you'll need to remove the head and legs.

Get a small 1 ml syringe from any local pharmacy and very gently syringe a drop in at a time. Allow him to swallow before the next drop. Keep him upright when feeding, not in a laying position, to prevent choking. Syringe it in on the nonswollen side.

To hold him, dampen a paper towel in dechlorinated water so it's moist. Gently pick him up with and carefully swaddle it around him to keep his arms out of the way, to keep him from wiggling too much, and to prevent risk of hurting his skin or giving him human bacteria. Wash and rinse your hands very well before handling him. The moistening water should be luke warm, not cold. If you are concerned about getting him sick from holding him, apply a thin layer of ORIGINAL neosporin (NOT with pain reliever -it kills frogs) to the moist paper towel and rub the paper towel together to spread it. Pick him up with the neosporin side.

I also used to soak my baby right in the paper towel. He is very mellow though.

Try not to stress. Remain as calm as you can.



You'll need to contact a vet, as flybyferns has noted, to treat the swelling and resolve the problem. The quicker the swelling resolves, he'll be able to eat on his own and he'll have less stress and better healing.