R.I.P. Billy...Advice Please?

[RoninSTi]

I don't know the temp IN the substrate. His tank is still setup, so I know I can find out. the temp was 80 on the surface. Again the UTH was on the side, and the lamp was only used when it got really cold here (In New England). I used moist coco fiber and misted 3x a day so I know it was pretty moist in there.

Should I try and get a measure INSIDE the subs?

[Socrates]

There's a few possibilities I can think of that caused your frog to perish. It is possible that the pH of your substrate is off (either to acidic or basic). You could perform simple pH test with the appropriate soil kit.

Another possibility is that you accidentally "cooked" him, many people usually over heat Tropical species of amphibians thinking that it's extremely hot and humid (which of course is not true). In reality the temperature of the forest floor in tropical rain forest is usually much cooler than one would think (usually in the 70's, hot air rises, cold air sinks. Plus much sunlight never reaches the forest floor). I would recommend low 80's at the highest for max temp, with upper 70's being ideal and high 60's-70 at night.

Your moisture/humidity sounds just fine, so no need to change that.

Last thought is you said you fed him supers? (I'm assuming that means super worms?) If that is the case, DO NOT feed super worms or meal worms! They can still maintain there ability to use their mandibles, especially in amphibians because they aren't chewing the arthropod to kill it completely. Plus, even with humans there has been incidences were individuals ate meal worms that they hadn't chewed properly and the meal worm ate a whole through there stomach wall. I would therefore stick to young crickets (gut-loaded of course), phoenix worms, silk worms and horn worms (the two later, b/c they have a very close 2:1 Ca - P ratio). Calcium is important in the Ceratophrys genus, this is because of their fast growth rate. IF they have inadequate levels that can develop jaw abnormalities or rickets (juvenile brittle bone disease) like syndromes.

Hope this helps! And sorry for the loss of your frog!

[RoninSTi]

Thanks so much for your input. I'll will test the pH prior to obtaining another pet. What should the ideal pH be? I don't think I "cooked" him, as 80 was definitely the highest the temperature ever was, but it may be a possibility. It's nice to know that upper 70's is really ideal.

I'll remove the super worms from the diet and stick to the dubias. I'll also try to get some silk and/or horn worms. I use progecko gutload as my gutload. Here is the link to the ingredients for that:

Ingredients:
Sun-grown grains, ground corn, wheat middlings, dehulled soybean meal, safflower, dehydrated alfalfa meal, ground wheat, ground rice hulls, molasses, canola meal, rice bran, marigold extract, various seeds and greens, calcium supplement, vitamin/mineral supplement and more.

Analysis

Dry Tested

Wet Tested

Crude Protein

20.90%

19.38%

Crude Fat

5.16%

4.78%

Fiber

14.20%

13.16%

HFE (Carbohydrates)

50.22%

46.56%

Total Carbohydrates

64.42%

59.72%

Moisture

0.00%

7.30%

TDN

85.91%

79.64%

Ash

9.53%

8.83%

Calcium

1.70%

1.58%

Phosphorus

0.70%

0.65%

Potassium

0.82%

0.76%

Magnesium

0.26%

0.24%

Sodium

0.17%

0.16%

Sulfur

0.20%

0.19%

Nitrogen

3.34%

3.10%

Iron

440 PPM

408 PPM

Aluminum

232 PPM

215 PPM

Manganese

105 PPM

97 PPM

Copper

13 PPM

12 PPM

Zinc

107 PPM

99 PPM

[Socrates]

Looks good for the gutload, and I would have the pH around neutral (~7+/- 0.2). Good luck.

[RoninSTi]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll post pics of my new little guy...I was so fond of billy, it's sad he's not going to be there when I get home.