First off, for those that don't know. If you mix reptivite with d3 with water and accidentally spill some on the meal worms you will kill them in less than a minute. Although I couldn't get my sick tree frog to eat it anyway (bloated and lethargic). Because I couldn't get my tree frog to eat it but he really needed calcium, I missed it with some water and put some in his mouth to. Hopefully help him improve. What happened instead is after a small amount, he seized and died. Why did this happen? I know it killed the meal worms but this stuff is meant for reptiles and amphibians. Can someone please tell me what happened or if they can shed light on the situation?
Hello Kristen and welcome to FF. I'm sorry for your frog's death ! Not sure what happened to your frog. What I recommend you do now is to clean and sterilize the enclosure and all decor. Throw away anything that can't, like substrate and live plants. Better safe than sorry and getting a new frog contaminated.
Also, would not use that vitamin just in case. Contact ZooMed and maybe will give you a replacement or refund. Have never used Reptovite; presently using Repashy's products with no problems. Good luck !
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
I have cleaned out the vivarium and changed out substrate etc although I do have two other tree frogs that are thriving wonderfully with no signs of illness. I will definitely never use reptivite again. Might switch to what you use.
Hi there,
I'm sorry for the loss of your frog.
Curious, what type of treefrog do you own?
There is absolutely nothing bad/wrong with reptivite in use with tree frogs. I used it in the past for a long while with no problems what-so-ever. Reptivite is a muti-vitamine only, not a calcium supplement. Only dust feeders once per week with the reptivite and separately dust with a calcium and d3 powder every other day.
What was the reason for mixing it with water? I've never heard of that before, and have only dusted feeders with the powder.
Perhaps the mealworms drowned? Or, I know crickets intake oxygen through their exo-skeletons, maybe mealworms do also? If the water and reptivite solution completely covered the exo-skeleton, perhaps this would explain the death of the mealworms? Just a guess....
Mealworms aren't a recomended food sourse for treefrogs anyhow, the chitin is difficult to digest and they have been known to be the cause of impaction, just fyi.
I have no idea what would have caused the death in your frog, but I doubt it was the reptivite.
I do not use reptivite anymore, I use Rep-Cal Herptivite once per week, and Rep-Cal phosphorus free calcium with d3 every other feeding (about 2-3 times/week).
I have also used Repashy Calcium Plus for dusting feeders, this product is an all in one cricket balancer. I liked it and would use it again...
Great that you were able to clean out the enclosure so quickly, and that your current frogs appear healthy. You should still keep a close eye on them.
If you can answer these questions (which are found in the sticky, Trouble in the Enclsure), someone may be able to help with what may have actually happened to your treefrog:
1-size of enclosure
2-# on inhabitants - specifically ( if there is another frog ---size differences ?)
3-humidity
4-temp
5-water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
6-materials used for substrate
7-enclosure set up i.e. plants( live or artificial) wood, bark etc -how were things prepared prior to being put into the viv
8-main food source
9-vitamins and calcium ? ( how often )
10-lighting
11-what is, specifically, being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
12-when is the last time he ate
13-have you found poop lately
14-a pic would be great ( including the frog ) any little cell phone pic is fine
15- how old is the frog
16-how long have you owned him
17- is the frog wild caught or captive bred
18- frog food- how often and if its diverse what other feeders are used as treats
19- about how often the frog is handled
20-is the enclosure is kept in a high or low traffic area
1.1.0 White's Treefrog
1.0.0 Red Eyed Leaf Frog
i know this may seem like a dumb question, but when you mixed that up with water, did you use dechlorinated water?
1.0.0 Oophaga Pumilio 'Black Jeans'
0.0.10 Phyllobates Vittatus
0.0.3 Phyllobates Terribilis 'Mint'
0.0.3 Dendrobates Tinctorius 'Patricia'
0.0.5 Dendrobates Leucomelas
0.0.2 Dendrobates Tinctorius 'Powder Blue'
0.0.2 Ranitomeya Variabilis 'southern'
0.0.3 Epipedobates Anthonyi 'zarayunga'
1.2.0 Phyllobates bicolor
0.0.3 Dendrobates tinctorius 'azureus'
0.0.1 Avicularia Avicularia
0.0.1 Gramastola porteri
0.2.0 Canines
1.0.0 Tabby/Maine Coon Mix
2.1.0 Genetics Experiments
0.1.0 Bed Bully
They are green tree frogs. I used water cause he refused food but needed nutrition and calcium. Reptivite with d3 has calcium. Only was using meal worms because I needed to try to get him to eat and as I was at work, I stopped by the closest pet store and they had no crickets. It was a thin solution with mostly water and wouldn't have drowned the meal worms because there wasn't that much spilled plus it killed the meal worms in less than a minute which is exactly what happened to my tree frog. They both went into what looked to be seizures and died in less than a minute. My enclosure is a 55 gallon tank half aquatic. Now only has 2 green tree frogs, 5 fish, and a snail. Enclosure is about 80% humid at about 75 degrees. Full spectrum lighting but more light on aquatic side until now. Conditioned water in aquatic side but I was using unconditioned for occasional mist Until
Yesterday. Coconut husk eco earth mixed with potting soil (un fertilized) normal diet is crickets gut loaded with fluckers orange cubes and calcium infused water gel. Last meal I'm unsure of but 2 days or 3 probably. Lots of poop since I had three frogs, had him around 3 mos (got young) captive bred, occasional moth/fly for treat, I don't handle him cause their skin is sensitive, and it's medium traffic but only from 5:30 pm until about 10 pm. No traffic during the day
I know reptivite has both calcium and d3, but it's not suitable singly. You do need to supplement with a calcium and d3 only powder as well. I don't know about the fish and snail, it could pose a parasite risk? Someone else will need to chime in on that.
As far as your water, if you were previously not treating water for misting, this could also be a problem. Godd you're treating all of the water now.
Everything else seems fine....
1.1.0 White's Treefrog
1.0.0 Red Eyed Leaf Frog
I'm pretty sure it was conditioned but couldn't swear to it. Would that cause them to instantly seize and die?
Well both the crickets food and water had calcium too
1.1.0 White's Treefrog
1.0.0 Red Eyed Leaf Frog
I don't think lack of calcium is the issue here, or at least the cause of death. Nor do I believe it was the reptivite...
But, even though you are gut loading the crickets, you still need to dust with calcium.
Crickets should be gut loaded (like you are currently doing), and dusted. Calcium with d3, and multi0vitamin.
1.1.0 White's Treefrog
1.0.0 Red Eyed Leaf Frog
Everytime I change the water I treat it but should I do it every month? The water is also filtered constantly and filter changed recently
Oh, and jsut re-read your post above.
Wild caught insects are not the best treats, I'm sure frogs love them though
There is a risk the insects could be contaminated with a pesticide or something similar, this could cause instant death. How long has it been you fed a wild caught insect?
1.1.0 White's Treefrog
1.0.0 Red Eyed Leaf Frog
I didn't dust them until yesterday for the first time. Seems to be ok when the reptivite is dry but getting it wet seemed to change it somehow
Like a month and it was a baby moth. They ignored it actually and it escaped back into the house lol
It is treated before it goes in but the water conditioner says to use once a month but Ijust do it when iI change the water
Oh! Okay. Sorry
1.1.0 White's Treefrog
1.0.0 Red Eyed Leaf Frog
Hi Kristen! This might be one of those events that are hard to pinpoint down to a specific cause. You could repeat the ReptiviteD3 water (dechlorinated or use tank water) mix on the mealworms and see what happens to them. Obviously we are not going to experiment with the frogs. I don't feed pinced worms to my frogs, only earthworms and Dubia. The former are excellent for dusted feedings because the supplements stick to their bodies real well. Good luck !
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
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