My frog's leg appears broken

[babaleuska]

One of my frogs appears to have a broken leg. I don't know how it happened, one morning she wasn't swimming properly. A lot of the time she is upside down, but appears to be eating as usual and moves around. Is there anything I can or should do? She has been this way for about 1 1/2 weeks.

[mpmistr]

What kind of frog?

[babaleuska]

ACF, just exactly like your picture.

[mpmistr]

You'll want to lower the water so that he can surface for air and you'll need to find out what caused the leg to break and remove it. Any ideas?

[babaleuska]

No idea at all. She has been in the same tank for 5 or 6 years alone and there really is nothing in there that would break/dislocate her leg. She seems able to surface, but the leg looks awful! there's no break in the skin. It appears that the joint closest to her body (hip) is the (for lack of a better word) malfunctioning one. The leg appears limp when she is not moving, but she is able to move the "knee" and "foot".

[mpmistr]

I'd lower the water so the frog doesn't have to put much effort into getting air. I'd remove decorations that may have caused this and keep the frog as stress free as possible. I'd also keep the water as clean as you can and perhaps lower the lighting down too so the frog can recover (do you have live plants?). These frogs can/will heal fairly quickly so this should not be fatal.

If you have a small hospital tank, that may be ideal.

[babaleuska]

So this will heal by itself? She just looks so unnatural the way she is. I will the remove everything from her tank and hope she heals soon. Thank you. I wonder if this has any bearing. a while ago this frog ate a rock. Before I had a chance to do anything about it, the rock was out. (I didn't see how the rock came out) while the rock was in the frog, it was swimming crooked, as if it had to compensate for the weight of the rock. She did swim normally after the rock came out and I of course removed it from her tank. The rock had been on a decoration in the tank and came loose. The entire decoration was removed as well.

[mpmistr]

A picture may help. If it's a really bad break may require a vet?

[babaleuska]

I have not posted a picture before, so bear with me.

[babaleuska]

[SwimminSteve]

This frog look severely underweight to me! What are you feeding her and how often? The injury to the leg is probably the result of malnutrition or disease. Has your frog always been so emaciated?
Can you post a full body picture of the frog, please?

[rodsboys]

It looks like the leg was stuck in something and the frog spun around to get free. And I agree the frog is way thin for a 6 year old. I too would like to see a full body shot, could just he the angle?

[babaleuska]

I will post a picture in the morning.

[babaleuska]

This is the best I could do. She wouldn't stay still when I was trying to take the picture. She is much thinner than my other frogs. I feed them Aquatic Frog and Tadpole food. It is from Zoo Med Labs, Inc. I used to feed them Frog Bites, but I can't find it here anymore. I would welcome any suggestions on other foods and where I can get them. I have six frogs total. They were originally "class pets" in my classroom from Grow a Frog. I left teaching in 2004, so my youngest frog is at least 10 because we didn't have a frog my last year. I've never had a sick or injured frog before. It actually never occurred to me that they could hurt themselves in their tanks. I have only one tank with two frogs and the other four each have their own.

******Looks like I've posted the same picture. I will try again******

[babaleuska]

Please see previous message for text.

[SwimminSteve]

Wow, this frog is in really bad shape. She looks severely stunted and emaciated. It's really hard to tell from this picture, but it looks like her spine is twisted as well. How long has she been this way? Do you notice that she has difficulty feeding? I'm really concerned about her quality of life at this point. She looks close to death. I don't know if she suffers from birth defects or if her condition was caused by improper care.
Please tell us more about your frogs so that we can guide you in the right direction.
What size tanks do they live in?
What kind of filtration and how often do you change the water?
How often and how much do you feed? I don't see a problem with the type of food you use, but clearly something is off judging by the condition of this frog.

As Michael said above, keep the water level low from her. Offer some kind of leafy plant (artificial is fine) that she can rest on up near the surface. Try handfeeding her. If she doesn't gain some weight soon she isn't going to make it. I recommend reptomin sticks for handfeeding, let them soak for a bit before you offer it so that it isn't rock hard. Bloodworms might also be a good idea. Try the frozen ones (hikari) and don't offer too much. Giving her too much food too quickly could kill her.

[rodsboys]

I am sure that the food you mentioned is nutritionally sound, but it is way too small. It would be like a human living off of supplements only. Your frogs need substance. You can pretty much use any aquatic turtle as a staple diet. Most people use Reptomin. You can find it at Petsmart and Walmart as well as just about any pet store in North America.
Tetra ReptoMin Floating Food Sticks - Sale - Fish - PetSmart You can also add yummy little things into your rotation as treats or occasional foods like store bought earthworms, frozen-thawed raw shrimp, scallops, talipia, salmon, and krill.
Is there any reason why you don't have all of the frogs in the same tank? They interact well with each other and would probably prefer the company. I am sure some may disagree, but that animal is suffering badly.
The frog in question, in my opinion is too far gone. I would put it out of it's misery and concentrate my efforts on fattening up the rest of your group.

[SwimminSteve]

I am sure that the food you mentioned is nutritionally sound, but it is way too small. It would be like a human living off of supplements only. Your frogs need substance. You can pretty much use any aquatic turtle as a staple diet. Most people use Reptomin. You can find it at Petsmart and Walmart as well as just about any pet store in North America.
Tetra ReptoMin Floating Food Sticks - Sale - Fish - PetSmart You can also add yummy little things into your rotation as treats or occasional foods like store bought earthworms, frozen-thawed raw shrimp, scallops, talipia, salmon, and krill.
Is there any reason why you don't have all of the frogs in the same tank? They interact well with each other and would probably prefer the company. I am sure some may disagree, but that animal is suffering badly.
The frog in question, in my opinion is too far gone. I would put it out of it's misery and concentrate my efforts on fattening up the rest of your group.

I would have to agree with you, Tony. The chances of this frog recovering are very slim. If the owner has access to a veterinarian I would also recommend euthanasia. I'm curious to see if the other frogs are healthy. I use HBH frog bites as a staple for my frogs and they are all robust and healthy. Only one of them is figured out coming to the surface for reptomin.
I imagine that Babaleuska was just not offering enough food.

[Necromencer]

I am sure that the food you mentioned is nutritionally sound, but it is way too small. It would be like a human living off of supplements only. Your frogs need substance. You can pretty much use any aquatic turtle as a staple diet. Most people use Reptomin. You can find it at Petsmart and Walmart as well as just about any pet store in North America.
Tetra ReptoMin Floating Food Sticks - Sale - Fish - PetSmart You can also add yummy little things into your rotation as treats or occasional foods like store bought earthworms, frozen-thawed raw shrimp, scallops, talipia, salmon, and krill.
Is there any reason why you don't have all of the frogs in the same tank? They interact well with each other and would probably prefer the company. I am sure some may disagree, but that animal is suffering badly.
The frog in question, in my opinion is too far gone. I would put it out of it's misery and concentrate my efforts on fattening up the rest of your group.

I'm no expert (yet), but I agree entirely with this post. This frog looks severely malnourished, but as Tony said, not because you were not feeding or neglecting it, but rather because of the diet. In terms of healing and general anatomy, I can't say much but the obvious, and it is clear that this frog is in a bad, if not very bad, state.

You have a few options:

A) Go to a vet
B) Put it in a hospital bed with the procedures that others have already mentioned, and see if it cures naturally
C) Put it to sleep. You can do this gently by adding clover oil into a small tank and wait for it to fall into a deep sleep. Then it's best to finish him/her off with vodka while it is still sleeping. It won't feel a thing and it is the most dignifying way to put an aquatic animal to death.

[babaleuska]

The frogs are not together because I don't have a tank big enough to keep them all in. The two frogs are in a fifteen gallon tank, three of the others are in ten gallon tanks and the last is in an eight gallon tank. I can't afford to get a tank big enough for all of them. I clean the tanks usually about every ten days or so, the water is never cloudy and I do not let algae grow on the sides. The tanks all have plastic plants. I am going to move the injured one into a one gallon container and hope for the best. She is eating by herself, though probably not as much as she should. How do you hand feed a frog? I could not put her to sleep, just couldn't.

I don't use a filter or any other mechanicals. As with the larger tank, I just can't afford to buy that kind of set up.