URGENT- Sick Golden Bell Frog- HELP NEEDED

[Heatheranne]

I too am thinking malnutrition is the culprit here. Use the calcium with vitaminD3 supplement lightly dusted on the food, or you can use the Flukers liquid calcium supplement in a soak. Read the instructions. It's only a couple drops or so in the soak.

It sounds as though your frog has tetany. Tetany is a group of symptoms caused by low blood calcium levels. Calcium is not absorbed properly without vitamin D3 when taken in orally, so be sure the supplement is calcium with vitamin D3, phosphorus-free.

Tetany symptoms: numbness, tingling, twitching, tremors, lack of motor or mobility control, uncoordinated movements, seizures, paralysis, inactivity of the intestines such as when peristalsis or the contracting motion of the gut stops causing constipation and bloating, inability to control musculature of the jaw and tongue, cardiac dysrhythmias etc.

Calcium helps us control our musculature and therefore our bones that are attached to those muscles. It also affects organ/smooth muscle and heart/cardiac muscle. It also gives our "bone cells" structural strength. Without calcium these action potentials within the muscles have varying degrees of inability to use these muscles or their usual functions anywhere from odd motions, to uncoordinated motions, to paralysis of the muscle, bone, or organ involved. Long story short, they need calcium to survive and without it which ever function involved will eventually cease to function.

Other micronutrients such as sodium, potassium, magnesium play a roles in the functions of skeletal, cardiac and smooth (organ) muscle.

Frogs in the wild eat insects that eat calcium-rich plants and frogs may soak in mineral rich ponds or puddles plus have UVB light from the sun to help their bodies produce their own vitamin D3. In captivity we have to provide the supplements for them.

Being they were not provided with a supplemented diet, I have a strong suspicion that this is the reasons for the twitching, which needs to be corrected soon or the functions will be irretrievable and/or will die. If you start supplementing now and he eats, this process can be stopped and proper functions will resume .

The electrolyte solution will help to provide sugar/dextrose for energy, and sodium and potassium which will help with some of the electrolyte/nutrient deficiencies.

If he will not eat for you, try the liquid calcium drops in a soak.


Do not use more than the recommended dose, because too high of a dose too fast can cause toxicity.

I'll break it down for you in case you decide to use it. There's no need to remember this calculation, but here it is in case you'd like to refer to it later. The dose is only 1/2 teaspoon (2.5ml) (* corrected*) in 8 oz (240ml) of dechlorinated water. Divide the 2.5ml by 2.5 and you get 1ml of medicine per 96ml. There are approx. 10 small drops in 1ml or you could say each drop equals about 0.1ml. So for a large frog it would be approx 10 drops (1ml) per 98ml in a soak. There are are 30ml in one ounce for estimation of US measurements.

For a small frog of 1" or less I'd use only 1/4 to 1/5 that dose, or approx. 2 to 2.5 drops (0.2 to 0.25ml) of the calcium per 98ml of soak water. Or in English , about 2 to 2 1/2 small drops in approx. 3 ounces of soak water. One of the small children sized medicine measuring cups is usually a 30ml cup and makes it easy to measure your water.

Soak for about 15 to 20 minutes daily until symptoms resolve or until he begins eating the calcium-powdered food. Then stop the calcium soaks. The calcium soaks are a temporary treatment and the calcium with vita D3 is better regulated by the frog's body in terms of absorption and is the best choice when healthy.

Use the powdered-calcium on his food daily until symptoms resolve and then switch to using the supplement every other day.

Use a multivitamin supplement lightly dusted one day a week, but not in the same day as the calcium, for proper absorption of the micronutrients.

Hope this helps .

If this gets too wordy, just ignore the extensive data and take in the basics . I love to educate .