Injured Eyed Wild Caught

[iheartfrogs]

Hi! My name is Megan and I live in Newfoundland. I've already posted a little about an injured frog that I took home last week. I'd like to post here from now on in case anybody is following our progress! This is a good place to show off your frog knowledge because we need all the help we can get.

I'll start with some of the photos I've taken so far, in order.


Sunday July 28th

Froggy on the highway, I tried to pick it up and it jumped and ruptured it's eye bubble thing. I decided to take it home instead of putting it back in the super polluted ditch with a hundred other normal frogs.


Sunday July 28th

Froggy stayed at my buddy's house for a week. He set it up with a 10 gallon tank with a warm red light and a cfl.
We tried crickets but it didn't eat them. Frog was active.





Tuesday August 6th
(1wk 2 days)

I switched to coco fiber on the 4th and mixed a Melafix bottle for spraying. Frog still wouldn't eat. I force fed it two meal worms and then learned how dangerous force feeding is. I won't try it again but I was still concerned about it's diet because it was losing color so...



August 7th

Today I gave it a half hour honey bath which seemed to perk it right up. Froggy is currently sunbathing and slightly more active (turning around on the sunny patch).



Here is it's eye today. No longer bloody red, but a cloudy blue black.

So, basically, it's been a week and a half. Frog has been on Melafix water for 3 days and had a honey bath today.
I don't think it pooped but I keep finding white/yellow chunks that look like bits of shrimp but disintegrate when I try to scoop them with the net. Could that be something reproductive..?

[iheartfrogs]

I have so many questions!

Could the frog's appetite have to do with mating season? I read that it's in March but March is generally still winter here.
Underneath the eye looks like it's losing color or even skin?
Is the change from blood red to blue black a good one, or a bad one? Is it because of the Melafix? Should I release this catch now, or wait?
How should I be using Melafix and when should I stop using it?
How long should I let it go without eating before I intervene?
Can nutrients be absorbed through the skin?
What causes her front legs to become pale?

What is Reptoboost? Can I use it? Frog looks less good since I took it home.

[iheartfrogs]

[AlanLynch]

I'd say that bluish black is just it healing. It should be normal in a couple days. His apetite is probably caused because of stress due to his new surroundings, I would leave one cricket in the cage with him, if they're are too many crickets they will bite him. I do not know anything about the loss of pigmentation or worsening in look. I say, keep on giving him the honey baths. I may be wrong, hopefully someone more advanced at this subject will reply to your thread here. I hope I helped some.

[BlueKiwiOca]

One thing you can do right now is cover at least three sides of the tank with dark (preferably green) material or paper. This will help reduce the poor guy's stress as he tries to acclimatise to captivity. I'm by no means an expert on frogs whatsoever, but that's one thing you need to do now.

I know you're also worried about his eye, but also leave off handling him for a few days (pref a week at least). The reason he's not eating is most probably stress. Handling him and bathing him will stress him out unduly, so although your intentions are good, just give him a little space watch and keep an eye on him and his condition from a distance. Keep him in a quiet place, and mist his tank with de-chlorinated tap water while he's asleep so you don't disturb him.

Repta-Boost is "a complete nutritional supplement that provides immediate energy and fluid support for reptiles and amphibians. For use as both a critical care aid and as part of an ongoing maintenance program for healthy animals". This stuff is pretty potent; I'm using tiny amounts currently on one very sick, weak and malnourished froglet. I wouldn't recommend using it until his health declines to the point of being malnourished and weak, and not being able to eat regular food. You need to force-feed it with a syringe.

If you can get hold of some unflavoured Pedialyte, in a week or so when little frog is less stressed- if he or she is still not eating do a soak of one part Pedialyte to ten parts dechlorinated water. Soak for fifteen to twenty minutes. This should hopefully give the frog the electrolytes and energy to start eating again.

I personally think you should stop with the Melafix until an expert comes along to confirm that it's a good treatment to do. It may be unnecessary. As for the eye, I can't help you there, but for other wounds there may be on the body apply original Neosporin (without pain-relief; this will kill the frog) with a q-tip using a rolling motion. Do not use the Neosporin on the eye.

I'm sorry I couldn't help you more, but hopefully there's a bit of info in there for you

Gabby

[iheartfrogs]

The frog has been Melafix free since Tuesday and it's active and eating on it's own.

The best thing I learned about so far was honey bath c: I never tried Pedialyte but I won't be needed to now that it's eating.

It's enclosure is very private one side is covered in a towel with a cave made out of plastic vines.

I have no reason to bother it now that it's healed and eating so I decided to ask a frog hospital if I could release it and the lady said I shouldn't because it's probably totally blind in that eye. So thank goodness it is eating!

I guess I'm keeping it and I don't mind because I had fun learning about frogs and fell in love with pac-man frogs.
As for it's gender I thiiiink it's a girl because it's quiet.

[AlanLynch]

The way you tell the gender on green frogs (The species of frog youre caribg for) is how big their ear is. You see that circle next to it's eye? If its bigger than the eye, it's a male, if it's smaller or tge same size as the eye, it's female.

[AlanLynch]

Sorry for the typos on my last post, I'm using my iPod to post.

[iheartfrogs]

I just finished taking pictures for the hopefully legit frog rescue group I've been in contact with. I haven't heard back just yet but they did advise against releasing it due to it's eyesight.

[iheartfrogs]

A lady from a pet store helped me feed him some wax worms because he was getting very thing. I wonder these things...

If I released it, would it be happy and eat again? Would it estivate or hibernate, since the cold weather is coming soon, and emerge again in the spring a happy frog?

If I kept it, would I have to feed it forever? Would it ever feel safe and be happy?

This is what the frog doctor said: The frog's left eye looks badly damaged and will probably not restore to a seeing eye. This frog should become a captive animal and would be good for somebody who wants to breed them in captivity.

I assumed it would eat on it's own when I "rescued" it.

That breeding in captivity thing gave me an idea though. Maybe if I raise some tadpoles and find him a lady frog he'll perk up?

[BlueKiwiOca]

As I said before, it takes a while for them to adjust to captivity. It's used to being out in the wild, free to roam around, and now suddenly it's in a glass box! Surely if you were in the same situation you'd be a bit freaked out.

If you kept it, yes of course you would have to feed it forever- not necessarily force-feed, but provide it with adequate food. I wouldn't use wax-worms as a staple diet, they're very high in fat. See if you can get some crickets or Dubia roaches. You'll need to dust the food in a calcium supplement with D3 added, if you're not keeping it under an intense UVB light. Frogs in captivity can develop Metabolic Bone Disease, which is caused by a lack of calcium in their diet. In the wild, the frog would eat bugs that ate plants high in calcium, so it wasn't an issue, but in captivity we need to provide extra calcium with D3- the D3 helps the calcium to be metabolised and absorbed properly.

Frogs aren't really social animals, like humans or dogs or horses. They're normally fine on their own, so I don't think having a frog friend would make him start eating again. Of course if you want to, that's absolutely fine, I just don't think it would make much difference to the frog's state.

I don't think the frog will hibernate, if you're keeping it inside it should be too warm to do so. Hopefully someone who has experience with aestivation will chime in and answer your question. From what I know, you need very precise conditions to allow a frog to aestivate. Without managing these conditions properly, it can be dangerous for the frog.

[iheartfrogs]

I think you're a little confused, but thank you for trying.

The wax worms were chosen purposefully for their size and digestibility while I get the hang of force feeding, based on what is available to me.

Dubai roaches are illegal in Canada.

By feeding forever, of course I meant force feeding, because how could I expect to "keep" it and not feed it..?

By hibernation, I meant if I release the frog.

I think the part you missed was "If I release..."

Those were just my thoughts at that moment, not serious questions about it's care.