Very worried, my Goober will not eat

[Eridu Serpent]

Can anyone advise me please or just reassure me?

Goober my ABF giant (8mths old roughly) has not eaten in about 10 to 12 days.
He is normally very greedy but he is just refusing food, turns right away from it.
I can tell he has lost weight.
The odd thing is though he pooped in his water yesterday.
He has also shed recently.
There is NO food in his enclosure, as I normally feed him in a different tub or with tongs
while he sits in his bath.

Tonight he still will not eat.
I have tried him on crickets, locusts, slugs, roaches and his fave King worms.
How long can they go before it becomes a problem and something dangerous?

His tank is 27 degrees ambient temp, deep in his soil it is 29 to 31.
I know the temps are fine as the beeper has not gone off and I can see the readings.
He has a moist area, water and hide.
Day bulb if cold, moon bulb of a night.

I have no idea what to do.
Anyone?

Thank you for your time

[Lija]

you are around for quite some time, I'm sure everything is correct, but still would you please run down all questions as well would you please post some current pics.
just a question, why deep part of substrate is warmer then air? how do you heat? how did his poop yesterday look like, normal, usual amount and consistency?

[GrifTheGreat]

Answer these questions and repost the answers here in your thread.
http://www.frogforum.net/african-bul...enclosure.html

Why is the temperature under the soil warmer than the ambient air temp?? This should never be. They burrow to cool off and thermoregulate much like when they bathe. If he wanted to aestivate he would die from the temperature not being cool under the soil as they need it to be.

Answer those questions and we will figure this out.

[Eridu Serpent]

The reason the temp is different is under one part of his tank where the deep moist soil is there is a heat cable set on a thermostat.
The rest of the tank is heated by the bulb when needed, at the moment we are having temps between 30 to 34 outside the house,
so it is slightly cooler indoors.
He has a deep hole under a roof tile, that area is kept nice and wet for him, this is much colder...24 degrees.
He basically has a warm area and a colder...then his water to go in.
Goobs is sitting in the warm bit now.
His poop seemed normal and there was a lot as usual.
I have another living with him a female named Pickle, same age.
She is eating less but frequently.
Goober looks healthy but I think he looks thinner.
He has not been in his water for ages so it could just be that he is not full of water.

Goober has always been a brat when it comes to food, he will not move to get anything so he refuses to eat Dubias.
If the food does not wriggly directly in front of him he will not eat it.
So he would eat anything but them.
I just have no idea why he is not eating, it is quite a worry.

[Eridu Serpent]

Question 1
2,5ft by 2ft 1.5ft tall.

2.
One female with him, same age.
3.
60%
4.
Ambient temp is 27 degrees above soil.
29 to 30 under soil in one area.
24 degrees in another area, kept constantly moist and covered by a roof tile.
ALL regulated by thermostats.
5.
Filtered water
6.
Moss and eco earth.
7.
Artificial.
8.
Crickets, locusts, slugs, king worms, miel worms.
9.
Calcium/vit is mixed in with the insects food.
10.
40 watt heat bulb as and when needed.
Low wattage UVB bulb 12 hrs a day.
11.
Thermostats...and me.
12.
10 to 12 days ago.
13.
Yesterday, I saw him do it.
I put him in his water and he pooped.
14.
--- It is dark here, web cam will not give good photo.
15.
Roughly 8 mths.
16.
7 mths
17.
Captive bred.
18.
Normally every other night.
Crickets, locusts, slugs, king worms, miel worms, assorted roaches.
No other.
19.
Everytime I feed him or try to.
When being cleaned out.
20.
Low, it is in my bedroom.
21.
I change the water every other night or if pooped in straight away.
I change the eco earth/moss every 2mths...clean the tank with hot water.
Wash the rocks.
ALL rocks are natural and non pourous.

[GrifTheGreat]

Is the filtered water treated?

Raise the humidity to 78% to 80% and occational spikes of 90%.

Temp can have a drop to 78°(26°) at night and be fine. Day temp seems good.

Try offering Night Crawlers as a feeder. You could even try offering a Fuzzy. Also raise the humidity before offering food.

[Eridu Serpent]

He will not eat night crawlers, I have a tank of about a thousand earth worms and both frogs refuse to eat them.
Pickle will only eat them if they are in a pile, so she has one gulp then they slither off.
The humidity is a problem at the moment, I cannot get it that high as our atmosphere is very dry at the moment.
I will have to keep spraying every 30 mins.
At the moment the heat cable is off, as I said the thermostat controls it and it has not been on for ages.
It is warm enough without it on.

I tried to get him to eat by giving him a change of scenery, I put a tank outside in the sun for a while with water in it.
He just sat under the shade while Pickle swam around.

He´s always been a picky eater, lazy but he would pack away 50 king worms in a sitting...or as many crickets/miel worms etc.

[Lija]

apart to what Grif said and assuming the water is treated and to clarify - he eats but not as aggressive as he used to and only if food is wiggling in front of his hose, did i get it right?

[GrifTheGreat]

He will not eat night crawlers, I have a tank of about a thousand earth worms and both frogs refuse to eat them.
Pickle will only eat them if they are in a pile, so she has one gulp then they slither off.
The humidity is a problem at the moment, I cannot get it that high as our atmosphere is very dry at the moment.
I will have to keep spraying every 30 mins.
At the moment the heat cable is off, as I said the thermostat controls it and it has not been on for ages.
It is warm enough without it on.

I tried to get him to eat by giving him a change of scenery, I put a tank outside in the sun for a while with water in it.
He just sat under the shade while Pickle swam around.

He´s always been a picky eater, lazy but he would pack away 50 king worms in a sitting...or as many crickets/miel worms etc.

What kind of lid do you have on the tank?

[Eridu Serpent]

The water is treated by osmosis (is that how you spell it?).
I boil it in a pan to warm it...let it cool for his bath and spray.

When he ate before he would eat loads if the food wriggled right in front of him. He was sort of lazy, would not go for it like Pickle does.
She will hop a bit to get something. He stopped eating roaches as they play dead and he cannot be bothered with them, he will not eat earth worms at all
even though they wriggle a bit. His fave food was King worms and locusts, crickets sometimes.
I just thought he was a spoilt brat LOL He used to eat snails if they were out infront of him.
I got some food grade ones and bred them for him.
He used to eat Hissers but I have none left till next week (got 60 breeders coming).

Seems he wants food to sit in front of him and wave their arms and legs but not run off.
I sit him in a tray with 3 inch sides to feed him, so the food cannot escape.
As a baby I fed him with tweezers, while he was in his water as he spent most of the nights there.
Now if you feed him in the water he seems to just lose the food.
Basically he is a lazy boy, but normally a complete trog, he used to eat loads but nothing for 10 to 12 days!

[Eridu Serpent]

It is a huge plastic storage container, so it has a solid lid that clips down.
I have never closed it, it is always 1/4 way open on hot days and slightly open on normal days.
I cut holes into it for the bulbs.
It also has an air hole in the middle.

[Lija]

water is no good, you gotta fix it asap! boiled, etc will still have what it shouldn't have ( chlorine, etc) get prime or similar and use it for regular tap water or use natural spring water. some frogs are more resistant environment some less.

for humidity - just cover part of your lid with plastic wrap or foil or plexi, some people find it ok when 3/4 of a lid is covered, i need more in my climate ( humidity usually is at 10-20%), just play around and see what works.

[Eridu Serpent]

water is no good, you gotta fix it asap! boiled, etc will still have what it shouldn't have ( chlorine, etc) get prime or similar and use it for regular tap water or use natural spring water. some frogs are more resistant environment some less.

for humidity - just cover part of your lid with plastic wrap or foil or plexi, some people find it ok when 3/4 of a lid is covered, i need more in my climate ( humidity usually is at 10-20%), just play around and see what works.

The man who fitted the filter said ALL the chemicals get taken out and it is as good as bottled water.
he said no water is completely clear not even spring water.
It´s one of the best you can get so I do not think the water is a problem.
I cannot understand why Pickle seems ok though, she´s out rummaging around the tank, digging, then goes in the water.
Goober has stolen her house though so she goes into his.
Could it be he dislikes her?

[GrifTheGreat]

Ok so they're in a large tote. Hmmm you may want to try and move them into and actual glass tank. Much easier to maintain their climate this way.

Lija is right about the water. It has to be treated with a dechlorinating agent like Prime or ReptaSafe. Boiling and letting it sit out does not remove all the chemicals and heavy metals in the water. Need to start treating the water. Basically they are slowly being poisoned.

Water also needs to be changed every time the frogs enter it. So daily if necessary. Them not entering the water shows thay they may be telling you that there is something wrong with the water.

[Eridu Serpent]

I am happy that the water is fine, the system cost a lot of money and we were told that it removes 99% of all chemicals, especially chlorine, dry residues and metals.
It is one of the best systems we could get. Our water comes from the local spring, it feeds all the village.
The reason I change it every other night is because they seem to stay in their hides then go into it every other night, if they do go in it I change it.
I never let it just sit.
Goober stopped eating when our weather changed, we had a late summer, it was pretty chilly until then.
When it is chilly I boil the water and let it cool so they do not get the shock of cold water.

I actually thought he may be too hot?

[GrifTheGreat]

I am happy that the water is fine, the system cost a lot of money and we were told that it removes 99% of all chemicals, especially chlorine, dry residues and metals.
It is one of the best systems we could get. Our water comes from the local spring, it feeds all the village.
The reason I change it every other night is because they seem to stay in their hides then go into it every other night, if they do go in it I change it.
I never let it just sit.
Goober stopped eating when our weather changed, we had a late summer, it was pretty chilly until then.
When it is chilly I boil the water and let it cool so they do not get the shock of cold water.

I actually thought he may be too hot?

Its possible, but 82° is not too hot. If he were to hot he would bathe.

Humidity is definitely low and needs to be raises. You may want to buy a fogger. Unit and have it on a timer to turn on for so long so many times per day. That would help the humidity issue. Or buy a Zoo Med Hygrotherm and have it control the temp and humidity levels for you.

[Eridu Serpent]

Its possible, but 82° is not too hot. If he were to hot he would bathe.

Humidity is definitely low and needs to be raises. You may want to buy a fogger. Unit and have it on a timer to turn on for so long so many times per day. That would help the humidity issue. Or buy a Zoo Med Hygrotherm and have it control the temp and humidity levels for you.

I will look into the fogger and get one of those.

I called Paco the water filter man and he assures me that the filter I have does the same if not better than the liquid you can buy to take out chemicals/chlorine and other ick. So I am happy with that.

On Monday I have some hissers coming so I will try him on those, he used to love them but I ran out.
I have 60 on the way so I can breed them too.

I am going to try him again tonight and see if he eats
Who would think a little animal like a frog could worry one so much!!
I will update you later tonight.

[Eridu Serpent]

<doing the happy bunny dance>



My Goober ate 4 locusts just now!!!!
I will try him with more later.
I think his fast is over.
Thank you for your help

Eridu

[GrifTheGreat]

<doing the happy bunny dance>



My Goober ate 4 locusts just now!!!!
I will try him with more later.
I think his fast is over.
Thank you for your help

Eridu

Glad to hear it!

You're welcome!

[FLUXCORE]

My frog is about the same age, I started only feeding him once a week or so and massive meals he is over 7" I have never worried about humidity I have a large tank with a screen top and keep his coco fibre damp and a large bathing area available other then that and the occasional mist that's it. Seems to be doing fine, if the substrate is drying out you got humidity good enough. I wouldn't worry about him going 10 or so days without eating, they get moody my guy has done this before and ate eventually.