Pixie Frog not eating

[mafoo]

Hello, In the past month my pixie frog has been kind of strange. He is a year and a half old and now is not eating so much. He seems to go in spurts about it, he wont eat for 1-2 weeks and then will eat up to 20 large nightcrawlers. If I offer him anything new such as a pinky mouse he will eat it right away, although having no interest in the worms. At first I thought he was just tired of worms, but what has got me worried now is that he has not pooped in over a month. Humidity is 70-85, despite him liking it on the dryer side. Temps are 85 on the hot side and around 70 on the cool side. Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to help him out?

[Bruce]

70 seems a bit cool... can you post a picture of his enclosure? it may help answer some questions.

[Mentat]

Frog behavior sounds normal to me; but if worried go ahead and answer these questions to check all is OK. Thank you !

“Trouble in the Frog Enclosure”

The following information will be very helpful if provided when requesting assistance with either your frog or enclosure. To help with your questions, please utilize the below list and post the information in the proper forum area to get advice from FF members that keep the same frog. This will allow for little confusion and a faster more informed response.


1. Size of enclosure
2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
3. Humidity
4. Temperature
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 and other materials.
- 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 being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
12. When is the last time he/she ate
13. Have you found poop lately
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog
16. How long have you owned him/her
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
19. How often the frog is handled
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)


by Lynn(Flybyferns) and GrifTheGreat.

[GrifTheGreat]

I agree with Bruce and Carlos.

They do eat less as they mature so it is not uncommon for him to not eat for almost a week, but I will say going two weeks straight is a little odd without wanting to eat, but as long as he appears healthy and doesn't act ill you should have no worries.

No having a bowel movement can be bad so give him a warm dechlorinated Honey bath. Make a 80° bath half the height of the frog and add a table spoon of honey. Soak him until he poops feel his right side. If you can feel a solid lump then he needs to go. Massaging in small circles helps(if he will let you safely)

Keep us posted.

[mafoo]

I will try out the honey bath. Although I am pretty sure he will not let me massage his right side, I will try and get him into the bath. He can be weird at times where he will not eat his food yet as soon as you go to touch him he gets very aggressive. Cant get a pic up of his enclosure but it is pretty basic. Coco fibre substrate, plant to hide under, proper sized water dish, and a few heat pads on the side. Here is the answers to the list of questions you gave me in case I missed anything when I read over the care sheets again.

1. Size of enclosure: 20g, if he starts moving around more I will upgrade.
2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences: Just the one.
3. Humidity: around 80% give or take
4. Temperature: Managed to get it up to around 75 on the cool side and along with 85 on the warm side.
5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish: Well water, no chemicals added although has a bit of iron in it. All my other frogs have been fine for a long time with it, along with him before this.
6. Materials used for substrate: Coco fibre
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials. A plant for him to hide under and a water dish on the other side. If I put to much stuff in he will stay up all night rearranging things to the way he likes. :P
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
8. Main food source: Nightcrawlers when he will eat.
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often) I try for every 2-4 feedings, although at times when he wont eat I can dust one and he gets excited and started, so up to 1 worm per feeding depending.
10. Lighting: Ceramic heat emmiter for heat along with lights in the room so he knows its day time.
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure: 1-2 heat pads and a cerammic heat emmiter. House is cold most of the time so it can be hard to keep the heat up. The fogger also generates heat to warm up the cool side a bit.
12. When is the last time he/she ate: 4 days ago.
13. Have you found poop lately: Not in quite a while.
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog: A year and a half
16. How long have you owned him/her: I got him as a baby and have kept him ever since.
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred: Not a clue, I am assuming wild caught as the season played a large role in the time that I could get him.
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats: Pinky mice occasionally.
19. How often the frog is handled: Just about never, only when neccasary as he normally is very aggresive with me.
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area: Very low traffic, only me on the computer along with some other frogs in the room.
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc): Whenever it needs it, every day if he is using his dish often and the dirt is changed every month or so depending on what it looks like.

[Bruce]

It sounds like everything is ok. My male is about that age and always eats. He can sometimes go for about 2 weeks without a bowel movement, but when it's that long a nice soak with clean water and then I prep for the mother load... lol!

Maybe he's just getting bored with night crawlers? Try feeding him horned worms or dubias. How do you feed him? With tongs or do you let him chase his prey?

[mafoo]

I guess I should have posted this sooner, here is a link of a previous thread I made a while back when he first stopped eating so much. Normally I tong feed him as he usually gets pretty turned off if he gets dirt in his mouth. While we are on the topic, do you have any suggestions for feeding crickets? I would like to try them with him now on tongs but I know from past experiences how hard he can grab onto the tongs if he wants to. Tonight he has been making allot of noise so I am hoping he is in a good mood to eat.

[DeltaElite121]

I guess I should have posted this sooner, here is a link of a previous thread I made a while back when he first stopped eating so much. Normally I tong feed him as he usually gets pretty turned off if he gets dirt in his mouth. While we are on the topic, do you have any suggestions for feeding crickets? I would like to try them with him now on tongs but I know from past experiences how hard he can grab onto the tongs if he wants to. Tonight he has been making allot of noise so I am hoping he is in a good mood to eat.

My female strongly prefers being tongfed (my other two males don't care). Grab the cricket by the end of their leg and dangle it in front of the frog. Slow up and down movements seem to work well with their coordination and incite a response. Because of how the tongs are used with the cricket I never have an issue with them biting the tongs.

[mafoo]

Well, I managed to get a few crickets into him last night. Trying to avoid taking him out of his tank at all costs so I am hoping that it all passes by itself instead of me needing to give him a bath. What size of crickets do you normally feed these frogs? At 6.5" id say hes a bit big for the 3 week old crickets I feed my firebellies. He went for them okay but he would need quite a few to fill him up.

[GrifTheGreat]

Well, I managed to get a few crickets into him last night. Trying to avoid taking him out of his tank at all costs so I am hoping that it all passes by itself instead of me needing to give him a bath. What size of crickets do you normally feed these frogs? At 6.5" id say hes a bit big for the 3 week old crickets I feed my firebellies. He went for them okay but he would need quite a few to fill him up.

Yeah he would have to eat up to a hundred to even get close to satisfying him.

[Bruce]

I feed my beast dubias, nightcrawlers, horned worms, that Japanese pacman food stuff, and occasionally mice. I don't even bother with crickets anymore

[mafoo]

Alright well here is an update on how he is doing. 5 days ago he ate 3 hornworms which I was hoping would help him poop due to the high water content. Right now I have him in a honey bath as I was told to do, so far no luck after 5 minutes. I am going to leave him for around 15 more and then I would imagine it would be fine to take him out. He is still sleeping which I find strange, although he did move around a little bit when I carried him. Hopefully this works, thanks everyone for the advice!

[mafoo]

Well now I have some good news. 10 minutes after the last post I seen he started to shed and slowly worked it through for about 30 minutes and then he opened his eyes. He kept on getting the skin off which I was worrying a bit about as there was rather big skin bubbles on him that was loose just working its way off, but after time he got it all off. Soon after he had most of it off he pooped, which I noticed he lost alot of weight from. Now he is a totally different frog, his colors have all come back and he looks very skinny. Now that he should be feeling better hopefully he will gain all his weight back and keep these colors, as he looks much much healthier now. This honey bath was long over due now that I see what he is like afterwards. Now I just need to see if he will eat tonight!