Sick tree frog?

[Kaila]

I have a whites tree frog that I've had for almost 4 years now. He's never been too active but usually eats fine. I went away last Thursday and put 6 crickets in before I left and filled his water dish. My sister was supposed to come and change his water while I was gone but didn't and when I came home on Monday Fernando was huddled in the corner of the terrarium which he doesn't normally do and he was lime green which is not a typical colour for him. Also he was in the dark the whole time I was gone (he had a eating pad under the tank) and there was also 2 crickets still jumping around his tank which means he only ate 4. He usually eats 6-8 as soon as I put them in his tank. I misted his tank and filled his water and put him in it cause he felt dry. He is now mostly his normal colour with lots of lime green blotches. I fed him mean worms with tweezers last night and he ate a few. I also have him a pedialyte bath. But his spots still look the same and he's back to sleeping in the corner. Does anybody know the problem? Could he have just been dehydrated? Or stressed?

[maxQ]

Hmmmm I hate to hear about this stuff, Im not sure but Im sure one of our experts will reply soon but has he maybe Toxed himself from soaking in dirty water?

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF Kaila! Sorry your frog is not doing well . Would recommend move frog into a hospital like enclosure (damp unprinted paper towels for substrate, water dish, and some artificial foliage and climbing branches or vines to climb on should do). Skin symptoms point to some kind of irritation; could be water or something else. Please answer below questions and we will try to identify the problems. Also, here is link to our excellent care guide: Frog Forum - White's Tree Frog Care - Litoria caerulea .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.

[Kaila]

Hello and welcome to FF Kaila! Sorry your frog is not doing well . Would recommend move frog into a hospital like enclosure (damp unprinted paper towels for substrate, water dish, and some artificial foliage and climbing branches or vines to climb on should do). Skin symptoms point to some kind of irritation; could be water or something else. Please answer below questions and we will try to identify the problems. Also, here is link to our excellent care guide: Frog Forum - White's Tree Frog Care - Litoria caerulea .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.

1.His enclosure is 24"x24"x36"
2.hes the only one living in it
3. Humidity is 60%
4. Temp is about 25 degrees celcius
5. Water for both is bottled spring water
6. Substrate is coco husk (large pieces, too big to get in his mouth)
7. Fake plants, a fake vine, a wooden climbing branch and a wooden cave which is where he ALWAYS sleeps
8. Crickets sometimes meal worms
9. I've never used calcium or vitamin supplements until last night when I gave him the meal worms thinking this maybe caused by a deficiency
10. I'm not sure about the lighting, its whatever the pet store guy told me they needed
11. A heating pad under the enclosure
12. He ate last night but only 4 meal worms that I had to feed him with tweezers.
13. I took poop out on Thursday before I left for my trip
14. Ill put up a pic in 2 hours when I'm off.
15. I've had him for 4 years. Not sure of age
16. Above
17. Captive bread
18. Don't know what that is
19. He's not handled often
20. The enclosure is in my bedroom which I'm only in to sleep really
21. I change the substrate once a month and change water daily.

[Heatheranne]

Please add photo. It sounds as though he is a bit dehydrated. Please answer questions above do we can help.

[Kaila]

He is normally the darker green. I've only seen him light green a few times and it only lasts a little bit. He's never been blotchy like this. And he always sleeps in his wooden cave and now he won't go in it. I have him a pedialyte bath last night and I gave him some meal worms dusted with calcium and D3 last night. I'm going to take him to the exotic pet store tonight and see if they have any suggestions since I can't seem to find a vet that cares for exotic pets. Any suggestions are appreciated.

[Kaila]

Some more pics of him.

[Bolisnide]

Hi Kaila,
There are a few things that pop out at me immediately, and I'll address those below. But immediately, the color of the frog doesn't look good. Could be a bacterial infection caused by dirty water? I have no idea. If this were my frog, I would follow Carlos' advice and get him in a hospital tank as he described. I would also continue with the pedialyte baths.
And, if it were my frog, I would also lightly dab NON-PAIN RELIEVER neosporin, only to the neon spots with a clean q-tip, twice daily.
Do you have a vet you can email the photos to for a quick assessment? I would try that route as well.


1.His enclosure is 24"x24"x36"
this size is great!

2.hes the only one living in it

3. Humidity is 60%
fine
4. Temp is about 25 degrees celcius
try bumping the heat up a bit to about 29 degrees celsius during the day, and about 24-25 at night

5. Water for both is bottled spring water
is it 100% spring water? You might want to add a water conditioner/de-chlorinater just in case, or switch to tap with added conditioner/de-chlorinater

6. Substrate is coco husk (large pieces, too big to get in his mouth)
these pieces actually could get in the mouth, white's are odd little things that can surprisingly eat items that you would never imagine! I recomend switching to the fine coco husk or paper towels

7. Fake plants, a fake vine, a wooden climbing branch and a wooden cave which is where he ALWAYS sleeps
looks good, but I'm sure he'd appreciate a real live snake plant, someday.

8. Crickets sometimes meal worms
meal worms could be cut out, no real nutrition there, and difficult to digest. Night crawlers are great, you may need to cut them to size, feed with tongs or your fingers if he'll take it

9. I've never used calcium or vitamin supplements until last night when I gave him the meal worms thinking this maybe caused by a deficiency
good you've added the supplements, they need it! And it's a very simple way to prevent some big problems.

10. I'm not sure about the lighting, its whatever the pet store guy told me they needed

11. A heating pad under the enclosure
maybe add a ceramic heat emitter to bump up that temp.

12. He ate last night but only 4 meal worms that I had to feed him with tweezers.

13. I took poop out on Thursday before I left for my trip

14. Ill put up a pic in 2 hours when I'm off.

15. I've had him for 4 years. Not sure of age

16. Above

17. Captive bread

18. Don't know what that is
you already answered this question, you're feeding crickets and meal worms. But like I said, I would discontinue the meal worms.

19. He's not handled often
He should never be handled unless necessary. I have a white's I haven't handled in 1 1/2 years.

20. The enclosure is in my bedroom which I'm only in to sleep really

21. I change the substrate once a month and change water daily.

All of these things can be addressed when he's on the mend.

For now:
set up a hospital tank, discontinue meal worms, daily pedialyte soaks per advised (this of course requires handling, I know), add the neosporin (non pain reliever) on neon spots, contact a vet, and add a de-chlorinater, be sure to dust those feeders with calcium and vits. Maybe every feeding add calcium and once per week add the vits (no calcium), he may be a bit deficient.

good luck!

[Heatheranne]

Bolisnide has given you good advice. The spots could be an infection. Do you have a local herp vet?

[Kaila]

I've been calling vets all day. I only found one in the area and she's only in the office on Tuesdays. So if he still has this and it doesn't get any better by Tuesday I'll take him in to see her. I've got him in a smaller hospital tank now with paper towel for the bottom and a new water dish and I soaked all of the plants and stuff in boiling water. So he's in a very clean environment now and after his pedialyte bath I put a thin coat of non pain reliever polysporin on him. He's just sitting the new tank on the ground right now. He's probably confused about where he is. Thanks for the advice so far. I'm hoping some of this will help him.

[Mentat]

Hello Kaila! OK, you've got some advice so just want to add couple comments to them. Temperature has to go up to 29C during day. Under substrate heat mats are not a good idea with frogs and placing them on sides make them highly inefficient. Recommend a ceramic heat emitter or an incandescent red lamp on a dimmer dome. Frogs kept long at below needed temperature can suffer chronic permanent damage to their kidneys and lymph hearts.

Bottled spring can be good or bad. Water companies sometimes over filter the water and that render it similar to R/O water and unsuitable to frogs. Recommend get a bottle of Seachem Prime and use it to treat tap water. Since there is possibility you frog is suffering from Toxic Shock Syndrome (TOS); once you prepare the treated tap would carefully place frog in it's water bath to try and help it get rid of toxins in body. If TOS is present; this is more beneficial than adding more electrolytes to frog's body via Pedialyte baths.

The supplements are important because frog could suffer from a vitamin or mineral deficiency. CA is specially needed because if low, can lead to Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD). Here are various schedules you can use according to frog's size: http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...schedules.html . Hope this helps and good luck !

[Kaila]

I've found a bottle of nutrafin which is a water treatment that I used to dechlorinate the water in my fish tank when I had fish. Will this be safe to use to treat the water for my frog?

[Lija]

Yes, you can use it. Where are you from Kaila?

[Kaila]

Nova Scotia

[Kaila]

so adding water treatment to the water could flush the toxins from him if that is part of the problem?

[Mentat]

so adding water treatment to the water could flush the toxins from him if that is part of the problem?

If frog is suffering from acute (sudden) TOS, the owner available treatment is to bath frog in clean dechlorinated water so it get absorbed into frog's body and later flushed out with toxins as pee. Reason recommended dechlorinated tap is because without water analysis, can't rule out the bottled spring is also part of the problem. If kidneys are sick; there is little we can do here and veterinary treatment could help.

There is no risk in the "home remedies" we are advising, and either will get frog immune system strong enough to handle issue, or at least will keep it going until frog can see veterinary .

[Lija]

Nova Scotia
Jeff Goodall
Sunnyview Animal Care Centre
Sunnyview Animal Care Centre
1746 Bedford Hwy
Bedford, Nova Scotia, B4A 1G2
(902)835-2223

Suzette Dibblee
Fairview Animal Hospital
Halifax Veterinary Hospital Inc | Halifax Veterinary Hospital | Fairview Animal Hospital | Spryfield Animal Hospital -- Full Service Veterinary Clinics in HRM
7071 Bayers Road
Halifax, NS
(902)443-9385

these are clinics/ vets you should be going to, both members of ARAV, doesn't mean they are experienced with frogs though, you need to ask.