Still Having Problems with my Frogs
Hey, so I have 4 frogs in one 64x62x60 cm enclosure:
Samantha Croaker (after a character in a show), Micah Croakard (after a singer) who are White's Tree Frogs and 3 years old.
Maverick and Jeff (after the Wiggles guy) who are Gillens Tree Frogs and 2 years old.
I've had them 2(?) months
Set-up and feeding:
They have a UV light, climbing and hiding spaces, two waterbowls and a waterfall, fake plants and vinesand 3 covered sides of the tank. They're in my room but I use headphones almost always and don't enter/exit often. I treat their water with Zoomed Repti-safe if it's tap. However, my tap's filter broke and all the other taps in the house are utterly undrinkable so I've gone back to spring water. (Maybe a stupid question, but says it has chloride in it. I assume that's fine as it's naturally there, right?) Temperature is around 25C (77F) but has been getting to 20C (68F) rarely and sometimes up to 27 (80.6F). Humidity rests at 40-50 and I mist it when I am home to keep it around 60. I let them hunt crickets and woodies and treat them to decapitated meal worms and moths rarely. The Gillens will not eat from tweezers and as they all hunt when they feel like it anyway, I find it difficult to give them supplimented food (they're often not in the mood). I change their water and clean up poop daily. I clean the glass whenever it needs a wipe down and clean the decor every month
I only handle them if I absultuely must clean where they are, to try and put them in a container with dusted food or moths (doesn't work, but I still try occasionally), they have some form of strange thing happening and I need a closer look. They get handled at most once a week with washed, rinsed several times and sprayed with dechlorinated water hands.
Previous issue:
They all had problem climbing - they were literally falling off backwards. They seem to all struggle a little other than Maverick. When they were all "sick" with climbing issues, Sam and Micah burried themselves. Sam walked around with her nose rubbing the glass and her head down. They were all lethargic at this point. Sam was "yawning" at this stage/This was just after getting them (settling in stress?) and made it through them all in two weeks.
The current problems:
Micah:
Micah has bad eye-mouth coordination. If I offer his food on tweezers, he misses... He has to try several times. I do see him hunt rarely and he seems to catch food. I don't think he's getting enough though. He has become skinny and I swear he's lost length somehow. He often has his throat puffed up for a few hours after croaking. I've started picking him up from his roost because he often won't come down until very late at night. I had noticed bright/fluoro green spots on him one day, but they disappeared the next. I've seen him experience difficulty climbing recently, but that seems to be be better now.
I weighed him a few weeks back and he was 36g (1.26 ounces).
He had been doing very watery smelly droppings two weeks back. However, they've become healthy again. I haven't seen one in the past week. (Might be hiding)
Samantha:
Poop. Massive, massive poop. Sam has been laying large poops for a while now. Last night trumped them all. The thing was almost as big as she is O.o. It was almost all substrate with what appeared to be skin. She drops one every two or so days.
The girl hasn't slept up high for a few weeks, instead she's been hiding. I had thought it was stress, but I'm beginning to believe it may be something else. I think she can't climb well. She sometimes walks with her head down. The little frogs use her as a seat and have even excreted on her >.>. Does this constitute "bullying" and will it worry her?
She had been a bit overweight but looks like she's lost some. I weighed her a few weeks back and she was 86g (3.03 ounces) - which seems like a lot. The scales mau have been wrong. Last two days I tried giving her food and she seemed off it. She wouldn't eat.
I found her with unshed skin which was really dirty and dried on her. It had been there a few days. I soaked her today and made her rub it off herself by making her walk on my hands. She didn't much appreciate what I had to do to help her get it off (Sprayed bottled water on the stubborn bits on her belly by flipping her).
Here's the main concern. She has a black spot on one of her pads. What is it? It goes through that side of her digit and there is a small spot on the bottom of her pad seperate from this section. It hasn't shown up well in the photo. Is it necrosis? I also will show you a picture of her back. The area had been slightly pink at one stage and it's been lingering as a dislcoured patch. I first noticed it a few weeks back. It's mostly disappeared. I had thought it was just a scrape or normal discolouration and I was too concerned but I noticed today that there are a few black spots there - that with the finger makes me suspect something. I think I noticed this spot a while ago but I have had dreadful memory problems lately :/... No web searches helped me find anything on what this finger wound is. She hasn't - to the best of my knowledge - had a cut or had it squashed. It's not normal, is it?
Do they have a nutrient deficiency which would explain it?
Their substrate is coco husk fine grade - it's used and recommended by the herp store. In fact, I bought it there. After finding that they seem to get bigger mouthfuls of this stuff than their food, I'm thinking I might change it. What should I use though? I don't want to use large stones because they slip down sometimes....
The previous owner hadn't been able to care for them and when I got them their tank was full of burried/hidden poo and the glass was ick. I've been keeping it clean. Could they have a bacteria problem anyway? I only used hot water to clean the tank when I got it. Also, the owner did smoke near them. I hope that hasn't hurt them. Undoubtedly it has.
Since Micah's a bit scrawny, should I increase his dusted cricket frequency? How much should I hand feed and leave for hunting? I don't like the idea of making him even more uncoordinated by only hand feeding. How do I gutload crickets so they don't have to be dusted? It might solve the calcium/vitamin issue.
What do I do about Samanatha? It's really concerning that she hides and has her head down occasionally.
PS At least the big poops are easy to find and always in the one spot. The Gillens do tiny ones much more frequently. They're quite difficult to see.
I've been finding weird bugs in with my crickets (packaged, store bought) recently. It's made me wonder. Do you guys recommend routine de-worming/parasite treatment? What do I use and how often?
Long post but I wanted to make sure you had all the details.
Night everyone! I'll be back in a day or so to find out if I'm doing something wrong with my guys or if there's something I need to do. I know I need a seperate tank for the small guys but I quit my job and a $300 new set-up is out of reach. I'd love to take them to a vet so I could start off ownership knowing they were healthy, but again it costs too much at the moment. Guh, I'm too tired to check for mistakes thoroughly. I think I fixed all of them.
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