Broken Frog Finder

[WindWolf]

Leopard frog, caught in net that covers the koi pond in fall. Seems both back knees are dislocated or broken. No open sores or cuts. Have her in a 20 gal long with dry and wet side for a few days. Live in Indiana so bloody cold out right now. Has eaten some frozen brine shrimp and blood worms. Don't think we have any amphibian vets around. Help? Advice?

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! Sorry about the injured frog . You can use one of these vet locators: Herp Vet Connection and Arav . How is frog doing? If you can't take to veterinary, the only thing could do is to care for the frog and hope it somewhat recovers from it's ordeal. If you can post pics it will help determine the extent of damage. Also, how long is frog from snout to vent (SVL)?

Most important thing right now is to keep it in a clean environment and feed it a nourishing diet. Crickets should be sized same as distance between frogs eyes and gut loaded with carrots, lettuce, oats and cherios. Night crawlers are very nutritious and can be purchased from Walmart or a bait shop, just ensure they are free of chemicals like dyes. Large frogs can eat them whole; but for smaller ones, can cut sections from pointy end same as frog's length.

It's is specially important to offer CA/D3 and vitamin supplements to help bone repair. Can see some information and schedules in here: http://www.frogforum.net/food-feeder...schedules.html .

Finally, here is a nice article for it's care: Frog Forum - Leopard Frog Care - Rana pipiens (Schreber, 1782) and R. sphenocephala (1886) . Thanks for helping frog and good luck !

[WindWolf]

Thanks Carlos!
My iPad and this forum don't seem to talk well. But here it goes again.

i've had her about 2 weeks now, seems like the leg hind leg "knee" is becoming a solid piece. The other still flops some. Moving around the cage well though and has eaten a few crickets! I have some pics on my profile, will try to get newer better ones tomorrow. Can't get to a vet. She likes to hide under the half log I have in there, and moves back to it even when I stick her in the water.

i would say she is apx 3-4 inches long, without legs. I have a horse paddock and it's gonna get warm tomorrow so will see if I can dig up a few crawlers.

What kind of lighting would she prefer? I have a homemade led changing light, so I can do about any shade from white to dark purple. Bright or shady?

She has sloughed off some old skin (?) on her back legs. Still no sores. Skin still looks good, not black or debriding. No scratches that I can see either. Not to fond of me pokeing at her but she is getting more use to me checking her out everyday (visually not physically). Don't wanna mess with the slime coat too much or stress her more then she is.

[WindWolf]

Okay she is only about 2 inches long. Bad memory when in bed! She did eat a worm tonight. Do they eat grubs?? Let's see if I can add these new pics.

[Mentat]

Should eat grubs; only problem I see is the risk that you, neighbors or city might have sprayed soil area and the wild caught grubs or earthworms might have chemicals (i.e. insecticides) on them.

[WindWolf]

It's all from my horse pasture which is not sprayed. Well I spot spray the burr plants, but I was digging in the manure piles. And the grub is gone, so unless it burrowed down the frog ate it!

i couldn't add pics to the thread here, but I was able to post them to my album.

i don't think my iPad and this web forum talk well to each other.

[Mentat]

Here are your pictures. Legs appear badly hurt; but without a veterinary visit and x-rays, it's impossible to tell if damage can be repaired . The worst one appears to need surgery to instal pins.

[Java]

First and foremost- I don't think you should have a deep water area wherever you keep it! Mainly because they use their back legs to swim and he/she may drown if she can't swim out!

Second, there's no way to recover from that unless surgically. The legs are so floppy that they will heal odd and the muscle will repair at that angle.

There are a few vets in your area I'd give a call to see if you could get an idea of what to do and if they could help you out.

That's so sad to see! Please keep us updated!

[WindWolf]

She isn't in a deep water area, the pan in her aquarium is maybe 1" deep. And I placed a sloping rock in there so she can just sit or float or what not.

I went on vacation for a week and got back yesterday and went to see how she is doing. She is doing great! I haven't really examined to see how straight the knees are but she can hop, sort of, around, and moving quite well between her pool and the turf. The color on both legs look great and seems as if she might have some use out of the one ankle. I'll be getting her more crickets today and some of the vitamin powder to dust the critters in. She isn't dragging either leg as badly now.

I know she should have seen a vet but I just can't afford it (my vacation was paid for back in March so don't nag). I have to budget everything I do, with 2 dogs, 5 horses, and 2 cats, plus my fish everything is on a cycle. And yes I have money socked away for a vet for my four legged critters.

She he is doing well and when I can will take more pictures. I have to get hay today, move in a new boarder, clean tanks, stalls, food shop.. I am just happy she has improved and not declined!!!