Rescued my little albino ACF from a foreclosed home

[tayhub]

I named her Hope, because in the midst of a dark, cold, dreary foreclosed home, she was still alive in a filthy half empty tank after months of abandonment.

She's my second African Clawed Frog. I got my first one when I was thirteen and just assumed I could treat it like any other fish, because no one at the pet store informed me otherwise. There I was, purchasing angel fish and mollies and no one said a word about how to raise that cute little frog in the corner over there. It never got any bigger, it was never fed anything but fish flakes, and after a good five or six months, it died.

Today, as I was cleaning out a foreclosed home, there sat a little 3-gallon tank that was half empty with dark green, musty sewage water. I was just gonna dump it out off the back deck and throw it away, but I saw a little cream colored being sitting at the bottom. I assumed it was dead, but as I was picking up the tank, it darted behind a hot pink plastic plant, kicking up clouds of dirt in it's path. There was one thing I knew for sure, no one had fed this frog in AT LEAST two months. The electricity had been out longer, and it had been 50 degrees in that house since mid October. I couldn't wrap my head around how this frog survived. I saw a little container of fish flakes in the corner and threw some in and wished the frog good luck as I turned my back. But I just couldn't walk away from it. Anyone who knows me knows I love animals, and just last night a fire took out our local pet store, all the animals inside, as well as my mom and little brother's apartment above it. I was feeling kinda hopeless, having been crushed under the stress of cleaning out this house, working my busy AAA call center job, and now this whole fire situation that made my family homeless. But that little cream colored frog had survived months without food, warmth, and habitat. If she could, we could. She was a little glimmer of hope and I couldn't walk away. So I took her home.

I scrubbed that tank clean and now she's resting on top of my dresser! I did a little research and found that the little bump between her legs meant she was a girl. At least, I'm ASSUMING what I'm seeing is a bump. She's half the size of my pinky and so skinny I can see every vein and organ in her body. I'm sure once she grows a bit, that "bump" will either be more defined or completely non existent and then I'll know for sure if she really is a Hope or a Hector. I also found out that fish flakes wont do her any good at all. Feeding her fish flakes is like humans eating ice cubes to survive. Since my local independent pet store has been wiped out, I'll be going to PetSmart tomorrow to see if they have any frozen blood worms, as well as some turtle pellets. Those are good for her, right?

This is my first time properly raising an ACF and I really want to do it correctly. I found out from the home owners that the frog is like eight months old, from the time it was purchased. I was looking at pictures and youtube videos and couldn't believe that this little frog was the size of noodle when it should be the size of my palm. I really REALLY would like advice on how to get her to proper nourishment and size. I guess I'm technically nursing her back to health, because even it's normal for them to survive months without food, there's no way that's healthy, right? I don't know. I literally have no clue. All I know is that I want her to grow up and have a normal frog life.

Right now, what I have is a less than five gallon plastic tank (I'm assuming it's three gallons, although I'm not totally sure), with a blown out light bulb and a non functioning filter. I don't know why the filter doesn't work, I assumed that it was because the electricity in that house was turned off, but when I plugged it up in my apartment it wouldn't come on. It doesn't look broken, but the tank in it's entirety looks pretty cheap. It also has blue pebbles that I scrubbed clean, three different plastic plants, and an oyster shell.

What steps do I need to take to properly raise this frog? Please help!