How to rehabilitate a starving ACF?

[162Smolenskya]

I have two ACFs of my own and my sister has one that we thought has been dead for several years. Because we didn't want to make her feel bad we just left the tank in her room and hoped for the best. I recently peaked into the tank and. . . she was alive! Unfortunately, she's hanging on by a thread and is extremely emaciated. I feel really bad so I'm going to take over her care and rehabilitate her. I've already given her a bunch of food pellets to get her body going again. Is it bad to give her too much? How much is too much? Should I feed her several times a day? Do I have to get high nutrition food for her? I just don't want to over feed her and then have her go into shock from having no food and then too much food. Any and all advice is appreciated!

[Mentat]

If still alive; the main thing is to avoid any abrupt changes. Feed frog sparingly (few pellets) with food it was used to for first couple days. Also; do small water changes daily (10% or so) with dechlorinated tap to improve water quality. After a week or so you can increase it's food amount and start offering other foods like worms, etc. ACFs are very tough an in time it should recover. Please keep us informed and share pics of the frog, good luck !

[LilyPad]

Good Luck!! I will hope for the best.

[162Smolenskya]

Here are some pictures of her. You can really tell how bad she is by her hind legs and her torso. Sorry the photo is hard to see, I'm hesitant to do a large water change. I tried hand feeding her today and she refused to eat. Does anyone know why? Is it because she's not used to food and she ate yesterday? I also took out her toy (a fake bell that she hides inside) so that I could monitor her better, but I think she feels a little too exposed.
I forgot to give a little background on her yesterday. Ever since my sister brought her home 4 years ago, I've been hearing stories about her refusals to eat. I used to think it was just because my sister wasn't persistent enough or Lily (yes, that's her name) just didn't notice the food. After doing it myself, it seemed like she just didn't notice the food. But yesterday, using the exact same feeding techniques she ate fine, so I think she just must not have been interested today. Is this okay since she is used to eating sparsely? Or does this indicate something worse? Thanks everyone for you're help!

[Mentat]

For a frog in her condition, it's impossible to determine what is the exact cause of any behavior. Just continue offering food daily and do small water changes. Also, recommend replace her toy back to reduce stress.

[Tank Girl]

I hope you can get her back to good health

I think I'd put the bell back, it's nice to be able to keep an eye on her but it could stress her out if she has nowhere to hide.

What food are you giving her? I'd be tempted to try a little bloodworm if she won't eat any pellets. I guess she could also be startled by someone trying to hand feed her after so long, if you leave the food in there for 10 minutes or so does she not touch it at all?

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Also don't leave uneaten food in the tank it will foul the water quickly and you need to give that baby the best water quality possible.
Small amounts of food over a period of time is best.
Lessing stress is also important so I would leave some kind of hide for it to feel safe.
Good luck and keep us posted please.

[162Smolenskya]

Just wanted to give a quick update. I took your advice and put her bell back, although she acted as if she'd never seen it before and thought it was another crazy thing I was doing to get her to eat (I've been trying some weird things). As far as I know, she hasn't been eating any of the food I leave in her water (I find the same amount the next day when I try again) so I guess I'll take the pellets out if she doesn't eat them when I show her the food. I did find a really small pebble in her tank today and for a second I thought maybe she was so sick because she was passing a stone (it's a bare-bottom tank) but I haven't seen a bump on her all week and she still refuses to eat. Weird though, I haven't seen the pebble at all and even though it's dirty, I can pretty much see everything. Her voluntary starvation is really getting discouraging, but I'm not giving up hope. I was thinking of getting her a small guppy as a change in diet to get her interested, but I have no idea if she'll try and eat it or be afraid of it. Thanks for all your support! Keep your fingers crossed!

[Strider18]

Hope your frog does well!

[162Smolenskya]

Thanks for all the support guys! I wanted to let you all know she's been doing much better. She's been eating every day I feed her and is starting to forage a little around the tank. Also, I've been finding more and more frog waste in her tank (there wasn't any in there before) so now I know her body is working properly. I'll try and get a picture of her later. As far as I can tell, I don't think she's put on any weight. Is that normal? How long does it take for them to gain weight? It's been about four or five days where she's eaten all of her food. More posts to come!