Please help me. My toad has not eaten in months.

[Cane Toad Problems]

Hello there,

I posted up on this board back in September when my toad began to go into what I believed to be hibernation. She was burrowing and didn't take any interest in her food at all. Some helpful people on this forum and from my local exotics community suggested heating her environment up and trying some different foods. I agreed to try heating her up and giving her some space.

Skip to December. She has eaten, nothing. Originally I thought that the hibernation would be okay, but whatever I do I cannot seem to be able to get her to take any interest in food and she is losing weight. I haven't been weighing her on a scale (which I know I should have) but did not want to stress her out. I originally tried the warm baths and honey (reccomended in the last posting here), but I don't believe she is impacted (she would be dead by now if so?) I recently placed her entire container into one of my snake's vivariums.. in the hope that the completely regulated temperature (about 27oC) would help. I have always had a few locusts in the tank with her just in case, but none eaten so far (they all just die off eventually and I replace them). Even if I wiggle them infront of her there is no reaction, she used to sit up and go for them from the tweezers. I tried to get her to eat today using a card to get her mouth open and slip one in.. but this was heavily rejected by toad and she started to peep at me and move away. I would be much more concerned if she was being lethargic, but seems to be moving around her container and making new burrows frequently. I have been keeping it humid inside her environment and also placing in new water.. although I sometimes move her to her water bowl if it's been over a week since her last soak. She used to be able to do this herself.. but she seems to enjoy the water and peeps in the night. I then move her if she hasn't left after a day of two.

I really have no idea what to do now. We have tried, crickets, mealworms and locusts. She was eating two boxes a week in the summer. When I picked her up today she felt considerably lighter. I try not to bother her as much as I can. Again, to be clear. If I move her too much, or when I was moving the tank to the vivarium or even sometimes in the night.. she 'peep's. It's not like shes just staying in one place silently. The exotic vet from my hometown will not return from a conference for a couple of weeks.. although I hope to take her there at that point. When she was checked out in the summer there seemed to be no problems. I filled out one of your forms in the last post, here > http://www.frogforum.net/toads/31388...tml#post240364 Although I can do another if needs be!

TLDR;
My toad hasn't eaten since September,
Doesn't seem to be lethergic,
Have tried different foods,
Have tried warming her up,
Always humid,
She's noticeably losing weight,
I have no idea whats wrong.

[Lija]

Would you please post current picture of a frog ( from the top) and it's enclosure.

Have you gone fecal testing during quarantine period?

[Xubby]

Can you elaborate on what went wrong with the force feeding? Was it entirely in her mouth when it was kicked out? How many attempts were made? How big was the food, how large is the toad, and (importantly) was it dusted with a fresh multivitamin, not undusted or with calcium? Months without food is certainly worrying, but depending on how fat she was at the start, it's hard to say if she's in any immediate danger without knowing her weight, or seeing a photo of how skinny she's getting.

I feel like at this stage, you really have two options. You do everything you can to keep her calm, unstressed, and in as good of shape as possible until the vet returns, while doing research and hoping for the best. This means probably ceasing attempts at force feeding, which are stressful as hell, as you no doubt are aware.

The other option is to try to do, well, basically the above, but try getting some appropriately dusted food in her. Since you mentioned using a card, I assume you've looked up how to safely (or as safely as possible, anyway) force feed toads. If she's starting to get pretty thin, I'd probably go this route, but I honestly don't know if it's the correct one. If she's sick due to some sort of vitamin/mineral deficiency, the sooner she starts getting the fix in her, the better. Vitamin deficiencies can take a fair amount of time to correct.

Lija, honest question, but can parasites get so severe they entirely kill a feeding response? I have (fortunately) had zero experience with parasites of any sort.

[Cane Toad Problems]

Hello all,

I just wanted to give you an update. Before I had a chance to read your replies today I had a call from the vet, as she had returned from her conference. Toad now has a vet appointment a week tomorrow and we managed to force feed her four waxworms yesterday. It was far easier trying to get them in her mouth with two people, just managed to flick them in. She seems to be doing okay in the meantime, we just need to get her going until her appointment. We also dusted them with a multivitamin. I will try to get an image of her and her tank if you still want, but I think everything should be okay now. Fingers crossed the vet bill isn't going to break bank, it will be worth it to get her healthy either way though

Thank you so much for your replies, I really appreciate the time you took!
I'm sure I can post an update on what was wrong with her here, just for future reference for anyone who might need it.

Thanks again,
Alex

[Heatheranne]

So glad to hear you were able to get an appt. how big is your frog STV (snout to vent)?

Do you also have some amphibian calcium with vitamin D3 on hand?

[Cane Toad Problems]

Hey there,

Toad is about 3 inches long at the moment. I can get an exact measurement when I do her next force-feed before the vet visit.

At the moment I am still waiting for the store to get some more dust in for me, but they have lent me their own favourite. I was a little dubious about this since I didn't normally buy it. But toad seems to be more spritely than I have seen her in a while! She even managed a spirited hop away when I went in to spray down her substrate. Would you reccomend I use something in particular? Thanks so much for replying!

[Heatheranne]

I'd recommend Repashy plus calcium multivitamin once a week and Repcal calcium with vitamin D3 every other day.

[Heatheranne]

Glad to hear she perked up .

[Cane Toad Problems]

Another update!

It has been a few weeks since we had our trip to the vets. Toad had an X-ray and an ultrasound.. we ended up discovering more about her than we came in to. Murphy has a bone disease common in cane toad, this means that her bone density is very low and leaves her weak. Luckily, this disease can be managed with calcium in her water/sprinkled on her food and a vitamin supplement (sadly it is not curable, but can be lived with easily with treatment) This, however, was not why she was not eating. There was a large lump in her belly, unable to be properly identified on her scans, although clearly visible. To counter this, the vet decided that a diagnostic of infection was most likely and gave me pain killers and antibiotics to be administered for the next week and a half. Toad was incredibly thin under the harsh lights in the vet office, fortunately this vet in particular has a keen interest in cane toads and I feel very confident with her decisions! We were also given a powder to be mixed with water as a liquid food substitute for the time being so as to give her the required nutrients without agitating the infection too much.

Skip to 10 days later, Toad has been off the pain killers for 5 days now and has finished her round of antibiotics. She has improved greatly and is much more lively, though still painfully thin. Over the next few days she begins to deteriorate in liveliness, although she went into shed (what we took to be a good sign) Another trip to the vets. Toads lump has decreased in size and a lump I noticed in her mouth was the infection spreading to a cut on her tongue from initial force feeds using a card (I now only use the blunt syringe) This is the likely reason for her sudden deterioration. All puss cleared from her mouth with a cotton bud and she seems to be feeling much better. Another round of antibiotics for the next two weeks and some more painkillers for the painful sore left by the infection in her mouth. She had lost weight again between visits, making her feeds more frequent as of today. I shall start weighing her myself soon so as to check progress. Although the weight loss is affected by the reduced size of the infection in her stomach (the lump was about the size of a little finger initially)

Fingers crossed, lets hope she gains weight. The antibiotics seem to be doing the job very well. I can't stress enough that I wish I had taken her far sooner.. very concerned that the huge weightless may be the reason she is less likely to pull through. I shall update again in a few weeks. Thank you all again.

Alex.

[M0NSTER]

Woah, sorry for your pet, im sorry I can't help, I only pixie frogs lol. But I hope your cane toads get better.

[Cane Toad Problems]

A final update.

Murphy passed away last Saturday. Although the antibiotics reduced the swelling in Toads belly, everything began to go downhill. We believe she had a tumor and that the reduced swelling only provided more comfort during the last few weeks. She began to become lethargic last week and went in the night. I hope that anyone else who has this problem is able to catch it earlier and I wish you all the best.

Alex.

[Heatheranne]

I'm so sorry :'(.