PCF Impacted? Fat? or Full of eggs?

[AbranV]

The title pretty much sums it up. I have a pcf that I'm growing concerned about. Its either impacted, fat, or full of eggs.

The pics I included are from a week ago and it still looks the same tonight. Other than its plumpness, the frog is acting normal. I've also been feeding them less than usual in case it is a "weight" issue.

Any thoughts? I thought I'd ask here first before bathing the frog or take other steps. Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

[irThumper]

She's definitely plump! If you want to know if she's constipated I'd say the best thing to do would be to put her in a hospital tank with just plain white paper towels (damp of course) for substrate, so you can see if/when she does go poo. You can also better monitor what she is eating vs any tank mates. Given this time of year it is highly likely she could be eggy, but if she didn't have a hibernation cycle I don't know if they'd be viable. We've had totally weird weather this year though, and the PCFs have been going crazy outside since January-- we only had, what, a couple of good hard freezes this winter? Do you have any males in with her?

[AbranV]

Thanks for your reply.

I have the two PCF's that I raised from tadpoles last summer. They've been oow since July, so not quite a year old. So far I haven't heard a peep out of either one and I'm assuming that they are both females.

The frog that was in the pics has always been the more active one, and she's acting fine.

I'll try and get her into a hospital tank later today. Other than damp paper towels, what else will she need? Also, if/when she poos, what do I need to look for? For example texture, size, etc. How long should I keep her under observation?

Finally, like you mentioned, the chorus frogs around us are in full on calling mode so she may have eggs developing. She is less than a year old, so is that a realistic possibility?
If there's no male present will she reabsorb the eggs? Maybe purge them?

And IF she happens to be impacted, then what?

I should be prepared for all of this, but I thought I was somewhat safe by hand feeding them to help control risk of impaction, weight gain and so on.

Thanks for all of your help!

[irThumper]

Thanks for your reply.

I have the two PCF's that I raised from tadpoles last summer. They've been oow since July, so not quite a year old. So far I haven't heard a peep out of either one and I'm assuming that they are both females.

The frog that was in the pics has always been the more active one, and she's acting fine.

I'll try and get her into a hospital tank later today. Other than damp paper towels, what else will she need? Also, if/when she poos, what do I need to look for? For example texture, size, etc. How long should I keep her under observation?

Finally, like you mentioned, the chorus frogs around us are in full on calling mode so she may have eggs developing. She is less than a year old, so is that a realistic possibility?
If there's no male present will she reabsorb the eggs? Maybe purge them?

And IF she happens to be impacted, then what?

I should be prepared for all of this, but I thought I was somewhat safe by hand feeding them to help control risk of impaction, weight gain and so on.

Thanks for all of your help!

No prob I'm sure I read something about PCFs that could be reproductive within their first year, I'll have to look it up again.

Do you have them on native mosses? I never in all the years we had them had a problem with a PCF ingesting moss, not to say they couldn't, but this stuff is in their natural habitat (and these lil guys aren't like monster munchy WTFS!) I've seen them grab it with a feeder, only to use their hands to shove it out of their mouths again. If she's active and eating normally I wouldn't think she'd be impacted, maybe a bit constipated, but not irreversibly plugged up.

How often, how much, and what are you feeding them?

Make sure she has a nice plant, something to climb on, and a hidey spot or two, and of course a water dish that is easy for her to get in and out of. If she's eating normally I would keep up with her regular feeding routine, if you don't see poo within a week you might go ahead and give her a warm bath with just a few drops of honey (the real deal, not a "honey sauce" like KFC's) in it for 20 mins, then soak her in warm regular water to clean off the sticky. Other then that I'd try a waxworm on her if she'll eat it, or even a small earthworm (not a red wiggler) if you can find one. A regular poo should just be a little dark brown turd, like a bullet... if it's runny, sloppy or partly formed, or has gel/muscus in it that's not a good thing. Waxworms might soften her poo up though, which would be normal. Keep an eye out for visible worms, though there are a lot of parasites you won't be able to see with the naked eye.

If she's eggy and there's no male around she could absorb the eggs, or dump them (as I've recently learned about-- still not sure if that's what happened to my Shirley or not); the danger is if neither of those happen and she winds up having eggs decompose inside and put her into septic shock Only thing that can truly solve an eggy females problem (unless a vet has some trick, but yeah...) is to get a willing male to take care of matters. That would be before a septic problem of course...

[AbranV]

Good news irThumper, she's been poopin just fine!

Which means she's fat or gravid. Maybe if I can find a male, I can bring him in for stud services then let him go.

Can you imagine the stories he could go tell his buddies?

"I swear Bob, I thought he was going to eat me, but he took me inside and placed me in a little forest with invisible wall." "Then out of nowhere these two little hotties show up, and I didn't have to croak or anything!" "Then the sky opens up and food started falling in, and the good stuff too, no slugs or **** like that" "little later he came back in, turned off the sun and told me to get to work"

" the next morning he turned the sun back on and saw the clutch of eggs the hottie made, he grabbed me, said thanks and then he put me out here with you boys"


Maybe I won't try to find a male!

[deranged chipmunk]

Hahahahahaha! Building ourselves a little pcf pick up bar? Lol


Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world ~ Nelson Mandela

[irThumper]

I swear I almost fell out of my chair reading that! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Glad she's able to poop! My guess is then she's all egged up from the horny toads-- I mean PCFs going nuts outside. The big thing is that with the stress of capture the male might not perform *coff* Could you put your girls out in a Sterilite container and then scoop up a caller in a jar and put him in with them? Then at least he'd be more in his environment-- thing is then they wouldn't be in their usual environment indoors. Oh what tangled webs we weave when first we plan our frogs to conceive!

I can see other people reading this and freaking out because of parasite risk and etc... but I know the situation... We still need to set up a local frog lovers group btw-- heh.

[Jessalyn]

Hi! I know I'm late, but is your female usually on the plump side or did she seem to blow up out of nowhere? Also, how long has she been like that? I'm no expert by any means, but I've seen my females be plump for a bit before/after they shed (if you haven't experienced that before) I have two males and four females. All of my girls seem to be about the same size as yours, although of course it's difficult to tell from pictures. If she's pooping normal and not lethargic/not eating normally I'd just keep an eye on her.

These are two of my females. The green one is one that I've raised since she was a tiny tadpole, the brown one is a wild rescue I took in a few months back. I always used to worry about my females until I saw how big they get in the wild.

[irThumper]

Perty girls! I saw a PCF by our micro-eco habitat outdoors the other day, first time since everyone disappeared to hibernate... though it's been so unusually warm they didn't get much of that in! I hope we have a bunch of froglets show up this year!

How's your girl doing, AbranV?

[AbranV]

She's doing good, been very active lately which has been nice to watch.

How are whites doing?

Jessalyn, you got some cute ones there!

[irThumper]

She's doing good, been very active lately which has been nice to watch.

How are whites doing?

Jessalyn, you got some cute ones there!

Glad she's doing well!

Well my guys are still being tested and medicated, which is absolutely maddening. I'm still having issues with Shirley passing bloody jelly stuff, no more white things though.... so who knows there! But I'm waiting on an uber fresh sample from her to run into the local CPC. I know they really don't do exotics there but they have one young vet who's more into the herps, so I'm trying to foster something there. He did give me exam time for Lucy without seeing her, just pics/video/detailed description; she tested positive for "strongyles/roundworm eggs" on a first test done in OK, then a 2nd opinion thru Companion's lab in Portland showed strongyles, NO roundworms, and positive antigen for giardia--ARGH! No oocysts found though, and she's not clinical for giardia, so no treatment for that yet. For the strongyles this vet prescribed Ivomec too, which I suspected in the first place was the correct choice over the Panacur prescribed by the OK vet. I just want my babies to get well and be healthy, *sigh*.

I never had this trouble in all the years we kept PCFS!

[AbranV]

wOw! I'm sorry to hear that your having to deal with all of that.

There is a reptile expo near the end of march in Hillsboro, the "PACNWRS" if I remember correctly. There was a reptile vet, or vet supply on there vendor list. I'm not sure if that helps or not, but I thought I'd pass it along.

Good luck with your babies!

[irThumper]

Yep! I'll be there! Picking every Frogger brain I can get my hands on! Um... ok, that sounded so "Grimm", lol!

Here's an insider FB group for PACNWRS, lots of good info https://www.facebook.com/groups/4856...?ref=bookmarks