Giant Waxy Monkey Frog help.

[Diver]

Hi Lija,

Thanks for the response. The vivarium is glass except for the top which is mesh. There's a basking light and a 2ft 5% tube up there along with a ceramic heater and moonlight bulbs on a thermostat. There are also heat mats attached to the outside of the rear wall low down, again thermostatically controlled.
Humidity is controlled by a repti-fogger on a humidistat. I set it at 60% after referring to these care sheets:

How to Care for the Giant Waxy Monkey Tree Frog
Phyllomedusa bicolor care sheet - talk to the frog
MonkeyFrogs.com - Phyllomedusine Species List
Giant Bicolor Monkey Tree Frog Care - JABBERWOCK REPTILESJABBERWOCK REPTILES

I've turned the fogger off for tonight so I'll see how low the humidity goes. What do you think would be the correct level to aim for would be?
I'll get some photos of the actual animals in the morning.
Poop might be a problem - I haven't seen any yet!

Thanks again for taking the time to help!

[Diver]

Here's some photos of the guys themselves:























Having turned off the humidifier and added a fan blowing gently downward last night, the humidity has dropped below 50%. There was movement, the frog near the top of the cage has moved down to half way where the other one has been sitting for days. Maybe to get away from the breeze? Unfortunately it seems I didn't switch my camera on to record last night so I don't know how much activity there was apart from this relocation. I'll make sure to set it tonight.

[Lija]

The biggest concern here is your cage, it doesn't provide enough air flow. Stagnant air will kill them even if everything else is fine, but I think for your smaller one, the one that died, that was an cause. I think he was already sick and stressed out. Bigger females sometimes bully poor guys too, especially if kept in not exactly oroperly conditions and you don't know how the seller kept them before. My point is I don't think anything you did or didn't do could have changed the outcome.

it is a modified fish tank , right? If so, you can substitute one side with all mesh?

skip the fogger all together, no need for it. A spray once a week or a few days a week is sufficient, have a water bowl, they will go soak up they feel the need.

Dont expect much of movement lol these are waxies, well , the giant ones, but they all are the same. They take a word lazy to the whole new level lol sometimes they are too lazy to even open their eyes... Later when they get used to the environment, try very gently to move sleeping frog to your finger.... I bet it won't notice, and if it would it'll be too lazy to wake up lol very funny.

they look healthy, the 4th pic from the top is a female. Keep looking for a poop unfortunately you put them in naturalistic tank.... Is there any way to change soil to papertowels? It will help with see the poop.... And you will need to remove everything anyway when you are going to treat them. Unless the seller meant antiparasitic treatment, not antibiotics.

Are they eating?

[irThumper]

Just wondering, as I have no Waxie experience, but is it normal for Waxies to sit hunched like that?

[andaroo]

Just wondering, as I have no Waxie experience, but is it normal for Waxies to sit hunched like that?

yes lol

[irThumper]

Good to know that's normal! I was reading about, I think it was Chytrid, recently (might have been red leg, but don't think so) and the article mentioned a constant "hunched position" as a sign.

[Diver]

This morning's update: I've removed the fogger and the fan has been set to switch on and off at random times to improve airflow. The cage is actually a shower enclosure with double glazed sides and a mesh roof. I can easily replace the front door with a screen door if this is the way to go although the humidity is now at 45%. My only concern is that pretty much all the care sheets I've looked at seem to recommend 60% (with one I just found relating to a zoo where they are kept at 65%). While they are waxies, unlike sauvagii they are not from the dry Chacoan region, and the waxy adaptation in bicolor may be more to do with being able to withstand the breezy conditions in the upper rainforest canopy. An area where the frog can move in and out of at will and tolerate these dryer conditions for longer while still able to move back to the more humid conditions lower down.
Anyway, that's just a thought and clearly these frogs can be kept in dry conditions without harm either way but presumably only if they are descending to a water source at night to hydrate. The two I have do NOT appear to be doing this or eating at present.
I've been using a video camera at night to monitor their behaviour, but a tape only lasts for 90 mins so nothing was certain, however I bought yesterday a ccty system with hard drive so I can now record a full night and watch it on fast forward to see what's happening. I've just done this and can confirm that last night they did not use the water bowl and they did not feed. There was some slight, brief movement, but this seemed to be relocation to possibly being nibbled by crickets (I keep a bowl of cricket food in there to help prevent this).
Just to stress, I am not concerned that as a species they don't move around much, this may or may not be the case naturally. My concern is that mine don't move at all to hydrate or feed.
I'll remove the substrate today and replace with paper towels to see if any pop shows up.
The slight movement last night enabled me to get some slightly better photos, they do appear dryer to me and one of them seems to have some skin partially sloughed and stuck:



















Incidentally Lija, what is the give away that makes the one in that fourth photo down female? And what do you think about the other one gender-wise?

Thanks again for all input!

[Lija]

Good to know that's normal! I was reading about, I think it was Chytrid, recently (might have been red leg, but don't think so) and the article mentioned a constant "hunched position" as a sign.

That is definitely normal lol