Rescued a sick FBT, won't eat. Any help would be great!

[leo]

Jason, where would I go to get this moss? I don't think they have anything like that at pet smart.

Also, privet is right. I know that if you keep two leopard geckos together and one is much bigger, it attack the other and bully it. I figured the same would happen anyway.

Once he's fatter and healthier I'll be getting another.

[jasonm96]

I've never noticed any fighting or dominance, infact mine just stay together most of time. But I can't see the problem with a little fighting for food or a mate every so often, providing the tank is big enough and not over stocked, so the animals can get away from each other. Ive read that in the wild so many frogs can be found close to each other. For this reason long term I'd house these frogs in a larger tank than the small, often recommended, 10 gallons. It is best though that the animal proves healthy first before introducing more but they will also need quarantined for at least 30 days before introduced. I'd recommend at least two or more if you do get more and in the long run go for a bigger tank.

They usually sell it at pet shops in bricks or bags. Zoo meds sphagnum moss is what I use and can easily be ordered online if needed. Just be sure never to use green moss, it's really loose and had small strands which could cause impaction if ingested

[leo]

Hey everyone! Quick update on this little guy:


He is a voracious eater! I went to petsmart yesterday and got some feeding tongs to help him eat, and I accidently dropped it in the cage and as soon as it started moving on its own, he pounced and chowed it down immediately.


I also bought a brick of sphagnum moss and laid it down in his substrate. He loves it and now I can feel comfortable dropping multiple crickets in and walking away, there is now no possibility of him ingesting the gravel and I think he'll be alright with regular feeding and love.


Here's a few updated pics:














The only problem is that he seems to be REALLY bad at catching anything as if he can barely see it. Is this normal?

[jasonm96]

Hey! I don't think that's sphagnum, I think it's that green moss. Sphagnum comes in thick strands and can be white/cream colour. Sphagnum is safer because of their thicker and longer strands are hard for the frog to swallow and it holds more moisture and so pats down better.

My fire bellies aren't the best at catching stuff because dont use their tongue to catch prey. Are you providing a light that gives out UVA? It should also give it low levels of UVB. A 5% tube or compact would be needed for that size of tank.

[leo]

That's the only thing they have I'm afraid.

I'm quite deep in this monetarily already. It's not clear yet whether he'll live as it could still be a parasite. As time goes on I may consider getting one.

[privet01]

Looks like the sphagnum moss I'm using. Just doesn't look packed down. Not sure if it matters. Some think that they'll get impaction from ingesting the moss too.

As for lighting, you don't have to get one of those expensive UV lights. GE publishes the spectral graph produced by the different phosphor coatings in their fluorescent bulbs. Some don't have any UV and others do. The graphs for the ones that do, look very much like the spectral graphs the high dollar UV bulb produce.

You can get bulbs for about $8.00 US. General Electric (GE) puts the spectrum codes on most all their flourescent bulbs usually after the product code. These are the codes that I found that put out UV:

sp41, spx41, sp35, spx35, sp30, spx30.

GE's aren't always the easiest to find as Phillips seems to dominate in my area, but I did get mine at Home Depot.


But don't feel pushed to spend money. They can tolerate less than ideal conditions. Take a trip to any franchised pet store and see how bad they provide for them.

[monster]

The one thing I find the most from the green sphagnum to the white is that the white New Zealand sphagnum moss is almost scentless compared to the smell of the green. When I had my fire belly toads I bought the green the first time I went moss shopping, couldn't stand the smell so I took it out. I went back and got the white and what a difference.