Found bullfrog with badly injured back leg, missing skin, HELP?

[mollywog]

I found what may either be a bullfrog or a green frog with a badly injured back leg. Its skin is missing, exposing the muscle tissue, fat, and bones beneath, but all of these things seem to be intact. Based on other forums I've seen about setting up a "frog hospital," I set up a clean terrarium with wet paper towels on the bottom and taped to the outsides so he's less stressed out. I've been spritzing him with water too to keep him hydrated. I cleansed the wound with purified water (the stuff you use for new ear piercings etc.), and used bottled spring water with added chlorine neutralizer (specifically for amphibians, not fish), to make it safe for him. It sits in a little bowl for him to sit in.

I'm wondering what advice everyone has for me, and furthermore, how much and often and WHAT he needs to eat. It's the Seventeen year cicada swarm here, so there are plenty of those if he can eat them?

Thank you all so much in advance for your advice! I really want to help him pull through. I can't tell if it's infected already, but there doesn't seem to be any pus or foul-smell.

[LilyPad]

That doesn't sound very good Thank you for attempting to help this guy! Some wildlife centers have vets that might be able to help him, so it's worth looking up a few and giving them a call. Right now, I would use neosporin *WITHOUT PAIN RELIEVER* to help prevent infection. Depending on the severity of the injury, that may be enough alone to help him pull through.

Depending on his size, cicadas may or may not be a good food source. If the food is smaller than the space between his eyes, then you're gold. I'd look for the most freshly hatched because they will be the softest bodied and easiest to digest (light green in color), I'm sure your area frogs are probably enjoying that delicacy! Otherwise just go to the pet store and get appropriate sized crickets (again, shorter than the space between his eyes) or earthworms. You could find those in your yard if they're free of pesticides and herbicides but make sure they're nightcrawlers and not red wigglers. Some will eat red wigglers, others will be turned off of worms in general if you try to feed them (they taste yucky!) You should be able to get them at any bait shop also. Pill bugs, roly polys, isopods, whatever you want to call them would work too as long as they're not too small for him to be interested in.

Both bullfrogs and green frogs like water, so make sure he's getting a fresh dish of water daily.

It sounds like you're doing a good job and make sure to keep us updated. If you want to upload pictures, you can upload them through a photo sharing site like photobucket and link them here.

[mollywog]

Thanks so much for the quick reply! I live in a very small town, and our only exotic-pet vet moved out years ago. I'll check around the nearby towns to see if I have any luck though!

I dig up earth worms for the Box Turtles in the Nature Center where I volunteers (I love digging for them!), so I'll find some for him tomorrow and buy some crickets too!

https://66.media.tumblr.com/d43efbb6...qfpscz_540.png
https://66.media.tumblr.com/1afc0420...qfpscz_540.png

Here he is in his little hospital terrarium. I have paper towels taped on the outside so my curious cats don't stress him out. I'm hoping the spring water I mixed with the neautralizer made it safe enough for him. Despite losing enough flesh to reveal bone and muscle on the underside, he DOES still have use of the leg and uses it to walk and hop (though rather weakly) which gives me hope that if he can survive beyond the risk of infection, he'll be able to go back to his pond!

[LilyPad]

He does appear to be a bullfrog to me, though I am not the best at ID. I think as long as he can get through an initial healing process, he should be okay. Good luck!

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

If this helps any, it is a bullfrog. They have similar care to these frogs: http://www.frogforum.net/content.php...ocephala-(1886) except on a much larger scale and with plenty of UVB. For an adult, a 100 gallon or more tank will suffice, as once he/she is fully healed, they'll be a massive jumper, and smaller tanks will make it get noserub or break or bruise its nose, which ends up harming it even more. I hope this helped!

[mollywog]

Thank you so much! But, will I able to release him again once he is healed? That is the ultimate goal; I don't know if I could afford a large enough tank for him. I cannot get him crickets until tomorrow, but he has been gobbling up earthworms from my yard! I cleaned his wound again today and put on the neosporin. The underside looks so scary since I can see his bone. It'll be a tough recovery, but I'm hoping for him! Thanks for the help!