Quote Originally Posted by ashb View Post
I left the frog in the container with the crickets for thirty minutes and when I came back, its mouth was gaping open and closing and its body was swelling up and releasing some kind of long stringy fluid out its anus.
I know this post is ANCIENT, but it comes up on google and I have something I'd like to add to this conversation / topic.

Sometimes, after my grey tree frogs eat a big meal, they do this weird thing where they puff up huge, start wiping their arms and legs all over their body. A slimy substance appears and the frog will actually swallow it, but if you're not watching close you can't see the substance and it just looks like the frog is dry heaving. It scared the hell out of me the first time I saw it happen, but now I know what it is! They are shedding skin!

This is just a theory, but here's what I believe: they puff up as much as they can to stretch & separate the old skin. They wipe their arms and legs all over to displace the skin and push it towards their mouths. I know green anoles and lots of lizards eat their skin for the vitamins. Is it possible the grey tree frogs do the same thing? I believe they do.

ANYWAY! From what you described, I believe this is what may have happened to your frog. If you're still active on this forum I'd be interested to know, were the crickets gone when he exhibited this strange behavior? I'm guessing he ate the crickets, and because his skin was probably already damaged from the hot pavement you saved him from, it triggered shedding. The slimy fluid you thought was coming from his anus was probably just slimy skin coming lose from the lower portion of his body. The opening and closing of his mouth was probably him swallowing the skin. Seriously, you have to look closely at the corners of their mouths so see it going in, but if you look close you'll see it. If you don't look close it just looks like something is wrong with them.


Here is a photo of one of my grey tree frogs doing what I just described