A case of Red Leg?

[Mynok]

Thanks for the replies!
Diver, you may be right about my humidity between 40-50% being a problem. Source explains requirements for juveniles, http://talkto.thefrog.org/index.php?...ad&topic=19976
Juvenile Phyllomedusa bicolor need 60-70% humidity, adults 40-60%. I was going with the idea that these are high canopy frogs exposed to wind and lower humidities. The small size of my juvenile (1 inch) compared to the 4-5 inch adults is likely responsible for the change in requirements, going along with the lower temps (mid 70s during day, 70 at night).

My consistently high temps of 78-80 combined with low humidity would result in drastic evaporation from the frog and loss in body weight, which cannot be estimated based on hydration appearance of the skin. This would probably be exacerbated by less eating and a potential cause of the loss in appetite. This source (attached) I found does a great job of explaining the relationship between frog temperature, body weight, and relative humidity. Suprisingly, frogs do not appear to absorb moisture from atmosphere through their skin even at dew point (100% relative humidity). They can only absorb moisture when submerged in a bath or when liquid droplets are on their skin from misting. Atmospheric condensation will not happen on frog skin, because despite being cold blooded, frogs still produce heat from their metabolism-its just easier for them to exchange heat with their surroundings, gaining heat through conduction, convection, and metabolism; losing heat from evaporation. Thus an increase in relative humidity will raise the body temp of a frog given constant atmospheric temp. Understanding relative humidity is also important. For example with my 50W basking light off temp is 70 (close to my room temp) and humidity is 60, but when i turn the light on temp rises to 80 and r. humidity falls to 50%. The same amount of water vapor is present in the air but because warmer air has a larger water vapor capacity, relative humidity falls-the source says relative humidity and not absolute humidity is the important factor for all known objects, including frogs. So thats some fun thermodynamics..

This might explain why my frog sought shade in the day, hiding in a plant, the day before he lost weight. Waxy monkeys are known to be advanced frogs and juveniles seem to be even more sensitive to their environment. So the 78 at night was def not close enough to proper temp and may have contributed. In fact i changed the light from a 25W moonlight to a 50W moonlight a few days before this happened..the more i think about it the more this high temp/low humidity explanation makes sense..
If i get another juvenile i will lower the wattage of the daylight, maybe not buy a basking one; and go back to my 25W nightlite which hardly raised cage temp at all. In terms of the ExoTerra Night heat lamp interferring with day/night cycle, the frog was def active at night and moving around..before he got sick anyway..