Food refusal becoming serious

[froghub]

Excellent! Thanks again Cory! I'll be doing all of this!

Yeah, lets us know i would suggest that since you're doing the honey baths change the substrat and do a deep cleaning in the terrarium to kill anything that might live in there other than the frog, then wash it really good with water before putting the frog in!
Try to get the new substrate a lot dryer than this one, as it seems to me a lot of water.
Also, if i were you i would give preference to live food only, and try to be sure how they're raised if you can, so this way you'll be sure that you're not feeding parasites to the poor guy.
You said that you've the top cover? You might get it a little bit open so the air circulates, you can close the grid but not all of it, you can cover 2/3. In mine i usually do 1/3 so there's no condesation in there, therefore some of the water in the substrate is able to evaporate and the risk of bacteria growing is less.
Nice frog you got there, hope he'll do better soon!

[Allthingswithscales]

Thanks so much Froghub! I really appreciate it! Everyone has been so helpful and I will do everything that I can I hope he'll actively respond to food by mid November.

[Sajuuk Khar]

This is my experience so please take this as a grain of salt, it may vary from others. I have the same type of frog carnwellie. He was an eating machine for the first 6 months (got him as a baby) and then slowly started eating less and less until l he stopped eating completely. I tried everything to get him to eat (warm baths, clean enclosure, turn up heat, different feeders ect ect) nothing worked. He started doing this around December so I though maybe the season change was the reason and he would start eating again by spring summer.

During those winter months, I was assist feeding him every 2 - 3 weeks so he would eat something. Its up to you if you want to do this or not. I did this because I thought he would never eat again on his own. Then come spring, he started staying on the surface instead of being underground all the time and started eating again on his own. So keep that in mind it could be seasonal?

Others say change the substrate once a month, I usually go 2 - 3 months between changes with no ill effects. I do however mix/churn the substrate every few weeks to mix it all together again, as they usually sit in one area and it would be contaminated and hardly touch the rest of the enclosure. Again its up to you as to how often to change, but changing it sooner is always better than leaving it.

If your frog is starting to lose weight, you may have to assist feed him. But this is not for everyone and if you are worried about hurting him then dont attempt it.

[monster]

This is my experience so please take this as a grain of salt, it may vary from others. I have the same type of frog carnwellie. He was an eating machine for the first 6 months (got him as a baby) and then slowly started eating less and less until l he stopped eating completely. I tried everything to get him to eat (warm baths, clean enclosure, turn up heat, different feeders ect ect) nothing worked. He started doing this around December so I though maybe the season change was the reason and he would start eating again by spring summer.

During those winter months, I was assist feeding him every 2 - 3 weeks so he would eat something. Its up to you if you want to do this or not. I did this because I thought he would never eat again on his own. Then come spring, he started staying on the surface instead of being underground all the time and started eating again on his own. So keep that in mind it could be seasonal?

Others say change the substrate once a month, I usually go 2 - 3 months between changes with no ill effects. I do however mix/churn the substrate every few weeks to mix it all together again, as they usually sit in one area and it would be contaminated and hardly touch the rest of the enclosure. Again its up to you as to how often to change, but changing it sooner is always better than leaving it.

If your frog is starting to lose weight, you may have to assist feed him. But this is not for everyone and if you are worried about hurting him then dont attempt it.

If your frog wasn't losing weight and started to eat again in the spring you shouldn't force them to eat over the winter months if they slow down or go into estivation, they slow down there metabolism for these months on purpose. Frogs are built to withstand the shortage of food over these months, all my frogs go into estivation from around November early December and turn back up around april/may and start eating as normal. Feeding them during these months and disturbing them if they are in estivation is actually more harmfull then good, to be honest your not even supposed to change there substrate if they make the mucus sac around themselves because they aren't peeing because they retain all there water over these months. And they don't need to poop because your supposed to stop feeding them a couple weeks before and let them totally empty out before going to sleep so they aren't holding food and they cant go septic. These are crucial steps to conditioning them for estivation. And I don't even try to let mine estivate to be honest they just do it for some reason no matter what I do so I just let nature take it course. I believe some of them even though you don't change temps and humidity that they still sense the change in the season and the pressures and dryness in the air and do it anyway. A lot of people that keep assist feeding or messing with the frog in these winter months end up with a very sick frog in the spring or a dead frog and then are stumped to went wrong not realizing the frog was doing this on purpose. I'm not trying to knock your advice or say this is the case with your frog but if you do think this is what could be happening if your frog isn't losing weight during this span of time it is just better to leave him till he comes around. Sometimes instead of going into full estivation they will just go into kind of dormant stage almost like a bearded dragon, and if this happens you can still offer food like with a beardie but if he doesn't eat it he should be ok. Again I'm not trying to say your wrong just thought I would throw this out there so if it happens to you again this winter it is something to think about.

[Sajuuk Khar]

If your frog wasn't losing weight and started to eat again in the spring you shouldn't force them to eat over the winter months if they slow down or go into estivation, they slow down there metabolism for these months on purpose. Frogs are built to withstand the shortage of food over these months, all my frogs go into estivation from around November early December and turn back up around april/may and start eating as normal. Feeding them during these months and disturbing them if they are in estivation is actually more harmfull then good, to be honest your not even supposed to change there substrate if they make the mucus sac around themselves because they aren't peeing because they retain all there water over these months. And they don't need to poop because your supposed to stop feeding them a couple weeks before and let them totally empty out before going to sleep so they aren't holding food and they cant go septic. These are crucial steps to conditioning them for estivation. And I don't even try to let mine estivate to be honest they just do it for some reason no matter what I do so I just let nature take it course. I believe some of them even though you don't change temps and humidity that they still sense the change in the season and the pressures and dryness in the air and do it anyway. A lot of people that keep assist feeding or messing with the frog in these winter months end up with a very sick frog in the spring or a dead frog and then are stumped to went wrong not realizing the frog was doing this on purpose. I'm not trying to knock your advice or say this is the case with your frog but if you do think this is what could be happening if your frog isn't losing weight during this span of time it is just better to leave him till he comes around. Sometimes instead of going into full estivation they will just go into kind of dormant stage almost like a bearded dragon, and if this happens you can still offer food like with a beardie but if he doesn't eat it he should be ok. Again I'm not trying to say your wrong just thought I would throw this out there so if it happens to you again this winter it is something to think about.

No worries I totally understand what you are saying. I am not sure if mine was trying to estivate as he didnt form a sac or anything like that. I didnt know he would start eating again, I really thought he was done eating on his own for good. Luckily my frog was fine in the spring and is very healthy. Knowing this now, I wont try and do this until I notice a drastic loss in weight, because now I know he should start eating again in the spring/summer.

[Allthingswithscales]

Thanks Sajuuk Khar! That's reassuring. That's pretty much what I've been trying to do and he is certainly becoming that much more active as I turn the heat on in the room. It is probably about time for a soil change though. I'll do that this weekend and maybe it'll perk him up. We'll have to wait and see.

[Allthingswithscales]

Good news guys! I have an update and that is after the special baths I've been giving button and cleaning out his substrate as you all suggested, I got him to eat an orange head roach tonight! Tomorrow I'll give him two.

[GrifTheGreat]

Good to hear. He may be wanting prey that move a bit more.

Everyone should keep in mind that they can sense seasonal changes even if the enclosure remains stable. They will slow their eating when winter sets in, but this is not always the case. Every frog is different and I have some that eat year round and others that will go down for a month at a time even in the summer. Force feeding as was previously stated is only a last resort.

Be sure to rinse the frog off after an electrolyte bath. I will also ask that you keep an eye on the frog's urine while being bathed. They will usually replace stored water kept in the urinary bladder when given the opportunity. Dark, strong smelling urine can be an issue because unlike mammals, their kidneys do not produce concentrated urine. Dark colored strong smelling urine could mean slight dehydration infection. Lacking in dietary supplementation or improper supplementation can also result in dark urine as water soluble vitamins that are not absorbed are expelled. Be on the look out for mucus in the urine as well.

If the picture above is resent I would say you should not be worried yet.