birth defects in froglets??

[alane]

huh. interesting. i'm on my second year of growing fbt frogs and i have yet to see a defective one.

when they emerge, I feed them fruit flies dusted with the 'repashy calcium'. it's a supplement that has been recommended here. this supplement also contains 'carotenoids' which is what gives these frogs their intense color. its the only thing i use.

you do not mention a supplement. this is very important for both calcium and carotenoids. Not all supplements have the latter.
if you do not have a supplement, then i'd say that screwed with their development.

the fbt tadpole has a sucker mouth. when the rear legs emerge, the mouth develops that distinctive striping pattern. when the tadpole emerges, the mouth changes entirely in just a few days from a 'sucker' mouth to a deadly cricket and fruit fly black-pinkish-hole. incredible really. they cannot eat during the transformation, but once done, it should be a fully formed froglet.

i've had a few frogs fail due to the fact that i have more frogs than flies. and i've had a few tadpoles die. but no malformed ones.

this year, my tank is doing very well, and i'm not going to do the nursery thing, as i've found that my adult tank is an excellent nursery.

see my other thread for a link to a live video of my tank!

[loudmouse]

Since losing the one to sls, I've been using the same calcium duster powder I use for my adults. Before that, I'll admit I was slacking. I noticed this problem after they morphed. Before they morphed they would only eat algae and fish flakes, they didn't seem interested in anything else. I'm not sure how one would supplement the algae pellets and fish flakes, so I didn't. So maybe supplementation was the problem, or maybe they should have been eating invertebrates before they morphed as well.
As a side note, all of the other froglets are growing, healthy, have a voracious appetite and are starting to develop their green backs and orange bellies.
I'm wondering whether perhaps the parents may have been related and if that has anything to do with it. They were purchased at petco at the same time. So honestly I wouldn't doubt it. I won't be breeding the offspring, just wanted to raise them, keep 2 more to add in with my adults in their 20 gal, and then give the rest to friends/lps. I will note, it was never my intention to breed them anyways. They did it all on their own after their tank upgrade. And I have been scooping out and throwing away any eggs since the first batch, call me plan B lol.

[alane]

spinach seems to be a great tadpole food. just wilt a few leaves, throw it in the tank. high in calcium.

algae pellets should be a good food with a wide spectrum of nutrients.

that's what I use. spinach and pellets.

weird. it sorta does sound genetic. i was wondering just today how all of these frogs could possibly mutate from little grape like globs into actual frogs. you can see through them when they are tadpoles. the process must be pretty mindbendingly complex. and also fairly cute. mine are just sprouting legs.

[loudmouse]

One of them has been observed with the ability to close their mouth but only for short periods of time. So I wonder if it's indicative of a breathing problem or infection. I hope I shouldn't have to worry about the other froglets, though the rest are all super healthy, active, and have great appetites.
These two are in a critter container quarantined from the rest. They didn't want to eat today so I left a few fruit flies in with them.
I'm still considering euthanizing, but curious to see if they improve.