American Toad weird symptoms. New owner, need help

[KP]

Your decision to take Terry in for a medical professional to examine is the wise direction to go, I'm glad you were able to find a Vet who can see him, and especially in this timely way.
Make sure you tell the Vet everything you tried on him, don't leave anything out, that is if you haven't already.
I hope he can be treated for whatever it is and please let us know what the Vet says and what the prognosis and treatment are, will you?
Thanks for that in advance.
I'll be thinking of Terry around noon your time.
KP

[apr0705]

Hey,
sooo here's what the vet told me. she said the biggest concern was most likely some type of GI blockage. She advised that i give him warm honey baths every day or even twice a day to keep him moist and warm. She also suggested that i could try and force feed him, she gave me 2 tiny little syringes and told me to buy meat baby food (like chicken or beef, for the protein), and to dilute it with a little warm water and try and get it in his mouth. the last advice she had was to keep their temperatures from fluctuating down at night, because the colder temps we've been having up here in Michigan might be making him want to hibernate.. so yeah it didn't go bad, but now i know i have a lot of work to do with him!
I really want to separate my two until Terry gets better, but the predicament is I only have 1 light bulb and 1 heating mat (which wasn't even in use before now) and there's no good way for them to share the heat in 2 separate tanks. i should be able to come up with the money for more in the next couple days, but for now i just rigged up the heating pad on the water bowl side of the tank and really hope that helps enough til i can get more heat for them. I plan on keeping terry in the 10 gallon and moving John boy to the 20, and hopefully combining them again when Terry's feeling better.

[KP]

Thanks for keeping up to the minute on Terry's condition. I'm really glad you got medical advice about him. Yeah it sounds like you have some intensive care to give him and it seems like you're up to it. From your pictures and your description I suspected that he might have swallowed more of the substrate than you were able to get out of his mouth. Regarding the temperature, I have to keep my Grays tank above 60 degrees or they start to exhibit behaviors leading into their winter dessication period. About the idea of separating them, if the Vet didn't tell you that you should do that you might consider leaving them in the 10gal. for this winter since they won't be as active as in the other seasons even with the heat and it'll be much easier to keep good heat in the smaller tank.
Please keep updating this thread with Terry's progress, I really want to read about him pulling through this.

[KP]

Do you have news of Terry's condition?

[apr0705]

Yes, so not a whole lot has changed, he does seem to be moving around a bit more since going to the vet. He's still really plump, hasn't lost a bit of weight during any of this. We have force fed him twice now (with a syringe, beef gerber baby food diluted with warm water and with added Repshy's Calcium Plus and Zoo Med's Reptivite). We have been doing this every other night and will be doing it again tonight..He still won't go for any insect on his own so I guess we're just going to keep doing this until he eats on his own again. The temp in the tank now stays around 80 degrees, about 75 at night, we also got a fogger humidifier that we put in the tank when we aren't home. Kinda just hoping at this point that he decides to take a worm by himself one of these days, and i've heard that sometimes it takes months.

[KP]

Yes, so not a whole lot has changed, he does seem to be moving around a bit more since going to the vet. He's still really plump, hasn't lost a bit of weight during any of this. We have force fed him twice now (with a syringe, beef gerber baby food diluted with warm water and with added Repshy's Calcium Plus and Zoo Med's Reptivite). We have been doing this every other night and will be doing it again tonight..He still won't go for any insect on his own so I guess we're just going to keep doing this until he eats on his own again. The temp in the tank now stays around 80 degrees, about 75 at night, we also got a fogger humidifier that we put in the tank when we aren't home. Kinda just hoping at this point that he decides to take a worm by himself one of these days, and i've heard that sometimes it takes months.

Thanks for reporting on Terry!

Well, it sounds like you're following the Vet's prescription. Doesn't seem like you can do much more than that. One thing I've found that seems to stimulate my Gray Tree Frogs' bowels is holding them in my palm under the faucet and letting slightly warm water run over them from around 3 inches to immediately above. The flow rate is very gentle and provides a very aerated shower. They're only slightly more inclined to water than the Anaxyrus family of Toads but when I do this they will turn their most relaxed shade of gray, and sit in complete calm for as long as I'll provide them with the service. A little Hydro-therapy at the Frog Spa, but seriously, it frequently stimulates a good bowel movement.

[apr0705]

I like your suggestion, but I dont know if I could exactly do that because the tap water in my area is very contaminated so I have to treat all of it before I use it with the toads, so it would be a bit hard to shower him for that long out of a jug..although I would love to do that. For now I'm just gonna give him warm baths before and after feeding on the feeding days, does that sound like it would be enough?

[apr0705]

Also would you recommend force feeding him any dubias or worms or should I stick to the liquid mixture?

[KP]

I like your suggestion, but I dont know if I could exactly do that because the tap water in my area is very contaminated so I have to treat all of it before I use it with the toads, so it would be a bit hard to shower him for that long out of a jug..although I would love to do that. For now I'm just gonna give him warm baths before and after feeding on the feeding days, does that sound like it would be enough?

Oh no, then definitely don't do it out of the tap. I think you could try to get crafty and creative to rig a way to do it with the treated water you can use. Certainly keep doing the warm baths like the Dr. said.
I have a very deep well and the water has no impurities whatsoever, no metal imbalances, and the ph is neutral. Has a little sulfur but I have a large, inline filter system that catches it before it gets into the plumbing.