Hello,

I have two western toads that have been in my care since they were tadpoles, about 4 years old now. One (Ted) had had issues earlier on in his life but they cleared up to where he just needs assistance when it came to feeding. When he was ill, I was under the impression that it was short-tongue-syndrome and treated him with vitamin A, which he was responsive to and recovered. The problem has been up and down since then.

Recently, the other toad (Bill), who had been entirely healthy prior to them coming back into my care (I have been in college across the country so my parents have been taking care of them), has developed similar symptoms but worse. He is often making a clicking sound when breathing, especially when startled (which Ted had done and still does occasionally), appears bloated despite being off-feed for at least 2 weeks, lack of appetite, and classic "short tongue" where he can't get prey into his mouth.

I have tried treating with warm water baths, honey baths, the vitamin A treatment, and upped dusting of insects. Insect dusting prior to this was not done as often as it should have been.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I have searched and struggled to find similar symptoms across species.

--Caden