New to owning White's Tree Frog, New to Forum!

[LindyHopp]

Hey guys,

I wanted to post this as a bit of an update because so much as happened since I last posted.

Two weeks ago, I ordered a Blue Phase online and the site said it would be around 3 inches. Well....little Poseidon ended up being less than an inch big. He is SO tiny! Anyway, I put him in his temporary enclosure and as soon as I got him out of the box he was bright blue and very active. Within minutes of being in his new home, he ate 4 baby crickets. He eats every day, is super active at night, and I am so happy with him. Oh, and my he has GROWN in two weeks! (I was hesitant about the online thing, but he's doing great. I have to wait 'til he's a lot bigger to put him in his permanent terrarium.) He's so funny when he eats the crickets right off the tongs and grabs them with his hands and stuffs him in his face.

Here are some photos:




He's the complete opposite of Apollo...which has taken a turn for the worse, I fear.

As for Apollo, he stopped eating about a week and a half ago. He's still that same dark color and just refuses to eat. A cricket could go right in front of his face and he just ignores them. He stays on the ground, refuses to climb. He basically sits in the same spot during the day and then at night crawls over to his water bowl and sits there until about 9:30 in the morning. Then he crawls back to the back of the tank and the cycle continues. This would be fine if he was eating...but he's not. I did see him shedding twice, though. So I guess he's growing?

I went to a reptile expo on Sunday and talked to this guy there who said to put Apollo in a dish with warm water and put the dish under a heat lamp. Do you guys agree? He said he believes that he's constipated and the warm water will help. I wanted to know what your guys opinion is..I already took Apollo out and put him in a different/simple setup..just papertowels, little vines to climb, and a water dish.

I moved Apollo, cleaned out his terrarium and put my NEWEST addition that I found at the show, Aphrodite. I always planned on having three...so she is the final frog I will get and she's super cute. Again, right away she attacked those crickets, is climbing everywhere and is hunting like crazy tonight. Poseidon and Aphrodite are great..but Apollo is still in bad shape.
Here are some photos of Aphrodite:



Okay. Sorry for the long post. But yes..symptoms for Apollo: Hasn't eaten in over a week, refuses to climb. Please let me know what you think I should do. I want to take him to a vet, but that will be my last step. I want to see if there's anything I can do on my own first.

[IgbyKibbits]

Alright - first things first: is little Apollo quarantined!?!?! I know that you got your new little frogs at relatively the same time, but you need to be very VERY careful about cross-contamination! Especially since little Apollo is exhibiting some "sick" symptoms!

If I were you, I would (at the very least) separate Aphrodite and Poseidon into a separate quarantine (temp) tank - and let Apollo be in his own tank until you know that he is okay! Ideally, to be honest, I would have each of them in their own separate quarantine tank for thirty days prior to introduction to make sure each is healthy and happy. You don't want one sick froggy introducing that illness to the others. I can't quite tell from your posts if you've done this or not, but I would highly suggest it.

As far as little Apollo: I've never heard of just "warm water" helping a frog that's not eating. How long as he not been eating? How old is he? How big of crickets were you feeding him? When was the last time that you saw feces from little Apollo?

Those are the first questions that come to mind. It's true he could be impacted, but there are also other problems that could be in play, mainly parasites. Frankly, that's the first place I would I check.

In other words, my suggestion is as follows:

1. Quarantine (if you have not already) little Apollo from the rest of your bunch, to insure the lack of cross-contamination in case of bacterial/fungal disease. Make sure that you sterilize to prevent any cross-transfer (i.e. pour boiling water on temporary tank decorations to kill bacteria/fungus etc., and completely sanitize hands prior to spraying with frog-treated water...we use latex gloves that we wash with soap and then spray down, disposing with each handling of a different frog given that one is in quarantine)...What you are doing now is a good quarantine setup - "frog safe" watered down papertowels with a hiding spot/pond.

2. Locate a vet. It's a good bet, given the time that you've had little Apollo (from the posts I'm guessing two weeks?) that you'll need to contact a vet. Again, please clarify how long he has not been eating...Nevertheless, a fecal culture will be a good thing and a good place to start with a new froggy (especially one that is not eating)

I hope that helps!!!

[LindyHopp]

Yes, yes, yes! Apollo is quarantined. What I did was, I cleaned out his entire tank and put Aphrodite in there. Apollo is in a separate 10 gallon tank with a paper towel, stick thing to climb, and a water bowl. So every frog has its own tank at the moment. None of them have ever been together.

I have had Apollo for about 3 weeks. I'm not sure how old he is, but I would guess that he's a few months old because of his size. He has not eaten in 1 and a half weeks. And I had not seen any poo anywhere in the tank for about 2 weeks. I was feeding him just the normal large crickets that he was eating in the pet store.

Here's my update: Went to check on him this morning, he's in his little quarantine tank. First: he's green, which he hasn't been since I bought him. Second: THERE IS POO ON THE PAPER TOWEL. lolol I have never been so happy to see poo in my life. Third: I put a cricket in there to see if he would eat it...he didn't. The cricket is still in there, so he's still not eating. Fourth: He's sticking on the side of the glass which he hasn't done AT ALL since I bought him.

And, I actually found a vet at the reptile expo that is about 15 minutes away from me. So, my vet is located.

[LindyHopp]

Alright! So...took the plunge, spent 150 bucks, and got Apollo to the vet. He has red leg. I have to give him a shot every three days for two weeks. So far, he's had two doses and ate for the very first time today! Really excited he's doing better. The vet said the weird thing on his back is a scar, probably from when he was younger. He also said Apollo was sick when I bought him and the stress of moving probably awoke the infection.

I had no idea it cost so much to take a frog to the vet. I even called the 6 other exotic vets in my area. They all charge the same. Oh well. All part of being a pet owner!

Anyway! I just wanted to thank you all and give you this latest update on his situation.

[1beataway]

I'm sorry that little Apollo is sick! But now that you have the treatment, hopefully he'll make a speedy recovery. That's a lot of money, but I'm glad you spent it for him. You're a good frog owner.

[charlamanda]

Hello and welcome, I know it's a bit late, but I missed you somehow. I am on disability and have lots of time to kill and am on this site just about every morning for a few hours.
I am a fellow new Jerseian, I moved from Rutherford to Milford Pa and I miss NJ terribly.
Congrads on your new froggers and I am glad to hear Apollo has gotten treatment.
I am a new frog owner of Gray Tree froglets. They decided my pool, which had to be taken down 3 summers ago and is laying on the ground with several inches in it, was there favorate meet and greet and laid thousands of eggs. My entire yard was full of tiny froglets, that thankfully have mostly moved on and some moved in.
I brought 2 in that were very small and very thin, when the weather turned colder and rained for a week, and one ended up dying. The other froglet, I named Baby, was very dark at first almost black, but once he/she began to eat and adjust to it's new home has remained a beautiful green.

[charlamanda]

wooopsy...I posted that before I was finished.
Anyway, its been quite a ride with these guys, but they are wonderful little creatures and worth all the time, money and effort.
Now getting back to Apollo, since the frog had been ill from red leg prior to you buying him I'd march down to that pet store and in the nicest way possible and give them your vet bill for selling you an ill frog!!! When you purchase a pet from a pet store it is given that you are buying a healthy pet that has been checked by their vet routinely. If you buy one that does have health issues than they are responsible!!!! It's the law!!!
I bought my first puppy 16years ago, whom I still have, and he had an undecended testicle. This condition increases the risk for testiclular cancer and I had to have him fixed ASAP. The pet store was responsible to pay about 90% of the cost. I bought another dog from the shelter who had kennel cough and they too were responsable for most of the bill if not all of it, I can't remember I had her for 21 years and she was 6 when I adopted her, she was a peek-a-poo we named pookie, we called her Methusalah though since she was so old!
So my point is that the pet store you bought Apollo from should be responsable for the vet bill and the cost of the treatment.
I don't know how far you are from me , but if you are close I'd be willing to go with you to the pet store, I am a pro at this!!!LOL
Good luck and keep us updated on Apollo's recovery and post lots of pics

[LindyHopp]

That's crazy! I live in Wallington, 2 seconds from Rutherford. Small world!! If I had to leave NJ, I would be very sad. I've traveled all over the country, all over the world (even lived in Paris for a semester when I was in college) and cannot imagine my life anywhere else.

That being said, I think that finding eggs in your pool is the coolest thing ever! So glad you got to keep one and that they're happy and healthy.