Calcium supplementation question

[cats2025]

Is there another effective way to administer calcium to a green tree frog directly instead of dusting or spraying his crickets??

[IgbyKibbits]

Because of all the research I've been doing for my sick little Igby, I did run across this product mentioned in a "care" article:

"The Calcium Sandoz is administered in drop form onto the frog's back at the rate of .08 ml per 10 grams of bodyweight (so you'll also need to be able to weigh the animal on a digital scale)." This is administered once a week, but must be prescribed by a vet.

May I ask why you want to supplement other than dusting/spraying?

[cats2025]

My frog (green tree frog) hasn't been himself. I took him to vet and and diagnosed with possible respiratory infection. I'm treating with Bactrim and trying to give Ca+ via crickets (I thought gut load had calcium and was not dusting them at first). He hasn't eaten the crickets and I was looking for an alternative. I spoke to vet today and he prescribed a nutritional supplement powder that I mix with water and feed him orally via syringe (10 units) once daily. He said I could put the Ca+ powder in that. Thank you for the info about the topical administration option, for future reference.
By the way, I think he's dehydrated because he is really sticky when I touch him as opposed to how slippery he used to be when he was healthy. Also he keeps his pouch under his chin bubbled out all the time now. Any idea on why that is? Is stickyness a sign of dehydration? Also could this be due to the change in the weather since it's got a little colder here last week. Maybe this is all normal and behavioral?? I have no clue but my instinct tells me his is ill. I hope he recovers. Thanks again

[IgbyKibbits]

No problem - we are having to give our little Igby the same "feed" as you are doing, so please, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Unfortunately, we've been doing the sick frog gig for the last few months now.

About force feeding: Here are some quick tips/advice that we've picked up during our "frog" trials and tribulations of force-feeding. We start at the corner of the mouth with the tiniest syringe we can get from the vet, and gently lever the mouth open. If that does not work, one thing that we've used (when our frogs were being especially stubborn), is to sterilize a credit card (or something like similar) and use that to slip into the mouth and pry open. Then you can use that to leverage the mouth open long enough to squirt the feed in. One word of advice: be slow in "injecting" the feed to give time for the frog to swallow. I had an unfortunate time when I was so excited that I actually got Igby's mouth open, that I squirted it in too fast, and the poor girl had "feed" coming out of her nose. I felt terrible!

Possible Dehydration: Pay close attention to skin changes. I do not know about the pouch being bubbled out, but one thing that you might want to try (in the case of dehydration), is a very small amount of unflavored pedialyte in his "sitting pond." We use 0.3ml of unflavored pediately in about 30ml of water...essentially a 1:10 ratio. That's certainly helped with our dehydrated frogs.

As far as weather changes, I know that when it gets colder outside, frogs can slow down (like hibernation), and eat less. However, if your tanks have consistent temps and light cycles, obviously, they shouldn't feel the "seasonal" change.

I hope someone more familiar with your frog species can help with the other questions! Best of luck! Oh, and if your instinct is telling you he is not doing well, listen to it. You know your frog! Just be vigilant and watch for other changes such as appetite decrease, increased lethargy, excessive shedding, etc.