Found a gimpy Gray treefrog...

[UncleChester]

Just wondering what the general feelings are towards taking in a gimpy wild frog? This one is maybe an inch long, and has a messed up left hand, but is otherwise fine (pic attached). It can hop around just fine with 3 legs and can walk in an ambling sort of way.

My GF wants to keep it, based on it being so darned cute (they all are when this size, and actually as adults too), and being a cripple. I figure it's made it this far (the wound isn't fresh, it looks like it never developed properly**) it would probably be ok, though at a disadvantage.

So, let nature take it's course or do our best to keep it safe?


**just had the thought that maybe it's not finished developing? It has no sign of a tail though? I've never raised anything from a tadpole so I'm not sure what's normal.

[Jace]

That definitely looks like a deformity of some sort. At this stage, it is done developing its limbs, I would think. If you let it go, it might live for a while, but Mother Nature is not usually kind to any living thing that has a defect. I am also one of the biggest saps on the planet, and if I had found it, I would probably keep it. It's quality of life is going to be 100 times better with you and your girlfriend....besides, look at that little face...

[Paul Rust]

Oh Jo-Anna, you are a big softy, you know that? Sigh...so am I.

I always keep the lame, sick, injured, and deformed. And that's just my girlfriends.

Remember Ishallah and Philomenia? Two beautiful deformed Bell frogs that Ebony saved and turned out to be wonderful little frogs. I find that the little guys that are deformed have character and are much more special because of it. I have a chipmunk with one hand missing, a rabbit with a messed up ear, and many other injured animals, and I just love them. If it were me I would keep it safe. If you don't want to deal with it Brian, then let me know and you can ship it to me, I will pay the shipping!

[Jace]

I like the term "big softy"-sounds much more cuddly than sap!!

Paul, I don't even know what to say to the girlfriend comment...but if all you attract are the sick, injured and deformed, we have got to set up up with Dr. Phil or something. Or Dr. Oz...

And Paul took the words right out of my mouth: if you don't want the the little Grey, let me know-I'll snag it from you. I have yet to see a live Grey Treefrog, and my home is always open to the less fortunate (even Paul ). However, from the sounds of it, your girlfriend is going to have a new little frog friend. Best of luck and let us know!!

[UncleChester]

I was thinking that I've seen a grand total of one adult Grey treefrog with a deformed limb (also a messed up left hand). So there was probably never any real chance I'd let it loose in the wild after realizing how bad those odds are. Kind of both of you to offer it a home though.

So for now it's in a small plastic container (~ 1 gallon) with a chunk of pothos in a dirt cup and a small shallow water dish until I can build more permanent digs.

I've never kept a frog this small, so I have a couple of questions about feeding. I'm guessing feeding once or twice a day is in order? I have crickets of all sizes, I'll see about getting some fruitflies for variety. Is the odd tiny mealworm acceptable as well? I've been using a Reptivite mineral supplement that has calcium in it, is this cool for a growing little dude, or should I look into something else?

[lnaminneci]

That is the cutest little Gray Tree Frog, deformity or no deformity. It has beautiful colorations. Who could refuse that little face!
I hope that you are able to keep it!

~Lesley

If it were me I would keep it safe. If you don't want to deal with it Brian, then let me know and you can ship it to me, I will pay the shipping!

I think Paul is a "big softy"!

Paul, I don't even know what to say to the girlfriend comment...but if all you attract are the sick, injured and deformed, we have got to set up up with Dr. Phil or something. Or Dr. Oz...

All I can say is.....LOL!!!

[Jace]

I have recently had experience with small frogs and currently have a toad that just barely reached the 1" mark in the last week (he's grown wider, rather than longer! ) and I feed a healthy dose of pinhead crickets (dusted of course) once a day. I think it depends on the feeding habits of your Grey-he or she might like two feedings a day, but if there are left-over crickets after the first feeding, I would let those get eaten first before offering more. I tried mealworms once or twice with my froglets and Enoch the toadlet and it was soundly ignored, but it never hurts to try. I also use a Reptivite vitamin supplement with D3, but with youngsters I have begun following a 2-1 dusting schedule: 2 days in a row of straight calcium, followed by one day of the multi. I have to say, it seems to help and I am less worried about defects. Enoch, especially, is thriving! Glad to hear that you are keeping him or her. Best of luck and I hope we get to see some pics of it growing!

[charlamanda]

[QUOTE=UncleChester;35051]

Geez! Sorry about those girlfriends Paul, I am on disability and looking!!LOL
I know I am repeating myself, but I have plenty of these Gray's(12 for now), small ones and yes a deformed one as well!
I have found several deformed frogs around here, just the odds not the pollution, at night you can find....hundreds in my yard. I live in a lake community in Pa, the larger of the 3 lakes is across the street about 50 yards or less. There are lots of marshes and vernal pools just on my cul-de-sac! and only 4 houses due to this!
Anyway, the frogs I found deformed, much worse than UChester's, are fairly large and seem to be thriving! The one I found yesterday was a wood frog and his/her back right leg was completely webbed together!! Another in my pool has only 1 eye, and he's the pool stud!!! Here's a pic of "Jack", (I named after the one eyed Jack in a deck of cards) a Green frog, who's lived in my pool all summer. He "Boings" for days at a time and has invited about 20 plus females to join his harem! They hop out of the pool as the sun is going down and hunt around the yard at night, it's lots of fun having them around, especially with our 10 lb dogs!! Don't worry the dogs are frightened of the frogs!! LOL
I would take it in, but as it sounds it's not only me with that advice and that "soft-spot" for the sick and injured. Judging by the size, it's close to the size of my Gray's and mine left the pool in July! The ones outside are only slightly smaller and not as chubby, if that helps to judge the age.
I am feeding them every other day and they eat between 3-4 small/medium crickets. I noticed, with the every day feedings, on the odd day they weren't interested, so that's why I tried every other and it's working very well. I also give them wax worms, but unless they are wiggling like crazy they ignore them. Every once and a while a fly or ff gets into their tank and they grab it, with the way the bugs are around here, and lack of bats, I'd like to train them to hang on the ceiling, etc. and catch them in the house...I loath bugs, but oddly am fine with the feeder kind!!
When I took Baby and Tiny in I really thought there wasn't much hope, but after Tiny died, I left Baby alone and filled the tank with ff 24/7 and he/she began to thrive. I found another little Gray, about Baby's size, that has a right back leg deformity too. The leg doesn't fold up to his/her body, is thinner than the left and the foot seems to have less toes or maybe toes connected together. Here's 2 pics of Mr. Hoppy, notice the right leg.
I am glad you've decided on keeping the Gray and I am sure he/she will be too!
BTW..your pics are unbelievable, I need a new camera. I take lots of nature pics..deer, frogs(a given), bear(BIG ONES 850 pounders), Bald eagles, turkey, etc., this area is great for people who like animals, the community is surrounded by thousands of acres of state forests with lots of, 157 to be accurate, glacial lakes, natural springsand the Delaware is only a few miles away.
Best of luck with your new frog, post lots of pics, I love my Gray Tree froglets!!
What kind of camera do you have?

[UncleChester]

BTW..your pics are unbelievable, I need a new camera. I take lots of nature pics..deer, frogs(a given), bear(BIG ONES 850 pounders), Bald eagles, turkey, etc., this area is great for people who like animals, the community is surrounded by thousands of acres of state forests with lots of, 157 to be accurate, glacial lakes, natural springsand the Delaware is only a few miles away.
Best of luck with your new frog, post lots of pics, I love my Gray Tree froglets!!
What kind of camera do you have?

Thanks! I'm a nature lover too, so your are sounds pretty sweet to me. My camera is an older DSLR, a k100d, typically equipped with a (now older) DFA 100mm Macro lens. The shot of the gimpy frog here used an external flash (an old manual control one) in a 5"x7" homemade softbox (which is massive compared to the frog) while the frog was in my portable 'light tent'- just a small white cooler (the kind you fill with ice and beer) turned on its side. The lighting is usually more important than the camera in my opinion.


And a frog update- I dropped in 4 small crickets yesterday, they were gone by the end of the day. So I put in 7 this morning, all gone now. Either they've been eaten, have escaped, or are hiding. The frog pooped yesterday, so I expect any new poop will mostly be from what it's eaten while under my care. I should be able to pick up some calcium powder tomorrow (I have a multi-vitamin already).

[Paul Rust]

[QUOTE=charlamanda;35110][QUOTE=UncleChester;35051]

Geez! Sorry about those girlfriends Paul, I am on disability and looking!!LOL
QUOTE]
LOL.....That's very kind of you but I am hopelessly in love with the most amazing, beautiful, and loving woman that I could ever hope for.

[charlamanda]

[QUOTE=Paul Rust;35169][QUOTE=charlamanda;35110]

Geez! Sorry about those girlfriends Paul, I am on disability and looking!!LOL
QUOTE]
LOL.....That's very kind of you but I am hopelessly in love with the most amazing, beautiful, and loving woman that I could ever hope for.

That's nice to hear, there maybe hope for me yet!!LOL
I've had mostly long term relationships and 2 engagements, but instead of physical problems they had just mental!!!LOL

[charlamanda]

And a frog update- I dropped in 4 small crickets yesterday, they were gone by the end of the day. So I put in 7 this morning, all gone now. Either they've been eaten, have escaped, or are hiding. The frog pooped yesterday, so I expect any new poop will mostly be from what it's eaten while under my care. I should be able to pick up some calcium powder tomorrow (I have a multi-vitamin already).

Thanks for the camera info, I am going to look it up online.
Sounds like that little frog is eating really well, and you said this frogs about 1", he/she is eating a lot for it's size, my 1" Gray's will eat about 5 small/medium sized crickets in 1 day! 11 in 24 hours is glutany, lol maybe he is a she, I noticed that the few I am sure are females will keep eating as long as there are crickets and I leave them in the tank/container. Humm, they may be smaller crickets than what I am feeding mine and may have been very hungry. Either way it's great he/she eating so soon and so well.
Well you won't believe this or maybe you will, but I found another very small froglet yesterday I put in with Baby and the gimp, Mr. Hoppy. It's the same size as Baby is now and is oddly brown???It is a Gray Tree froglet, I am sure of this! Here is a pic. I will keep it for a while to fatten it up and let it grow a bit then will release it. I routinely catch the froglets and feed them, mostly when it is cold or raining or they're very small, and feed them fruit flies and crickets. The winters here are very cold (got down to -15'F) and long(got 1-2' of snow in October and some in April) and harsh (got 5' plus of snow in 1 week). I figure the bigger and well fed they are before the weather gets bad the better chance of survival through the winter, I am such a sucker for those cute little face, but I am worried about the tads in the pool!

[UncleChester]

Thanks for the camera info, I am going to look it up online.

No problem- I'm always happy to answer camera questions if you have more.

The size of the crickets I've been using have varied from pinheads to about 1/4", maybe bigger. It's too much of a pain to sort all the same size, so it gets what I first pull out of the bin that's not too large.

I've never seen a gray treefrog that I'd call brown, very dark greens and grays are common, but not really brown.

[JimO]

Glad you've decided to keep it. BTW, that is a fantastic photo.

[UncleChester]

An update on this little frog. It's now named Tyr, after the Norse god of "Getting Your Hand Bitten Off by a Wolf". I'm not sure of the sex at this stage, but I can't help thinking of it as a "he" now, but I won't hold it against him if he turns out to be a "she". It's more confusing a "she" for a "he" that causes me trauma.

Tyr's been eating crickets regularly, and I've been dusting with calcium 2 feedings then a regular mineral supplement. I built a little ~8.5 gallon vivarium for him, details in another post http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...-treefrog.html

I moved him into the new viv today, all seems well. He ate immediately inside the new viv, and will have to get used to hunting in this larger enclosure. He made a brief trip into the lightbox for a picture before moving into his new home. I love how variable these frogs colours are. A couple pics of Tyr in his new digs as well.

[Jace]

Tyr is looking really great, Brian. He is settling in very well with you and I am sure the new digs are going to be to his liking! So glad you decided to keep him!

[charlamanda]

Wow those pics are amazing and the marking on your frog almost look like a leopard, on the sides, Idon't think any of mine resemble your frog at all. It's quite a unique and beautiful frog, Iam glad you kept him and get to see these fantastic pics. Congrads Brian!!