Faking His Death

[crhoads18]

I was raising tadpoles and this guy came out of the water with my other Hyla versicolors. I was grouping them into cups and I noticed that three of the froglets lacked color in their eyes. That's right, their eyes are solid black! Well, two of the three died in the first few weeks, however, this guy has made it. Here is a picture of him with what was his cage mate.
This is the close up of Respawn (the solid eyed froglet)


And the background shot of his tank mate for comparison on eyes:



One day, I was changing out their moss to be cleaned and Respawn fell from the cup to the moss, stretched out and became lifeless. I thought he died, but I put him in a separate cup with clean, very moist paper towels. As much as he looked dead, he is one of my favorite frogs, so I did not want to admit he died.

I came around to admitting it and went to take him out of the cup and bury him later and when I touched him, he jumped. I have kept him in a separate container, but when I clean his container, he now has a ritual.
1. He shakes for about 1-2 seconds.
2. He falls to the ground- or my finger, whichever is closest.
3. He stretches out his legs.
4. He sucks in.
5. He plays dead.

This lasts from 2-6 minutes and then he flips back over and hops away. The last time I cleaned his cage, I took some pictures of this act. (Keep in mind, I try not to touch him while cleaning; this is not something that I want him to do nor is it something that I try to encourage or provoke him until he does it.) The pictures seem harsh, but keep in mind, he IS alive and he does flip back over and return to normal.




He simply lays lifeless.

Then, he snaps out of it and rolls over:


And hops away:


I searched the site for frogs playing dead or fainting and found nothing. I would also like to know why his eyes are solid black. Anyone have any ideas? Also, has anyone had this experience?

Thanks for any input you have.

[Jace]

I'm afraid I have no experience with that type of behaviour, nor have I heard of it before. But I have to say, that is one adorable frog! I hope he continues to thrive and I would love to see more pictures of him as he grows. I have heard of frogs with completely black eyes, but I have yet to read a decent explanation as to why it happens. Best of luck with him.

[crhoads18]

It may also be important to know that the tadpoles were wild caught. I say he is Hyla veriscolor because the others were, but that MAY not be the case. I just thought I would add this bit of information in case it helps.

[TheMaskedMan]

Question?.....so were the other 2 that you thought that died?....really die??? Or do you think they were faking it too?..

[crhoads18]

Question?.....so were the other 2 that you thought that died?....really die??? Or do you think they were faking it too?..

I have wondered this too since Respawn does it. However, I do think they were dead. They were on their backs in the moss and looked slimy and they had started to sink in. They actually started to deteriorate when they died where Respawn looked the same that night as he had that morning.

[TheMaskedMan]

Yea thats sounds like they were dead.... Frogs are delicate, one momment they are fine, turn around for a momment and they are dead. Ive had a few die for no apparent reason.

[Crystal6]

. I would also like to know why his eyes are solid black. Anyone have any ideas? Also, has anyone had this experience?.

My White's can have "solid black" eyes too. Or at least it would appear that way. I think he secretly has brown around his eyes but they are hard to see without a camera's flash illuminating all the details.

Your frog is smaller then mine so I'm guessing that helps in making it hard to see too. But as long as his eyes gain color when you turn on some lights there's probably no problem.

[SethD]

It sounds like a classic case of insufficient blood calcium caused by not enough calcium in the diet. Stress or excitement such as handling, feeding, or just opening the enclosure often can cause such occurrences as you describe in calcium deficient frogs. This problem is unlikely to be a neurological disorder and almost certainly can be fixed by increasing the calcium levels in the diet. If no change is made the froglet will probably die within a month or two at the most though. Better act as quickly as possible.

[crhoads18]

It sounds like a classic case of insufficient blood calcium caused by not enough calcium in the diet. Stress or excitement such as handling, feeding, or just opening the enclosure often can cause such occurrences as you describe in calcium deficient frogs. This problem is unlikely to be a neurological disorder and almost certainly can be fixed by increasing the calcium levels in the diet.

I honestly hadn't thought of that before. I use Rep-Cal Calcium with VIT.D3 and Rep-Cal Herptivite, but perhaps he just isn't getting enough. I feed all of my frog-lets like that at once and since the others are all normal, the thought never even came to mind. It does seem to make sense since he hasn't done this from day one, it is just a recent occurrence. Thank you very much for pointing that out to me.

[TheMaskedMan]

Whats the best/suggested calcium product to give your frogs?...

[IgbyKibbits]

I'd keep him separated for the time being and feed him away from the crew. Perhaps the others weren't letting him get his share! See if his behavior improves once you KNOW he is getting enough calcium!