Northern Leopard Frog stopped eating!

[kymillers]

Well, I don't really handle him - I know it's not good for him. I use the end of the baster and gently nudge him on the rear and he'll usually move away. I don't see any evidence of any skin sloughing - I'll go check.

Nope, nothing. He still looks healthy and bright eyed, except for his coloring no longer being bright green all over as he was before. Also, his respiration seems a little bit elevated, but that might be my imagination.

[Kurt]

Ok I think I have ruled out chytridiomycosis. My next thought is we may be dealing with a respiratory infection. In this exam you will need to pick the frog up, put it to your ear, and listen. Do this in a quiet room. What you don't want to hear is crackling when it breaths. Crackling indicates a respiratory infection and the animal needs to be put on antibiotics immediately if you hear it. Which means a trip to the vet.

[kymillers]

Ooookay. He's a bit of a challenge to hang on to, but I'll give it a go later this evening when everything calms down around here. Hopefully that's not the problem!

I really appreciate your help.

[kymillers]

Well,

Instead of picking him up and stressing him more, I put my hand in front of him and listened to his back with my stethoscope. It took a minute to get situated, but after a minute or so I did hear what I assume was normal breath sounds. Definitely no crackling or popping, just a very quietsoft airy sound. He didn't really appreciate the cold stethoscope, but he didn't attempt to run away. Just flattened down as much as possible and tried to be invisible. That's his usual behavior.

Since he isn't wild caught, how would he contract any sort of infection? I guess he could get a respiratory infection from stress, but not chytridiomycosis, right? We're very careful about hygiene.