Northern Leopard Frog stopped eating!

[kymillers]

Well, here's the latest on the little hard-headed phib at my house:

I did pick him up and hold him to my ear (it was quite an adventure keeping him there, but he did seem to enjoy my hair!) and finally he was still enough for me to get a good listen in. Nothing. No rattling or any sounds at all. That's good, right?

He's still not eating at all, and I'm really getting tired of removing drowned crickets every morning. They're apparently too dumb to use the duckweed to keep from drowning, and insist on getting into the water even though they have gel available. Hopper still appears okay; not too thin, and not any paler than he was a week or so ago.

I did get the full hood and a nice UVB light, so he's all set environment-wise. I'm done. I just don't know what else to do for him. The pet store guy (who is supposed to be a phib expert) talked me into trying some Fluker's Repta-Aid Critical Care Formula - Insectivore/Carnivore Emergency Aid. He acted like it was a miracle cure (at $9.99 for a 50 gram pouch, it better be!), but I told him I was concerned about being able to administer it. Needless to say, my fears were not unfounded. That dude is NOT going to open his mouth, period. I was afraid I was going to hurt him trying to poke the end of the doser into his tightly clamped lips. He did open his mouth one time very quickly, and I might have gotten a dab in, but that was about it. After about 10 minutes of poking and struggling, I gave up. I was sure the stress would kill him, but nope, he seems the same two days later. He is still quite strong, and even threatened me and smacked at me a few times while I was trying to administer the med. But when he got so distressed that he began to vocalize, I decided that was enough. He stayed in the water most of the night after that, breathing very rapidly for about 20 minutes before calming down. I played some northern leopard frog vocalizations for him while he calmed down, and he was obviously listening, but never answered. The hydration probably helped him, but he hasn't retuned to the water since then (two days).

It's up to him now. I'll continue to keep him warm, moist and comfortable, and supply crickets, but otherwise, I'm done. There are simply no herp vets anywhere around here (believe me I've exhausted all possibilities), and I've already spent over $100 on this guy.

I've always wondered if impaction is possible, but he has had one or two stools since he quit eating and is not bloated, so I don't think that's it. There is some gravel in his substrate, but I just can't pay for xrays even if I could find someone to perform them. My husband is about to throw me, my daughter and the frog out the door!

I really hope he decides to eat eventually, but I'm not optimistic. I'm just worn out with it. On the up side, his little brother is eating well and growing very quickly!

Thanks for all your help. I'll let you know if anything changes!

[Kurt]

No rattling or any sounds at all is very good. What might be the case is he/she is settling down for the winter. If thats the case, then there are two courses of action. One, you increase the photo-period to 12 - 14 hours a day. This may make him/her snap out of it. Or the other course of action is to cool him/her down to about 55 -58F till March. So if you have a cellar or a garage, he/she gets to live there until spring.

Administering oral meds/supplements is never easy, its even worse with turtles and salamanders. I use these dental floss picks to pry open mouths. It works fairly well, just wished I had a third hand to make it easier.

[kymillers]

He's already getting 14 hours of UVB light daily and has been all along (except for the first few days, when it was 14 hours of incandescent light daily). He is inside his coconut half-shell buried under moss, but the light is on the tank. I did take his shell away yesterday and left his extra-deep pile of moss in his favorite corner.

You don't use the pointed end of the flosser, do you? I'm guessing the rounded part? You're right - three or even four hands would help a lot!

As far as cooling him down: Our basement is fully finished and part of our living area, and our garage would be too cold. We live in KY where the average mid-winter temps are in the teens andn sometimes below zero. I can't think of anywhere except maybe the fridge that would be a possibility. That's about 38 degrees or so, but I don't know if I can handle the thought of refridgerating my child's pet! If he is ill or still just shocked from the change of environment, won't cooling him down possibly kill him?