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Hazel_may   Keirax   Americanchld   Hazel_may  
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 #2160091


Hazel_may
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 Starving Red Eyed tree frog - please help!

I’ve had a pair of Red Eyed tree frogs for a little over two years and they’ve been very healthy. About a month ago I noticed one was getting thin and I was afraid the other was getting all the crickets, so I bought an identical set-up (exoterra 12x12x18) and put the healthy frog in the new tank. I throughly cleaned and steralized the other tank, and put the skinny frog back in. His behavior has changed dramatically. He wakes up and starts to hunt much earlier while it is still light, and is not at all shy any more. He will continue to creep around the tank chasing crickets even when I am watching. The poor guy lunges after crickets repeatedly but never catches anything. He ignores the wax worms I’ve tried. I don’t know how he has survived this long - I don’t think he’s eaten in a month. I haven’t seen any droppings and he is soooo skinny. He does still chirp occassionally but he is obviously getting weaker and when he sleeps he is clinging to the glass with his little orange feet sticking out - not in a tight little "leaf" like he used to. He is also a darker green than he used to be.

I’m not sure how well he can see. He turns his head and seems to follow the crickets, but he lunges after them with very poor accuracy and then has to wipe all the dirt out of his mouth. It is so sad to watch and not be able to help him. Does anyone have any suggestions?



07/03/10  01:21am

 #2160093


Keirax
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   Message To: Hazel_may   In reference to Message Id: 2160091


 Starving Red Eyed tree frog - please help!

have you tried hand feeding the crickets to him? if not you should try one of the big tweezers you can buy for reptile feeding or just hold the crickets that way he has a better chance of getting them till hes healthy again. Sound like his sight might be leaving him or he might have some sort of parasite thats causing it. Not all Parasites kill their host right away, and some can even cause blindness or even paralyze. only way to know for sure is a vet visit :D. Anyways try hand feeding him and i wish you the best of luck.
07/03/10  01:48am

 #2160188


Americanchld
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   Message To: Keirax   In reference to Message Id: 2160093


 Starving Red Eyed tree frog - please help!

There are also 2 things you can do, if you don’t want to hand feed them.

1. You can freeze the crickets for a couple of minutes. This way they are still alive only paralyzed. Don’t freeze them longer than 3minutes.

2. This will sound gross, and its pretty digusting the first time, but you can break their skulls. Push down on the head, till you here a pop. Be careful not to decapitate the cricket, or squish any other part. We do this at the Lindsay Wildlife Museum. This way the crickets are still "alive" and wiggling, but they don’t jump around the tank. Even though this is way gross, it acutally works better than freezing them. (I still wear a glove when I do this)

Hope this helped.



07/03/10  04:34pm

 #2160840


Hazel_may
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   Message To: Americanchld   In reference to Message Id: 2160188


 Starving Red Eyed tree frog - please help!

Thank you so much for the ideas! I didn’t think I’d gotten any replys because I thought I would get an email - I’m glad I found my way back here!

Yes, I have tried hand feeding him, but he recoils from the tickle of the cricket to his face. I’ve tried to pop one in his mouth when he is "yawning" but he startles and wont take it. I’ve tried pulling the hind legs off the crickets (gross!). I’ve given him an assortment of sizes of crickets, sometimes only a few, sometimes many. He gets more excited when there are a lot of crickets so that’s what I’ve been giving him. He is creeping around right now and chirping, which is encouraging, but he looks like a spider because he’s so skinny. I do think he is blind. He does not react to my hand right in front of his face.

I will try freezing and skull cracking some crickets and let you know if it works. Thank you for your help!
07/06/10  10:14pm


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