red eyed help

[TekWarren]

The tree frog my wife got earlier this month is not doing well. We have yet to observe him eat mostly due to being nocturnal. My wife has buying small crickets as the frog is a juv and not that big. We put about 2-4 in every other or a couple days. Well the little guy is getting noticeably skinny and we are not sure what to do.

We got the frog from a VERY knowledgeable breeder whom we have talked several times over the years before actually buying from him. It is our understanding that humidity should be elevated but the temp should not be to warm. Currently no heat source but the room is ~80F at all times. A shallow water dish is provided at all times. A live plant with a substrate of sphagnum is used in the enclosure. The lid has been a screen top with saran wrap to hold in humidity. We have a plexi lid picked up from a reptile show but or whatever reason it doesn't fit in any of my old stock pile of aquariums. I will have to shave a good 1/16 - 1/8 off before it will fit...we have already taken some off but it wasn't enough.

The other night I put the tree frog into a deli cup over night with a wax worm but he didn't touch it. (Cup was kept in his regular enclosure) I try the same thing again but use a small cricket to see if he will eat. Other than I'm not sure what else to try? My wife lost a turtle last summer that quit eating, and she was pretty discouraged so I will do whatever it takes to help her have a better experience this time.

Thanks for any tips/suggestions.

[Laooda]

Sorry, I have no experience with Red Eyes... But I just wanted to wish you good luck. I'll be keeping an interested eye on this thread...

[mlededee]

80 degrees is fine (but don't go much higher) and unless it is breeding season and you are trying to breed high humidity is not necessary for red eyes. if you can do a combination of screen and glass/acrylic/saran wrap that is best for the lid. 50-60% or so humidity is fine.

how big is the aquarium? are you changing the water every 2-3 days (they defecate in the water so this is necessary)? make sure to dechlorinate water first by either adding dechlorinating drops or letting the water sit for 24 hours before using it. red eyes absorb the water as they sit in it and any chlorine or other chemical in it is very harmful for them.

you might consider getting a fecal done to check for parasites. parasites are pretty much guaranteed in WC red eyes, and it is always possible that CB frogs might have them too. if the frog started to get weak or stressed the parasites would start to affect it pretty quickly. red eyes are sensitive to stress and just the change in environment/location could be enough to cause a problem. i have found that once they are established they are quite hardy, but the settling in period seems to go one of two ways--they are good eaters, strong and hardy from the get-go or they have trouble adjusting to the change and decline rapidly.

if your red eye seems dehydrated you can soak him some shallow lukewarm water for 15 minutes or so at a time but try to keep handling to a minimum. my red eyes always loved crickets but not much else. i did get them interested in dubia roaches for a while when i was keeping a colony of them but they never showed any interest in worms.

good luck and keep us updated on your little one.

[TekWarren]

Thanks, I think the first to do is lower the humidity! I believe my wife has been misting 1-2 times a day. I had actually suggested doing that less and concentrating more on when the plant actually needs water.

Some short answers:

CB frog

10g tank -live plant with large leaves takes up about 1/4 to 1/2 the enclosre...can't remember the name off hand but we researched what plants where ok to provide them before actually purchasing it. The frog seems to enjoy it but sometimes can still be found stuck on the glass near the top of the enclosure.

Water is changed regularly, the breeder made sure to emphasize the shallow part and something easy to get out of.

Will be trying the deli cup with a cricket or two this weekend.

Does not look dehydrated, probably the opposite? Has lost body mass/size.

Water used is not chlorinated and is filtered specifically for soaking.

Will post with updates, thanks again.

[mlededee]

sounds good. you might also try removing the back legs from the crickets and putting them in a dish of some sort that the frog can easily eat from. red eyes are easily trained to eat from a dish or cup this way.

[mlededee]

oh, also make sure to dust the crickets with a multivitamin and calcium supplement (no D3 in the calcium if providing a uvb/uva light source).

also, are you providing any light source? they do well with a good uvb/uva bulb--the zoomed reptisun 5.0 works great. just remember that the uvb/uva rays cannot penetrate through glass or acrylic, so take any cover off of your light fixture and place it on the screen part of your lid.

[TekWarren]

Thanks again, will make some changes as you suggest

[TekWarren]

Update: wife put the little guy in the deli cup with two crickets last night and they where no where to be found this morning! I am thinking we will do the same thing again in a day or two just to get him building back up.


How do you guys feed? We where just dumping a few crickets in the tank during the week. I don't want to stress him out to much by continuing to handle him and putting him in a deli.

[mlededee]

yeah! good for the little guy!

the red eyes i had were all adults (or close to it) when i got them and i kept 4-5 at a time in a 30 gallon tall. there was a tall piece of cork bark wood that went up the entire back of the cage--they would mostly wait until the crickets ran up onto that and then jump down from the branches and grab them. since this was quite successful i never tried to get them to eat out of a dish or cup, but that is what i would recommend. perhaps feed 2 or so more times like you are now and then remove the back legs from the crickets and place them in the deli cup (no lid obviously) and put the deli cup in the enclosure with the frog. hopefully he will recognize the deli cup and associate it with eating and come down and eat the crickets. usually red eyes are easy to train to eat this way. good luck!

[TekWarren]

while I'm updating old topics...

This frog is doing great, we continued feeding him/her in the deli a few more times to make sure he was well started/restarted into eating. We have since modified the acrylic/plexi lid we bought by trimming it down to fit the tank also. He seems to be doing good and the plant is thriving also...such a cool little guy we'll probably add one more in the future.