Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ohboy. My fairly large FBT was just noshing on crickets and accidently grabbed a large piece of gravel and swallowed it.

I tried to get it out of his mouth before he swallowed, but he wouldn't let me. He's rather large, but this was a big piece of gravel, like took up his whole mouth. Granted, the cricket he ate afterwards was bigger than the piece of gravel, but gravel doesn't break down in their stomachs like crickets do, does it? Will this cause a problem for him if it stays there? I seriously doubt this frog can pass gravel of this size. There are no real exotic vets around here to help him. I tried to feel his back to see if I could feel it but he just made these chirping noises and I couldnt hear anything. Now, he continued eating afterwards and seems ok now, is still breathing and all and is acting ok. Will this slowly kill him? I'd appreciate any advice...

The main thing to do is to get the gravel out of the tank now! I would just keep the toad in a basic setup with white paper towels and a half inch of water, and keep track of what he defecates. If you see the gravel in there, it means it's passed and he is safe. I am not sure if he will make it, though; it could be lodged in there and cause internal bleeding. Not much to do if you can't get to a vet. Maybe Colchicine will have more advice.
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*~Ginevive~*

Get it to a vet ASAP. sometimes they can take it out orally, sometimes it requires surgery. If it is a good sized rock, it will most likely impact/kill the frog. Why it was kept on gravel is beyond me especially with all the literature about how bad it is for the animals. Andy
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Andy Maddox
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Who are you who can say it's ok to live through me? Alice In Chains

That was a kind of mean response. I've looked into lots of sources and talked to lots of people about these frogs, it seems that gravel or no gravel is six of one,half dozen of the other...it all depends on who you talk to. Thanks for your advice, but your response was kind of harsh. There are lots of conflicting opinions out there.

You must be talking to either novices who say that gravel is good or people who are just set in their ways and refuse to give up gravel. Do they live on gravel in the wild, no they have a mix of soil with an occasional rock and rotting plant material, small gravel is usually only accessible in the water where it is pretty hard to ingest it.
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