Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My new blue sipiliwani froglet arrived 3 days ago and hasn't been interested in any fruitflies, ants or baby crickets. He's very tiny (less than half an inch). I've read about force feeding and wonder if this is an option if so when I should start to get concerned. He's in a small vivarium by himself (and a few flies).

Being so small, you might want to try feeding it springtails if at all possible. Tiny prey seems to stimulate most finicky eaters. Try to only use force-feeding as an all-out last resort. If you don't have any springtails, you may want to try digging in the soil of some of your household plants (that is, of course, on the condition that you've never used any pesticides on them). Sometimes you can find all sorts of small insects crawling around in there.
There could also be a possibility that your froglet is stressed from being transported/shipped. You may even consider giving it pedialyte baths for a few minutes 2-3 times a day with a turkey baster. I suggest using the cheap off-brand pedialyte from wal-mart.
You may also want to contact the person you bought them from and let him/her know how the frog is faring at the moment. Good luck!
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Randy

That is very small for a tinc froglet even right out of the water. My tincs are usually 3/4" at morphing and about an inch a couple of months thereafter. If I were you, I would be consulting the breeder about the small size as it appears to me you were given a runt. Keep us updated. Best of luck!

-Bill J.
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Hi,

Often small froglets will not let you see them eat. A frog of 1/2 inch should be able to take melanogaster (retics do) but if he is much smaller it may be prudent to order some smaller food items. Put him on some paper so that you can really tell if he is eating or not, I would guess that he is and you just have not seen it. Also some frogs will only eat flys that are not dusted until they are older, I have some "golden" amazonicus that only just began to take dusted food (the breeder did not believe in dusting.) You should not worry about not dusting for a while if you think that this may be the cause of his problem.

Alexander Stubbs

thanks guys, for the advice...I measured him and he's actually 5/8 inch (nose to tail, not including legs). I suspected the dusting was a turn-off and so tried it without...no luck. One Dm even crawled on his mouth and he brushed it off. I'll try the pedialyte soak in the morning. I've read about that in message boards but what does it do exactly? He came with a slightly larger galactonus who didn't start eating until after a day and now can't stop, so it seems a little wait isn't unusual. I just don't know when I should really start to worry. At what point in the frog lifecycle do they begin eating flies anyway?

Andy

The pedialyte baths will give the frog a little added energy in the form of electrolytes, which will soak through it's skin.
If it hasn't eaten by day 5, then I would begin administering the baths.

I recieved a severely stressed cobalt tinc through the mail one time, and he didn't seem to eat for approximately 2 weeks. He showed no interest in food, and would move only occasionaly. At around the end of the first week, I started giving him baths 2-3 times a day every day. About a week later, it seemed he had some sort of "awakening" and began eating a ton of flies and acting normally. Now he's a pretty prolific breeder. So I would say give him a couple more days and then start the baths.

In the meantime, just make sure that the humidity is very high, and that there are enough flies in the enclosure where the frog doesn't have to search long to find one if it feels the need to eat. Don't put so many in to the point that the flies are crawling all over the frog, since that can add even more stress.
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Randy

Hi,

I assume that the galac is in a seperate tank. If they are together in one tank that would make it difficult for the smaller frog to eat. He would be very stressed. Also, I believe that he is most likley eating but you just have not seen him yet.

Alexander Stubbs

Hey,
It might be eating, in a way... when normal froglets (not arrow frogs) first come out, they don't eat for about 5-7 days, instead the absorb the fat in their tail... Am I right?
-Spec

Dart froglets use the nutrients stored in the tail when first emerging from the water. BUT, I don't know of any breeders that would be so bold as to sell a froglet just emerging from the water, so I doubt this is the case here.
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Randy

well it happened. This morning he didn't look too good at all, just collapsed on the moss. totally non-responsive. My wife started the pedialyte baths while I went looking for springtails, when I came home he had no heartbeat. Not breathing. I'm new to frogs this young and wonder if this is common or not for several to just not make it? I got him from a fairly well-known professional dealer and wonder if it's appropriate to ask for a replacement or is this just the chance you take?

Andy

I'm really sorry to hear you lost the little guy. No matter how good of care we give them, sometimes they just can't deal with the stress. On a good note, since you bought it from a well-known breeder, there's a very good chance that you can get a replacement frog or have your money refunded.
Most breeders will guarantee the health of a frog for quite some time. In your case the frog never gave you any indications that it was eating, so you'll probably not have any trouble with the breeder helping you out.

Again, sorry to hear about your loss. Probably half of the members on this forum have at one time or another lost a frog despite giving it the best care possible. Don't be discouraged!
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Randy

Andy,

Sorry to hear your loss. From what you said, that frog was to small to be sent out. I don't know who you got your frog from but contact them. If it was a big wholesale company then good luck. It is not common, but it does happen. When I first got into frogs, I had a LimeGreen Sip tinc that never, oup on size and didn't make it, but the other one did grow. I have a friend that bought a bunch of 6 month old luecs from a wholesaler and when he got them they looked to be maybe 3 weeks out of the water at most! I told him not to, but he wanted to chance it for the price. You have to be very care who you buy frogs from.

Again sorry for your loss,

Benjamin
www.thechocohut.com