Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a Maylasian leaf frog "Eyelash frog" and he was recently looking very listless and sick (I had him for several years now). I found out the reason: I have been using BED A BEAST, and as the frog swallowed the crickets, it also swallowed a great quantity of BED A BEAST. The poor thing was getting impacted!

I suspected that as he didn't have a bowel movement in quite some time, so I put an under the tank heater under the bowel of water which helps stimulate the bowels, and he had a HUGE bowel movement, big and thick and solid feces, and it appears that over 75% of it was Bed A Beast! I never seen such a huge bowel movement in such a little frog. Poor little thing. No wonder it was listless.

Well, he's feeling a LOT better now and looking chipper and cute as ever and swimming and active.

I replaced the bed-a-beast with plain paper towel kept moist.

I don't know what else to use. I won't use spagnum moss because it's a hiding place for crickets where they die and rot, and the same problem can arise (swallowing).

Anybody else have problems with Bed-A-Beast?????

Jade Fox

There has always been this risk and people have had problems in the past. Any bedding can impact frogs, but bed a beast is the LEAST likely to do it. It normally passes through(like it eventually did with your frog), but if your frog swallows large quantities, it, like any other substrate, can build up and impact the frog. That is why it is normally suggested that you feed your frogs with tongs so there is no risk of impaction at all. And it shouldn't be a problem anyway. The frog passed the bed a beast. It may have taken a while, but as long as he passed it himself, I don't really see the problem. Frogs can be impacted by paper towels too (and I have had frogs swallow paper towels quite often). Sphagnum could probably impact just as easily as well. You just need to start using tongs to feed the frog to eliminate the risk. If the frog recognizes you (which it should after a few years), then it should take crickets from tongs readily.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

Andy said everything I would have. Feed using tongs and you'll know exactly what goes in! A volunteer of mine had a tiger salamander die due to impaction from coconut fiber.
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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

Maybe the frog was listless because it has some sort of internal parasite? Just an idea to play around with.
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My eyelash frog already trusts me-sometimes he will even leap on me and want to stay for some reason. In fact, every single one of my frogs, to the exception of this one, I handfeed. My running tiger leg tree frogs completely forgot how to catch bugs on their own and depend on me to handfeed them (they like to grab them with their hands and stuff them in their mouth *or* just open their mouth and put it in their mouth for them).

I tried to teach my eyelash frog to eat with tongs; but by nature they wait on the forest floor and wait for their pray to come to them. For some reason this one is resistent to eating unless catching the bugs by themselves.

But yes he's quite all right now. He's acting normal again. After passing huge quantities of bed-a-beast.

If I see bits of the paper towel eaten then I will just eliminate substrate all together and use its coconut half with a door cut into it for privacy, which I use now since he can't burrow in paper towel.

Thanks
Fox

These frogs, as you said, are burrowers (sit and wait predators) by nature. You are pretty much taking away the one thing that these guys do to stay safe in the wild. So you had a bad experience. Experiment with other methods of feeding. Keeping an adult frog on paper towels or in a plain tank with no substrate is not fair unless you have a reason (IE baby frogs are best kept on paper towels as are sick frogs for sanitary reasons). Eliminating the substrate might kill the frog as quick from stress as having the frog get impacted from its substrate. Try feeding in a bowl or pulling legs off crickets. This can increase accuracy. If you feel that these frogs can go against their nature and live in a tank without substrate, I do not see why you think they can't go against their nature as sit and wait predators and take food from tongs (horned frogs and pyxies do it readily). Just keep working with him and I am sure he will learn to take food from tongs.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

With my horned frog... I just use bedabeast, and strictly watch him eat. I never leave crix in and walk away. I put one in front of the frog, on an overturned water bowl, and he eats. I repeat a few times. i also feed nightcrawlers in this manner. I think that the frog needs something to burrow in, but I don;t want him swallowing it, so I just watch him eat. I'd rather have him burrowed contentedly, than not be able to!
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If you recommend feeding using tweezers, can you recommend a way to get the frog to do that. B/c most of my frogs are awake well after i go to sleep when I feed them they are still sleeping, (I do feed them before I go to bed). So what we would be a good method and what type of tweezers do you recommend.
Thanks
Christina
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1.1 Russian Tortoise (Willy & Mikey)
0.1 Ornate Box Turtle (Lily)
1.0 Red Eared Slider (Chester)
0.0.2 White's Tree Frog (Kermit & Phil)
0.0.1 Red eyed Tree Frog (Justin)
0.0.2 Big Eyed Tree Frog
0.0.2 Bubbling Frog
0.0.2 Tiger Leg Tree Frogs (Akari & Shiro)
0.0.3 Amazonian Milky Tree Frogs
0.0.1 Dwarf Megophrys
0.0.2 Rainbow Burrowing Frog/Ornate Hopper
0.0.3 Asian Blue Webbed Gliding Tree Frogs
0.1 Praire Dog (Timmy)
0.2 Chinchillas (Layla & Snickers)
0.4 mice (Gabby and friends)
0.1 dog (Holly)
2.0 Cats (Champ & Bear)

Oh and a husband

What are the waters dangers...Except for maybe easier to for the frog to become hurt by it's own feces? And the fact that you should cahnge so often.
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CokeOfMan

Another reason...these frogs are not aquatic. They don't belong in a tank with just water. Many frogs can actually drown when placed in set ups with just water, even if the water is still pretty shallow.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: SurfAndSkimTx04
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

Burgundy baby, With your blue eyed soul, You play the hits and I'm on that roll, Capricorn sister, Freddie Mercury, Jupiter Child cry

N/P
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CokeOfMan

yes..i have had some problems with Bed-A-Beast.
i lost my 2 geckos when they jumped to eat the crickets and i found them dead with their months full of Bed -A -Beast..
I now use wood bark instead..