Reptile & Amphibian Forums

today I woke up tp a horrible sight,one of my red eyed tree frogs was sitting at the bottum of one of my plants in my tank. he was coverd in the perite, the white dots of foam looking types of things that they put in plants. So I wet my hands and picked him up and his back legs went limp along with his boudy, like he was poisened or something. so i took a small plastic cup and filled it with warm water and placed him in it and thank god it seems like hes on the road to recovery, I was lucky I think! Now i am almost positive that it was the perite because it couldn't have have been anything eles. whats your thoughts? Could it have been the perite? or do you think he was dehydrated? But then again to me it has to be perite! I'm doing reserch right now to see if it is toxic and whatever!! But all i did now was cover all the perlite up with moss so they can't get to it!

-paul

I don't know if by eating the pearlite, it would have affected him, but it does absorb moisture and a frog's skin holds a lot of moisture. Maybe the pearlite caused him to dehydrate? Maybe he was just dehydrated? To me, it doesn't sound like a poisoning issue if warm water cured it, but just to be safe, take out the pearlite and what not, and just make sure he gets a lot of water. Like I said, it sounds like dehydration to me.

Depending on what brand the Pearlite is, it could have fertilizer in it. You have to carefully read the bag. Red eyes are pretty delicate so it could have been several other factors as well.

i don't know if he's going to make it now to tell you guys the truth and when i perchased the plant it had allready had the perlite in it. So i would not know what brand it is. i called my local reptile shop and talked to a friend of mine, he said it could have been the perlite, but also he could have been just a bum frog---they are only 3 weeks old with me, when i got them they were about 2 weeks out of the water, just beveloping their red eyes.

-paul

I don't know if the perlite or the plant itself had anything to do with the illness. Only a vet can tell you what is wrong with your frog. I can tell you that it is always a good rule of thumb to use soil free of perlite or vermiculite as they can cause impactions. Before putting a new plant into your cage always take it out of it's container to inspect it and then repot it. All sorts of nasty things can come in a plants roost balls. Also, be sure and rinse the plants leaves off with a mild soapy mixture to remove potential risks from insecticides. If the plant is potted in a container with perlite or vermiculite, remove it and rinse off its root structure to remove them. Then repot in new soil free of additives. Good luck with your frog.

my frog didn't make it sadly, but i would like to thank you all for all of your help!

There are probably a few things you couldve done to maybe prevent this. First of all,Anytime,absolutely Anytime you purchase a plant, you should ALWAYS take it out of the pot, get all of the original dirt off of it,plant it in whatever substrate your using(am i safe assuming it to be Coconut fiber?), clean the leaves off with mild soapy water,and set it by itself in quarentine for atleast a month,to be sure it is extra clean for your frogs. Second of all, if your frogs are so young,why did you rush into putting them into a big setup like that? or young or baby frogs,it is usually best to set them up in a bare tank for ahwile,to make sure they are eating,pooping,and are active,etc. When in a big setup,it is harder to monitor these things,and will be harder for baby frogs to find their prey,water source,etc. So maybe for next time,set each of the babies in their own small quarters, with paper towel substrate, a water dish, a branch or two and their own food. that way you cant see their stools, avoid any potential problems, count if theyve been eating,etc. Well,better luck next time. Do you have any other Red Eyes?

yea lol, i have 3 left and i did everything you just mentioned to not further the crises i set up paper towles and etc. they seem fine now. and they only thing i did was cover up the perite with moss.