Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm raising a batch of 8 blue azureus froglets in plans to have a couple of breeding pairs and selling/trading off the remaining frogs. I've had them for several weeks now and just noticed that one of the frogs has a deformed arm! It appears that it never fully morphed and seperated away from it's body for lack of a better way to describe it. It's right upper arm is still attached to the body and it's lower arm is free moving but very close to it's back leg. The left arm is perfectly normal. It's eating and growing normally and having no other apparent problems moving about the small terrarium. My question is though, could it be genetic or environmental or just fluke of nature? Because the froglets come from two sets of parents and genetic would pretty much nix any type of breeding project with that batch.
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Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

1.3 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
1.1 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet)
1.2 Firebelly toads
2.3.0 D. tinctorius (Surinam Cobalt)
0.0.8 D. azureus
0.0.1 Clown Tree Frog
0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.1 Normal Corn (PepperKorn)
1.0 Creamsicle Corn (Kream)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
1.0 Betta (Sushi, Charlie)
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
2.7 Rats (Mouse, Socks, Sugar, Squishy, Fox, Lucky,B**CH & Tinker)
1.3 Mice (My step-daughter seems to think they are pets)
2.0 Betta (Sushi, Blue)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

Chantel,

It sounds to me like your froglet has sls (spindley leg syndrom).
This is fairly common among dart frogs. There are different theories on what causes it. The tadpoles diet, the parents diet, the temp of the water, etc. Its most likely not genetic but the frog will probably never breed. I don't see any harm in keeping him around though. He may just require a little more attention then the others. Hope this helped. Good luck.

Thanks for the answer.

He's in a 5 gallon terrarium with another froglet and eating well. I dust their food (fruit flies the small ones) with Rep-Cal every day and with the vitamin made by the same company twice a week and they have the springtails that are in the tank naturally. Is there anything more I can do for him? I already pulled another frog out of there and am raising him on his own in a plastic shoebox with moss and pothos cuttings because he wasn't growing as fast as the others. Which is what I was told to do. I like the little guys and take care of all my animals to the best of my ability so any tips would be much appreciated. I would love to breed them eventually but I won't if the genetics aren't strong. I believe in breeding to better the species, not to make just more and weaker ones at that.

-----
Chantel a.k.a. sillygirl
"I came, I saw, I adopted"

1.3 green anoles (Stumpy (M)), and the rest remain nameless.
1.1 green tree frogs (Romeo & Juliet)
1.2 Firebelly toads
2.3.0 D. tinctorius (Surinam Cobalt)
0.0.8 D. azureus
0.0.1 Clown Tree Frog
0.1 Anerythristic 'B' (Charcoal)corn snake (Popcorn)
0.1 Snow Corn (KandyKorn)
0.2 Amel Corns (KornSilk & KornMuffin)
0.1 Normal Corn (PepperKorn)
1.0 Creamsicle Corn (Kream)
0.0.1 Giant African Millipede
1.0 Betta (Sushi, Charlie)
2.4 Domestic house cats (Bad Boy (m), Bart(m),Sasha(F),Little Bit(F),Spirit(F)
1.0 Rottweiler (Jake)
2.7 Rats (Mouse, Socks, Sugar, Squishy, Fox, Lucky,B**CH & Tinker)
1.3 Mice (My step-daughter seems to think they are pets)
2.0 Betta (Sushi, Blue)
1.0 Husband (David, who loves all my critters too)

n/p