Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a three year old WTF that has ALWAYS been in the best of health! I noticed last week that her skin wasn't shedding and the dead skin looked kinda reddish-brown.. like, the reptile bark in her cage was dying her skin! I moistened her and helped her shed, and she seemed fine. About four days ago, I saw that she was WORSE! she is NOT shedding. Her skin is soo tight, her eyes are starting to look weird.. like the skin is pulling the lids back. I have been misting her three times a day, and syringe feeding her this new product that gives them calories and rehydrates them. My once vicious eater is also not eating. her tymponic ridges are GONE! She LOOKS fat, but her ridges are gone. I know a lot about whites, and i have learned that the ridges are the best way to tell how healthy they are. I am soo worried about her! There is only one herpatologist in town, and not only can I not get ahold of her, I can NOT afford a vet visit. I purchaced some skin conditioner today, that is supposed to help shed and restore electrolytes and rehydrate, but I don't know what else to do! Does anyone have an idea???

What is the humidity in her tank? This is not something I have come across before but I do know that low humidity can cause them problems with shedding. And the loss of appetite is a good indicator of a problem. If noone here can help you out, I'd try to work out payments or borrow some money and get her to the vet ASAP.
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Happy Frogging!!!

~Becki~

Keep trying to get a hold of that vet and see if she can at least give you some advice over the phone. She just might work out a payment plan with you. In the mean time, maybe move her to a holding tank with paper towels soaked in Pedialite in the bottom and cover the top with some plastic wrap to help hold in moisture. Try not to handle her too much incase stress can add to the problem.

I wish you the best of luck and hope that you find the answers and vure you need!!!
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Heather

My WTF recently had some weird shedding thing going on with him too. Hes always brown,so the brown piece didnt look unusual other then it looked like he had a piece of scotch tape stuck on him, which wa simpossible. So it definately was just some rough shedding. I put him in his waterbowl,where he sat for about a half hour. then i sprayed his back about 4 times a day,and it went away after 3 days,and hes shedding liek normal now.i know this has nothign to do with what your frog is doing,but just give it a few days to see if th things youre doing is helping any. goodluck, let us know how it goes!

This skin condition is a symptom, not a disease in itself, and you don't want to focus on treating it. When a frog is very weak the condition of the skin will suffer and it will stop soaking and shedding as it would when it is well. Don't bother to focus on the skin condition.

It does sound like your frog is in pretty tough shape, but I would give this a shot: provide a bowl of clean water every day and make sure she soaks in it. Do not mist the tank -- we want to force her into clean water. Don't try to help her shed; their skin is too delicate for that. And again the skin condition is not the cause of her trouble, it's a symptom.

Meanwhile have a fecal tested by a vet (I will guess she is not eating or defecating though at this point).

Henry Capobianco

She says that it is probably kidney failure. I guess when that happens, they retain a lot of water, and now that I look at her, her legs do look pretty water logged. the soonest that she could see us it SATURDAY, so I will be continuing to feed her the supplement and soaking her in the water. We'll see what she says on Saturday..

If you have kidney failure there is likely some toxin in the tank (new plants?), in the diet, or stress. And I'm afraid there is no cure for this. Please don't let the vet do a needle aspiration to draw off fluid. For some reason, once in a while a vet tries this and it is pointless and stressful.

Your frog may only have a day or two left. Frankly, if it were mine I would just keep it quiet and peaceful and let him go. Once you see this bloating there is nothing that can be done.

Henry Capobianco.