Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Welcome to kingsnake.com's message board system. Here you may share and discuss information with others about your favorite reptile and amphibian related topics such as care and feeding, caging requirements, permits and licenses, and more. Launched in 1997, the kingsnake.com message board system is one of the oldest and largest systems on the internet.

Click for 65% off Shipping with Reptiles 2 You
Click for ZooMed
Click here for Dragon Serpents
trish713 Nov 03, 2005 12:54 PM

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum and this is fairly long, sorry. I kinda searched thru past threads to see if anything might resemble what just happened to one of my African Clawed Frogs, but didn't really spy anything.

I've had 2 female ACFs for 2 years. Within the last month or so, one of them went thru a couple of periods of being really bloated in the stomach. I had read about dropsy, but this didn't seem to fit, as it was just confined to the stomach area (and it's not like she'd get huge, just looked like she ate way too much or something). After a while, she'd "deflate". She continued to eat, swim and do everything "froggy" throughout this time. Tank temperature can fluctuate just a little, but usually never goes over 75 degrees, and there's been no previous problems. I make a point to not overfeed. She appeared to have no other signs of health issues.

She had another bloating incident 2 weeks ago. But, she again recovered. Yesterday, I fed them, she was fine. About 4 hours later, she was dead. As awful as it sounds, I kinda did my own "autopsy" on her, as I was worried that maybe swallowed gravel was the culprit, and I didn't want it to happen to my other frog. When I opened her up, she was literally running over with eggs! At first I wasn't sure if that's what they were, then I looked on some websites about dissection and discovered indeed they were. Her whole stomach cavity was filled with them. I found, what I think were, her stomach and intestines.......nothing in there. So, can frogs get eggbound? Or is it more likely something else killed her, and she just happened to be producing eggs at the same time? Do frogs produce eggs without a male? (and I'm positive my other frog is female) Although I do understand that some amphibians can "change sex". What happens when a frog produces eggs....will they go ahead and lay them, will the body reabsorb them, etc? Any info would be helpful, as I don't want my other frog to have the same problems if I can try and prevent it.

Thanks so much

Replies (1)

pitcherplant7 Nov 08, 2005 12:56 PM

Sorry to hear of your loss.

WHAT are you feeding though?

And, generally, its best to always keep under 75 degrees, which is the maximum I'd feel comfortable.

Honestly, I don't know, but never have I heard of egg binding in anurans.

Potentially it could even be a kidney disorder, as I have heard of xenopus developing this and it can cause bloating.

sometimes, frogs have terminal maladies that will not go away. It isn't always your fault. My old female lived for three years with bloating disease, and had deformed eyes and crooked back. There isnt' much you can do ;( She was a good froggy.

Site Tools