Lost 2 Bullfrog(Pixie frogs) in 1 week

[Rein Buisman]

Hi Guys,

My daughter and I are quite heartbroken and confused after the death a week apart of 2 of our 3, 8 month old Pixie frogs(got from the wild). We are first time frog owners and I have been doing a lot of research and thought I had set their habitat up quite well with everything they needed. As I mentioned they were about 8 months old, I replaced their water almost weekly with 80% bottled mineral water, the tank has a filter. its a 30/70 water to land paludarium. We keep the humidity between 60 – 80% and the temperature does not go below 18 degrees Celsius. we started them off on baby crickets and mealworms, as they got older we switched to super worms and larger crickets. when the season changed they started eating a lot less and stopped eating super worms all together. at the start of winter I added a 50W black heat globe approximately 200mm from the ground which they thoroughly enjoyed and spent most of their time under basking. their ground is made up of coco fiber, plants and stones, there are spring tales in the tank for housekeeping.

Like I said it was business as usual and within a week 2 have died, the third is berried and I don’t want to disturb it till we have some good advise on how to proceed. My only suspicions is that there could be too much food in the tank(I always make sure there are 2 – 3 crickets walking around)?

any advice would be appreciated.

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[Zoodulcis]

That is unfortunate and heartbreaking, for sure. I don’t think too much food can be the problem.

You say you got them from the wild? What part of the world do you live in?

Wild-caught frogs are often crammed full of parasites. Have you ever taken a fecal sample to a vet?

And last question, to help diagnosis this problem, what do you supplement and gutload their food items with?

[Rein Buisman]

Thanks for your response, I’m from South Africa every rainy season we have thousands born in a wetland near me, and my daughter took a liking to them so I decided we would raise some as a good learning experience.

we have not taken any Fecal samples to the vet we, we have not thought it necessary.

and to your last question, we didn’t supplement just crickets super worms and any creepy crawlys found around the house, tried to keep it as natural as possible.

[ABMoore22]

In the wild they would get certain things from the sun and environment that we do not have in a home, thats why its important to dust. I also try to keep it as natural as possible. The only way to not dust is to use the correct uv lights and feed your bugs a lot of vitamins and minerals. Much easier to ensure health by dusting. (I do both, but to each their own)

Also, as someone who has also brought in wild animals as pets (a lot of frogs!), sometimes being in a cage, no matter how nice and natural, is sometimes just too stressful for them and they end up dying. Get ones as young as possible. I usually go for tadpoles. Good luck to you and i love that youre using pets to teach your children. Makes for compassionate kids and a love for science and animals!

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