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Grey tree frog help

K

Kevingalligher

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So I’ve had many reptiles over my lifetime but never have I had frogs. A friend of mine had a terrarium with 3 grey tree frogs in it for about 4 months with not the right lights, temperature, humidity, or food. About a month ago one of the frogs stopped using its back legs and since he was sick of it was about to throw it away and release the frogs since they are native in our area. So I ended up taking the habitat and did some research and I think I’ve dialed in the correct conditions but need some help making sure they are correct for them and if there is anything I can do for the one that can’t use its back legs. I’ve tried finding a vet to help but the closest one is a couple hours away and want crazy money just to look at them so hopefully this group can help me.

The terrarium is a 20 gallon tall tank with coconut husk substrate a hollow log for a hiding hole and a little rock dish I put fresh water in every couple days from the swamp behind my house with a little bit of duck grass. I have multiple pieces of real bark and sticks for climbing and a bunch of faux foliage for cover and hiding.

The lighting for day is 12 hours on 12 hours off. Day bulbs are a Zilla UVA day blue light 50 watt incandescent and a Exoterra reptile UVB 100 13 watt. For the night bulb it’s on when the day bulbs are off and is a exoterra 50 watt red to maintain temperature as my house gets pretty cold at night and there is also an under tank heater to help with temperature and humidity.

For humidity I’m using a reptifogger 3x a day for 30 minutes using only distilled water so it doesn’t ruin the fogged.

Daytime temperature and humidity is 80 degrees and about 45% constant humidity at the top of the tank. At the bottom of the tank it’s 70 degrees and about 55% constant humidity.

Nighttime temperature drops about 5-10 degrees up top and bellow and humidity doesn’t change that much.

When the fogger comes on it hits close to 100% humidity for an hour or 2 and then comes back down to its usual.

For food I use crickets from my local pet store that are always fed the flukers orange cube in store and I use them too in my cricket box. I feed each frog 7-8 crickets every 2-3 days.

All 3 frogs seem very happy now that the habitat is correct (I think). Except Lieutenant Dan still doesn’t use his back legs they just kind of drag behind him. If you touch them he will pull them up underneath him but that’s it and won’t use them. The vet I talked to said it probably happened from the lack of UVA and UVB from when my buddy had them as he was just using a regular incandescent light bulb.

Any help would be much appreciated from people who know anything about whether my setup is correct and what could of caused the loss of the use of the legs in the one frog.

Thank you in advance,
Kevin
 
Other than feeding the crickets the Flukers orange cube no. Should I be? Is that the only flaw you see in my setup? Like I said I’m new to amphibians and want to give them the best setup/habitat I can.
 
I have not worked specifically with the grey tree frog, so I can't speak to the details of a set up for them, but I have worked with various tropical tree frogs and I provided supplementation for them. Crickets, even when properly gutloaded like yours are (also important), are not a completely balanced diet without supplementation.
 
Forgot to mention, calcium deficiency could be the reason or part of the reason why one of the frogs is having trouble using its legs. Lack of calcium can cause metabolic bone disease (MDB), which can result in difficulties with mobility in more severe cases. There are other possible causes as well, but MBD is very common in captive herps that haven't been receiving the right care. It can be overcome with proper supplementation and lighting, but some animals may have lasting deformity and/or mobility problems even after care has been corrected. I have not worked with frogs that had this ailment, but I have worked with a number of lizards that had it. The fact that the frog can move its legs a small amount when disturbed suggests that the lack of mobility is not due to a spinal injury, which is another common cause of mobility problems. Animals that survive MBD and have their care corrected can go on to live a normal lifespan, even those that suffer from deformity or mobility problems. I've seen it many times.
 
So what kind of supplements are you using for your frogs? I completely understand what you’re saying and agree since they aren’t in the wild that certain vitamins would be missing that I need to supplement. I’m willing to work with the one with limited mobility and hopefully overcome it but it really doesn’t seem to bother him and when it comes to feeding time he has no problem catching crickets.
 
I'm glad that your special needs frog is feeding well and seems to have found a caring new owner.

I recommend calcium with D3 with each feeding, and a multivitamin weekly if they are growing frogs, or every other week if they are full-sized.
 
He definitely has, I’m a sucker for animals lol.

I’ll pick some up tomorrow when I get crickets. What kind of multivitamin do you suggest or that you use?

Also thank you for the help! I hope to work my way up to tropical tree frogs but need to learn more first so I can properly care for them.
 
I use ZooMed or RepCal reptivite, which are commonly available, but there are a lot of other brands out there that I'm sure are fine.
 
Ok awesome, I’ll check it out tomorrow when I’m at the pet store. Thank you so much you’ve been a huge help! I’ll let you know how they do and if he regains the use of his back legs.
 
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