# Froglet with three back legs



## Quaz (Nov 13, 2005)

One of my azureus has an additional back leg. It's skinny and limp and just kinda waves around in the air. Has anyone ever produced a froglet like this? He seems completely normal other wise and he's eating fin. I'll get a picture of him posted soon.


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## dragonfrog (Feb 16, 2006)

Where's that pic????


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## ErikB113 (Aug 26, 2007)

for real i've been waiting on that myself


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## Quaz (Nov 13, 2005)

I'm sorry... I'll get it soon.


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## Quaz (Nov 13, 2005)

Here you go...

In his viv



























Kinda gross of you look closely


















1 out of 50 or so... go figure.


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## AaronAcker (Aug 15, 2007)

wow very odd.. reminds me of an RC car w/ the antenna sticking up from the rear.


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## MELLOWROO421 (Feb 21, 2007)

Remote control frogs! Sign me up, I want one! :lol: 
That is crazy quaz, I have never seen something like that.


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## Jaeger (Nov 22, 2007)

Interesting to see it in an azureus froglet. There have been widespread leg deformities in leopard frogs across the US, and this has been seen in other species as well. AFAIK, the etiology is unclear; pollution and UV light have been suggested, and one article I ran across suggested trematode infection as one cause. If there's more up-to-date research, please post.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/cbbcnews/hi/sci_t ... 117263.stm
http://www.accessexcellence.org/WN/SUA08/frog11.html


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## KeroKero (Jun 13, 2004)

Leg deformities in wild frogs has been like SLS in the hobby... it's an indicator that there is an issue in the water somewhere, but not exactly what it is. I believe there are 3 or 4 documented reasons for deformities showing up in certain populations of native frogs, and a bunch more hypothesis out there. I believe UV was actually a theory more for the death of high altitude frogs in the Andes more than metamorph deformites, but who knows it might have joined the ranks of reasons. Deformaties are being found in most of the species, not just leopard frogs, I think the leopards have just gotten the most press, I know there is a serious issue with green frogs as well.

I've seen multi-limbed PDFs be morphed before... no one ever figured out what the deal was with the specific cases, usually considered a fluke since it was usually the one one produced.


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## Quaz (Nov 13, 2005)

I've changed so many different things with my tad water it'd be hard to isolate variables. The keeper at the Tulsa Public Zoo said that they were having SLS issues with their arautus and then they put a UV light above the tads and havn't had an issue since. Everything else remained the same.


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## ErikB113 (Aug 26, 2007)

looks like he has a hand coming out of his arss giving you the finger


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## AaronAcker (Aug 15, 2007)

ErikB113 said:


> looks like he has a hand coming out of his arss giving you the finger


This is a new born classic quote... I havn't laughed that hard in a long time... :lol:


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

There are multiple possible etiologies with this sort of deformity. In wild frogs where the tadpoles are kept with infected Planorbella snails (see http://www.esajournals.org/perlserv/?re ... =0151&ct=1) for a pdf file ) it has been shown that a trematode that infects birds that feed on frogs as the final host causes the limb deformities. The trematode encysts close to or in the limb bud disrupting development. Limb bud disruptions can be caused by a number of other factors including developmental issues which can then result in multiple limbs. 

High doses of UV lighting have been shown to causes issues including retarded development and death including those species known to live in shallow waters (see http://journals.cambridge.org/action/di ... aid=143947 for more information). It is possible that the UV did disrupt the development of the frogs. The use of UV lighting to deal with SLS was originally tried at the Edinburgh Zoo (see http://www.dendroworld.co.uk/BDGarchive/d_azureus.html ) for the article and it should be noted that the amount of exposure was strictly controlled. All the exposure to UV does is allow the tadpoles to convert provitamin D to D3.. if this is correcting the SLS then the adults are probably not sequestering sufficient D3 into the eggs and/or you are feeding the tadpoles with foods that lack sufficient D3. 

Ed


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