# What's wrong with this powder blue?



## Equidoc2013 (Nov 28, 2011)

I picked up this frog and several others from a local reptile keeper who wanted to get away from dart frogs (???) It's about 15 months old and according to the original owner he's had this "leg deformity" for about 6 months, or at least that's when he first noticed it. As you can see the frog has a swollen right thigh, but I also thought his back looked a little crooked. They don't teach us about frogs in vet school, but if I had to guess I'd say he has scoliosis. Has anyone ever seen this before? Whatever the problem is, it doesn't seem to interfere with his quality of life or mobility at all. 













This frog is available for adoption to anyone who wants to pick him up or pay to ship him. If anyone _knowledgeable_ wants to comment on the genetics of this condition and whether or not this frog could/should be bred for the information of the future owner I would really appreciate it! Thanks for your help!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

If I am repeating stuff you already know feel free to skip over my post... I would check to see what they were using as a supplment for calcium and D3 (if you have access to that person still) as deformations like that are not uncommon in cases of calcium metabolism disruption (since there are multiple ways (improper phosphorus to calcium ratio, too much vitamin A in the form of retinoids to D3, insufficient D3...). If you have the time and energy you can x-ray it and send a copy to a ARAV vet for a consult as to whether or not the bone density is appropriate or not.. 


Ed


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## Equidoc2013 (Nov 28, 2011)

Thanks Ed. I did ask him what he was using to supplement and he said he was using RepCal and Herptivite. Also I am less inclined to think this is a nutritional issue because the 4 other frogs I got from him (same age) are all perfectly healthy. Do you think this could have been from a previous injury, like a pelvic fracture? Although I would expect gait abnormalities and he moves just fine. Again, thank you for your input!


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Equidoc2013 said:


> Thanks Ed. I did ask him what he was using to supplement and he said he was using RepCal and Herptivite. Also I am less inclined to think this is a nutritional issue because the 4 other frogs I got from him (same age) are all perfectly healthy. Do you think this could have been from a previous injury, like a pelvic fracture? Although I would expect gait abnormalities and he moves just fine. Again, thank you for your input!


The swollen right thigh more than the deformation of the pelvic structure is what made me more inclined to think there was some issue with supplementation (and depending on feeding regimens and competition, you can see one out of a group present overt symptoms earlier than others (just from personal experience working with large groups of amphibians)). The swollen thigh is a typical presentation of one of the many variations of "MBD"... It is possible there was a pelvic fracture but I would also expect to see it compensate for the deformation in it's movement... but you could be totally correct... 

Ed


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## Equidoc2013 (Nov 28, 2011)

You may be right about metabolic bone disease, because the original owner said this frog looked normal until it was 9-10 months old. Of course you never know when people just aren't looking closely enough but if this frog developed MBD that timeline would be about right. Also, since he purchased this frog as a juvenile, it's possible that its nutrition wasn't so great as a froglet and by the time the new owner was feeding him good supplements it was too late.


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