# terribilis problem



## mbourdon (Dec 21, 2009)

I lost an 8 month old terribiis today. He begen to show signs of problem the day before yesterday. I put him in quarantine to observe him. He didn't seem to convulse (vitamin deficiency), but did have trouble getting around and repeatedly popped his mouth open, as if something was caught in his throat (not gaping - the opening and closing happened quickly as if trying to feed). I did what I could think of for him, but he still died. After he died (which happened rather quickly) I opened him up for a closer look and couldn't find any blockage. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this problem/had experienced the same thing before. I have quite a few other frogs, including quite a few terribilis, which don't seem to have any problems. The froglet did seem to be developing in a strange way. I have adult terribilis as well as froglets several months out of the water. This is the only "middle-aged" frog I have and I am unfamiliar with the way they grow and mature. He seemed to reach a sort of teenage awkwardness (head too big for his body, although he was at a healthy weight even when he died). I supplement regularly with herpivite and reptical. No other frogs exhibit any signs of vitamin deficiency and my supplements are replaced regularly. I also have fecals done on the frogs regularly, which have never shown any signs of parasitic infestations. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. Obviously it isn't going to help the one I lost, but might be useful in the future.


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## -Jex- (Mar 29, 2008)

I don't know for sure but from your post sounds like an overheating problem or maybe stress.


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## mbourdon (Dec 21, 2009)

the tanks are well planted and I can't imagine that stress would be an issue, although I will keep it in mind. This frog was also kept by himself in a reasonable sized tank. I will check on the temp in the tanks. The temp in the house is consistent, and I have never had a problem with tanks overheating, but I guess it could have been the issue. Thanks for the suggestions.


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## david.cravens (Apr 20, 2010)

Not sure if this could be a problem but did you ever get excess excelsior in the habitat or anything like that? I remember seeing a similar post to yours where the terribilis ingested the material and wound up passing away a few days later. Just throwing out a possibility.


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## mbourdon (Dec 21, 2009)

Dave - thanks for the suggestion. I don't use excelsior in my cultures. I now use coffee filters, as I had problems with getting excelsior in the tanks and thought it might be harmful. After repeatedly having to clean excelsior out of the tanks, I went back to using coffee filters. However, that doesn't mean that he didn't ingest something he shouldn't have. I suspected he might have, which is why I opened him up after he died. I checked stomach contents and checked his throat for debris, but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. I might have missed whatever was causing the problem, but there was nothing obvious. Ingesting something foreign that wouldn't pass was my first thought, as terribilis will eat anything they come across including fingers if your not careful. That still could be the cause, but I found nothing obvious to indicate it.


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## goku (Nov 11, 2009)

don't you have a picture of the frog? because I have one terribilis about 8 months also wich could be close to your description about the big head..she has also a lower pose than the other ones, as long as some bone structure that I associated with a bad assimilation of calcium, even if I can't be sure about it, here you have the post related:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/ge...atment/57080-bone-deformation-terribilis.html

My frog eats very good and behaves normally, even if I can see a difference in her devolopment comparing it with the other two I have..
did you ever nottice some of the things that I saw in my frog?

bye!


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## mbourdon (Dec 21, 2009)

I was cleaning out the tank a bit (since the inhabitant was gone) and i found a very small orb-weaver (I think) on its web in the tank. Not sure if a spider bite could have been the cause, but I figured I would throw out the idea.


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