# Female Azureus acting funny



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

My female azureus has not been acting like her normal self since friday. I guess let me start with my set up.. one male and female azureus in a 55 gal tank. I have a water feature and a humidifier.. the temp is about 85 right now a bit high but it'll drop once the lights go out in about a half hour-hour. The male is all over the tank very active and hunts and eats. The female has kind of been staying in one spot. Friday she was acting kind of afraid of the food but her toes were still tapping. Yesterday she actually hunted and ate maybe one or two flies but still kind of trying to hide. Last night she didnt go to her sleeping spot, she was just sitting there looking through the glass. This morning she was pretty much making herself appear small, totally not upright like her normal stance, kind of crouched down. Today, shes been moving but very little.. she stays in the same spot in like a frozen state for hours. When I check on her she kind of picks her head up. Also another note, she hasnt left the water feature side of the tank since friday. This is all strange to me because she's usually the more bold one out of the two and a very active hunter during feeding. Id imagine the temp is a bit higher than Id like but its only been at 85 today otherwise I have the AC on which usually keeps the tank at about 75-78. Any help is appreciated. Thank you.


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

How old are they?

What size?....compare to a coin....dime, nickle, quarter ect..

Are there hides available? Leaf litter.

85F is too high. Try to make sure the light(s) are not throwing off a lot of heat.......get a small fan as well.....


----------



## kingnicky101 (Feb 20, 2009)

Phil is right, 85 is too high. How old is she? Is she eating regularly?


----------



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

I would say they're about 1 and half yrs old. 

Plenty of hides - ton of leaf litter, cocohut, and homemade mountain/cave, even the waterfall has a place to hide under.

I would say full size for azureus so maybe like inch and a half

85F was pretty much only for today otherwise temp has been cooler. But I'll play around with the temp and see what happens. Thank you.


----------



## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

you of course have been using supplements? and ones that have been open for less than 6 months???

i agree 85 is too high.

sitting in water can be the sign of a pretty sick frog unfortunately. i'd suggest contacting a DVM like dr. frye, or a local vet if they have experience in amphibians.

hope it pulls through.

james


----------



## divingne1 (Mar 21, 2008)

Checking with Dr. Frye would be my start.

Also, has your girl ever laid eggs before? Does she look like she is carrying eggs? The first time one of my female azureus went through the whole egg laying deal, she became very reclusive the week before. She refused to come out to eat or anything and wouldn't lay her eggs (not even for a calling male). She finally came back out of hiding a week later with a slender figure and a hardy appetite. I pulled up the piece of wood she had been hiding in and found eggs.


----------



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

Yes of course I use supplements. repcal and the multivitamins every other feeding.

She has layed eggs before but not for some time now. 

Well it seems she is back to normal. I just fed them and shes eating pretty well. She was even waiting for me to drop the food in the usual spot. Hopefully it was her just being weird before she lays eggs. Thank you all for your help. I'll be watching her very carefully over the next few days just to be sure.


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

I've had Tincs "flatten out" and have their head down....and become inactive / try to hide, all due to higher temps.

Maybe the high 80's temp brought it on ?


Glad it's eating and seemingly back to normal.


----------



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

Could be.. I woke up this morning and the tank was down to about 80 but she was still looking a lot better. So what I did was take the glass lids off and just left my screen top on with the lights off. I have my ceiling fan blowing in my room. The temp right now reads about 79.5 and should be still dropping. When I do put the lights back on I'm goin to raise it a couple inches off the screen top, hopefully that will reduce a lot of the heat.

Also it was just the female that was acting that way, with the head down. The male was hopping around all over the tank like normal, thats why I was unsure of it being the temp as an issue.

What I'm goin to have to do is redesign the top of my tank and somehow get fans in for the summer months.


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

These are small, cheap and available everywhere....

**


Just direct the fan at your viv / light fixture and the temp should go down a few degrees....


----------



## DCreptiles (Jan 26, 2009)

im going to have to agree with PHil these higher temps can really take a toll on the frogs i mean 85 isnt extreme but its really cutting it close. i try to keep my frog vivs at 80 but of course on hotter days they go up. the pumilio dont seem to mind the mid 80's but the other frogs become slugish. but the behavior your speaking about i have seen befor in my cobalt i purchased when i first got into the hobby. it was very slugish rarely ate stayed in a frozen state for hours. i would leave for work come home and it be in the same spot and when i came home same spot again. id often go to bed wake up same spot lol i didnt know much about frogs then but it was highly understandable that something was just not right.. few days later the poor cobalt past on. so you should deff look into it more. the frog never lost weight or anything like that but just was slugish i would go to nudge it with the tip of my finger and it would hop just once to get away and that was it. i did that to see if it would even try to move away. in my expierence with frogs they run and scatter from everything so i knew something had to be very wrong.

-Derek


----------



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

Philsuma said:


> These are small, cheap and available everywhere....
> 
> **
> 
> ...


Really? that little fan will take down a couple degrees? I have glass tops that i normally use should I change it to mesh for the summer months in conjunction with the fan(s)? I'll certainly have to look into these fans. What type of store would have those? and Thanks again Phil, you've been a big help.



DCReptiles - the thing with my azureus is, is that she is use to my hand being in there so she doesnt fear me much. I've had these two since they were about 3 months OOW. I could probably feed her right out of my hand. The male is just different from her, kind of opposites sometimes. The male usually runs away and is scared of me. Also the male did not show any signs of sluggishness, wouldnt both be pretty sluggish? The male was hoppin all around the tank like he would on any other day. Thats why I thought it was more of an individual thing then a tank problem such as temp. 


Sidenote: She does seem to be acting better still not 100% tho but im happy to see her moving around more. I had my mom put on the AC so that helped a little. Right now the tank is at 77.7 which is much more ideal. Glass tops still off and I have one light fixture running. Silly question: if I put ice cubes into the humidifier could this cool down the tank being that, in theory, it would blow cold air into the tank?


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

I just purchased a pro exotics temp gun at Hamburg so I'll let you know what all the findings are with my fans and ultrasonic humidifiers ect as soon as I stop acting like a little kid with the red laser beam....

The frogs see the red dot and try to attack it....pretty funny.

Those fans retail for @ $17.00 and come in black as well. They should be at most big box stores....the 'Wal, bed bath and beyond, Linens and things....stores like that.

They don't occilate but it's no problem due to the clip and the ability to turn and angle them.

Not only will they help with the temps a little bit.....but I direct them onto a sealed viv (sealed as in glass top without louvers or screening ect) and the fan will allow for just enough air circulation to clear the front glass for better viewing.

Seriously....small clip fans are probably one of my two "can't do without" dart frog hobby related tools:

http://www.dendroboard.com/forum/parts-construction/40314-one-important-husbandry-tool.html


----------



## bballplya222 (Jul 29, 2009)

I think it was most likely because of the temperature, and not eggs, but good luck kid


----------



## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

I'm not sure if a full screen top is a good idea......You will lose all the humidity. Do you have a way of making a mostly glass top with maybe just a strip of screen in the back? Low humidity will cause a whole new set of issues. They will dry up at room humidity i think.


----------



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

well I do have a water feature in the tank and the cocofiber stays really moist so Im not too worried about humidity. The tank is down to about 72F and the female is acting much better. Gave her a ton of FF and she hunted and ate a lot of them. It was the heat after all. Ihi put the glass tops back on for the night to get that humidity boost when the lights go out.


What about my question from a couple posts ago... If I were to put a bunch of ice cubes in my humidifier would it cool my tank at all with the cold air blowing in?


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Shady said:


> What about my question from a couple posts ago... If I were to put a bunch of ice cubes in my humidifier would it cool my tank at all with the cold air blowing in?


 
always thought about experimenting with that very thing......go ahead and try it. Post your findings.


----------



## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

I dont see why it wouldn't.... cold water makes cold fog i would think. And it would disprse quick, so i would not worry about over cooling unless the frog is sitting right where it comes into the tank and even then, they'd just move. Try it, it might the solution for alot of people who dont run or dont have AC.


----------



## Erikb3113 (Oct 1, 2008)

And i still dont think a full screen top is a good idea. I've had troble keeping humidity over 80 percent in large glass top tanks. I might be wrong, just be carefull.


----------



## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

Yep......bare screen top is a bad idea.....the frog needs the high humidity.


----------



## Shady (Sep 18, 2007)

Well first off, my female azureus is back to normal eating very well and moving around a lot. I've been able to keep the temp rather reasonable. I'm using half glass half open screen which seems to be doing well. I put the other glass on at night to raise the humidity. 

Haven't tried the ice cubes yet, but I will this weekend and post what happens.

Thanks again for your help everyone.


----------



## bballplya222 (Jul 29, 2009)

Did you ever try the ice cube thing? If so how did that go?


----------

