# What does healthy frog poop look like?



## sunnysideup

Just curious what your frogs’ poop looks like. Originally, my frogs’ poop was a dark brown, almost black color. Looks kind of like a rabbit or rat turd, barrel-shaped. I took my frogs into the vet and they said they had internal parasites, so I treated them with Panacur. Recently, their poop has changed color. At one end, it will be a reddish-brown color instead of being a uniformly dark brown color. Yesterday, one of my frog’s pooped a tawny/light brown/beige turd. Is this normal? 

I haven’t changed their diet- they’re still getting dusted fruit flies. I do change up the fly type (Turkish glider, wingless melanogasters, flightless melanogasters, or hydei) but in the past this didn’t change their poop color. 

I’m going to take in a fecal sample to my vet to see if the parasites are bac, but in the meantime was hoping you could tell me what healthy frog poop looks like?. 

Since our poop tells us a lot about our health, I assume it does for frogs as well. Does the color change mean anything? Would appreciate people sharing their frog poop experiences!


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## kimcmich

Greetings,

If you treated them with meds recently, you may have disrupted their gut flora and that could explain the fecal color change. The same thing can happen to people who take strong antibiotics. It should return to the dark color after you finish treatment if the meds are the cause.


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## Philsuma

didn't you post a few poop threads already?


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## DPfarr

This is a pretty fresh coloring.


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## sunnysideup

Philsuma said:


> didn't you post a few poop threads already?


I posted a thread about frequency, but no one commented on what it should look like.


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## sunnysideup

kimcmich said:


> Greetings,
> 
> If you treated them with meds recently, you may have disrupted their gut flora and that could explain the fecal color change. The same thing can happen to people who take strong antibiotics. It should return to the dark color after you finish treatment if the meds are the cause.


Thanks, @kimcmich! The last med treatment was over a week ago, mb 2/3 was ago. How long until gut flora is back to normal? Since they have a fast metabolism, I assume within a week?


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## sunnysideup

DPfarr said:


> This is a pretty fresh coloring.


THANK YOU!! That is almost exactly the color she’s pooping. So I guess the dark brown/black ones were a bad sign. Is it normal for the poop to be 2 colors (ie one end is a reddish brown, the other side is dark brown)? Appreciate you posting a pic!


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## Philsuma

like humans, frog poop can look markedly different for many reasons. There is no equation to observing it and deeming 'unhealthy'. Can be red due to diet. Can be runny one week. Diet - Bean beetles, small waxworms, Hydei vs Melanogaster ect ect.

Also,

You need MULTIPLE fecal samples to make an accurate determination as what 'load' if any, your frog is carrying. Some amount of parasites is agreeable and not unhealthy in many cases. Impossible to obtain a 'clean' frog. There was a woman is Texas who tried for whatever reason.


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## sunnysideup

Philsuma said:


> like humans, frog poop can look markedly different for many reasons. There is no equation to observing it and deeming 'unhealthy'. Can be red due to diet. Can be runny one week. Diet - Bean beetles, small waxworms, Hydei vs Melanogaster ect ect.
> 
> Also,
> 
> You need MULTIPLE fecal samples to make an accurate determination as what 'load' if any, your frog is carrying. Some amount of parasites is agreeable and not unhealthy in many cases. Impossible to obtain a 'clean' frog. There was a woman is Texas who tried for whatever reason.


If I feed the same diet (same rotation of FFs and supplement dusting), then the poop should be consistent, no? I was concerned because the color changed but the diet was the same. 

I was hoping to get a good large fecal since I’ve been told just because the fecals came back clean now doesn’t mean my frog doesn’t have parasites. Just means they weren’t in that sample. They’ve been tested 2x; first came back clean but after my frog had a seizure (?) I took her to the vet and the sample there had parasites. So hopefully since we’ve completed treatment, the new fecal will be clean. Like I mentioned, I was concerned since her poop color has changed even though I’m still feeding the same FFs and the same calcium supplement. 

Actually, as I’m writing this, I just realized I *did* change one thing: I added Repashy vitamin A since there was a possible vitamin A deficiency. Perhaps that’s what is causing the color change!! Since they won’t get vitamin A for another 2 weeks, I’ll see if that changes their poop back to the black brown color.


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## SoloSK71

Just a noob but if the diet changes by the slightest amount with an animal this small I would think that consistency would be hard to achieve. Who knows when a tiny bit more or less supplement on a fly, the order in which the flies are eaten, the time of day, temperature and humidity could cause a change. Similar to my early experience with reef tanks, coral and marine fish, if they are generally eating regularly and moving enough with no gross physical damage they are probably as OK as we can hope.

Solo


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## Philsuma

yep, factors such as hydration can affect not only colour but consistency. There is almost no use - 0%, trying to stress over what a frog's fecal material should or could look like.


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## sunnysideup

Thanks for all the input. Just a new owner (and new to owning frogs) so I’m over analyzing everything, esp since one of them got sick and had to see the vet. As long as they’re active and happy then I’ll consider them healthy. Thanks for allaying my fears!


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## Philsuma

Most Tinctorius and Tinc-type dart frogs are fairly hardy and can withstand some stress but beware. It is pretty easy to 'do too much' and fuss with them to point they go downhill fast.

I often advise that it takes weeks of very minimal contact to even have them feel acclimated to new surroundings. 

There was a guy in Pittsburgh that would keep his Big Oophaga anchicaya in a closet and behind a curtain. Seriously.


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## sunnysideup

Philsuma said:


> Most Tinctorius and Tinc-type dart frogs are fairly hardy and can withstand some stress but beware. It is pretty easy to 'do too much' and fuss with them to point they go downhill fast.
> 
> I often advise that it takes weeks of very minimal contact to even have them feel acclimated to new surroundings.
> 
> There was a guy in Pittsburgh that would keep his Big Oophaga anchicaya in a closet and behind a curtain. Seriously.


Sounds like you can love them to death, literally. Thanks for the info. Appreciate all the input everyone has provided!


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