# Sick Oyapock?



## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

I have 4 Oyapock Tinc's about 4-5 months out of the water. They are all from the same clutch. I got them here local so no stress from shipping. I have them in a plastic shoebox container with plants, leaf litter, and a coco hut. Temps and humidity are all good. I feed them lightly twice a day with FF's dusted with rep-cal calcium and vitamins. I also supplement with springtails a couple times a week. They all seem to be eating well and putting on weight except one. I see him eat everyday, but he stays very skinny. The other three are more aggressive eaters than he is. They will "hunt" FF's down, but he seems to only eat the ones that walk right in front of him, and even then he stares them down for awhile before making an attempt. I don't know if I should separate them or not. I didn't think they were ready for a bigger tank, but I may be wrong. I haven't done any fecals on them, but the breeder I got them from does fecals on all his breeding frogs. Is it possible for them to have a parasite? I bake and/or bleach everything going into their tanks. I have some pictures to illustrate the difference in size and growth - remember, they are all they same age and live in the same environment. Any advice would be so helpful. I had an azureus waste away and die but he wasn't eating at all. Thanks, Shawn


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## JoshK (Jan 5, 2009)

More than likely it is just stress. IME it is not uncommon for tincs that young to be aggressive.I would recommend separating them but maybe leave the skinny one in the tank he is in, it may help prevent further stress. Best of luck.

In situations like this it is never a bad idea to get fecals done.


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## Mikembo (Jan 26, 2009)

I agree with Josh (JoshK). Keep us updated and best of luck.

-Mike-


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## Arrynia (Dec 27, 2009)

I agree as well. I've had past experiences like that with tincs when raising juveniles together in small enclosures. This seems to be a common issue for tincs, generally. My advice is to separate them.


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

Thanks for all the reply's. I will separate them. Should I put them all in a separate enclosure until they are older, or is it OK to keep the 3 healthy ones together? At what point should I reintroduce them? Is it OK to breed frogs from the same parents? Thanks, Shawn

If anyone else has input, please share!


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## Mikembo (Jan 26, 2009)

Separate the bullied one from the rest of the group. The other three should be fine together. If you see another one starting to get stressed out, separate as needed. Good luck!

-Mike-


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

So I separated the little guy out this morning. He's got lots of leaf litter hiding places. I have also dumped a bunch of springtails in so he can eat at will. I'm gonna leave him alone for the most part except for feeding time in hopes that I will not add any more stress to his life. He seems very skiddish compared to the others 3. When I open the lid on them, they come out of hiding I think expecting food, but the little one seems quite startled and tries to hide when I open the lid. Thanks, Shawn


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Hi Toof,

Be careful with food and stressed tincs. It might seem like a good idea to put some springtails in with the separated frog, but the springtails will end-up walking on him and stressing him out even more. It would be better to only add a few fruitflies at a time (as many as he can eat), mist him heavily (this seems to make them feel better in my experience), and keep his enclosure in a quiet area. Dusting all the ffs will help in that it slows them down. Adding a piece of fruit will create a feeding station that will keep the flies off him and let him know where to go to feed.

Hope this helps. Good luck, Richard.


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

Thanks Richard, I hadn't really thought of that. Anything I can do to relieve his stress would be a good thing. I don't think he ate any flies today. I put six in this morning and he hopped under a leaf. When I checked him tonight I could count 4 flies still in there. I will try the feeding station.

Shawn


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Woodsman said:


> It might seem like a good idea to put some springtails in with the separated frog, but the springtails will end-up walking on him and stressing him out even more.


I suppose this would happen if you dumped lots of springs in at once, or the frog was too weak to eat enough to keep the population down, but I think I would prefer to throw 20-30 springs in with the frog, rather than 5-6 flies. Skittish animals seem to act a little bolder when they are confronted with really small prey. If you are worried about them ovewhelming the box, just put a limited amount in, and change out the substrate before they can reproduce heavily (< 2 weeks), which you are hopefully doing already. And get fecals done!


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

So he has been out isolated for about a week now. He seems to be doing better. Still more skiddish than the other three, but I have observed him eating springtails and flies. I'll keep you updated.


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## slipperheads (Oct 17, 2007)

Good to hear that Toof. Before I saw your latest psot I thought "man, lots of times they just don't get out of their skinnyness." I have been through multiple frogs that simply were too shy and I could do nothing to get them to catch up to their growth. Hope the best for this little one.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Keeping the "runt" (for lack of a better word) isolated will better his/her chances over-all. Tinctorius in the wild are not at all social (except for breeding), so we only ask for stress when we keep them together. I keep a large number of 2 1/2 gallon tanks for just this purpose.

Good luck with him, Richard.


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

I fed him again tonight about 2 FF's at a time to a total of 6. I was able to observe him eat them before I but the next ones in. He continues to do well. The other three are all still together and eating voraciously. I will definitely keep an eye on them all.

Shawn


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

6 ffs is way too little, its better than none fore sure, but juvenile frogs eat a surprising amount of food, tincs in particular.

its not bad to leave a few more flies in there and let the guy hunt. just dont overwhelm it.

james


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

I have increased the amount of flies I put in there and he seems to be doing much better. He is actually responsive at feeding time trying to catch flies instead of hiding and ignoring the food. He is still a lot smaller than the other three oyapocks, but I think he will do alright in the long run. Thanks, Shawn


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## Toof (Oct 22, 2009)

So it has been 6 weeks or so. This little frog is still so small. His clutch-mates are at least twice his size. Despite his small size, he is active and eats a ton everyday. I had originally isolated him, but I've since added one more newly morphed oyapock about 2 weeks ago. They seem to be doing well together. After observing him for all this time I can on assume he is just the runt.


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