# Ameerega bassleri - several dead with no apparent cause!



## Viridovipera (Jun 17, 2008)

A college of mine bought 5 juvenile A. bassleri at the Hamm fair a few months back. They were from a german hobbyist breeder who regularly offers quite a lot of cb juveniles from his group and seemed to be doing fine. They were pretty shy, so he was not able to see them feed a lot. They seemed good until just after christmas when they started dropping one by one. Today he brought me the last surviver, to see if I could help it live. However, we have no clue as to what killed the other frogs. 

Some background: The group was kept in a basement room, which ist not visited more then once a day. The terrarium was a 50x50x50cm cube with bromeliads, leaf litter and coconut hides. He told me the humidity was >60% RH at all times, usually higher from misting. The substrate of coco peat, with a drainage layer underneath so that it would not get swamped by the misting system. I am told it was moist but not wet. The terrarium was lit with T8 tubes, but not heavily so the plant growth was really slow, but still noticeable. The temperatures were as low as 13.0°C during the night and up to 17.5°C in the higher regions of the terrarium during the day. He fed them with hydei and melanogaster fruit flies, springtails, as well as the occasional aphids and weevils. He uses repashy calcium plus supplements. 

The dead frogs did not show any apparent symptoms of disease. No lesions, sores, skin abnormalities or similar. They were, however, pretty skinny. He dissected the last one to die and found all the organs to be normal, with no enlarged liver. The only thing he noted was that there seemed to be little or no noticeable fat body. I have not dissected too many amphibians, and none that were not longterm captives, so I can not tell if this is normal. In captive reptiles you usually see a gross amount of fat around all organs. The lungs looked fine as well, no slime or irritation was apparent. The stomach and the gut were full, with what seemed like remains of flies, springtails and possibly weevils. Some substrate was apparently also ingested. No gut parasites or cysts were visible on microscopic slides under higher magnification either. The remaining frogs were immediately fixed in high percentage alcohol. PCRs for rana and chythrid should theoretically be possible and also further testing of the gut content by professionals (we are invertebrate biologists). But does it make sense, as no symptoms typical of these diseases were observed on any of the four deceased frogs?

My only thought was that it could have been to cold for the frogs, as I read many people keep them closer to 20°C during the day with little to no night time drop. Could this explain it? I thought it would make sense since the frogs did not show signs of sickness (observations were quite limited though) and too cold temperatures would make the frogs less able to metabolize their food? Especially since it got a lot colder here in Germany at that time. Until January it was not really very cold. Possibly the temps could have dropped a bit lower then 12 or 13°C. He keeps Atelopus with no problems under the same conditions in appropriate sized cages, but with more intense lighting. 

As mentioned, I got the last surviving Frog today and it seems to be fine, at least superficially. It darted out of the transport container as soon as I opened it and seemed very energetic. It does not look severely underfed nor dehydrated. The picture was taken with flash on my not so awesome phone. So the colour is slightly washed out, but it still looks a bit paler then what I have seen on the internet.

I put it in a quarantine plastic bin (30x40x30 cm) with low ventilation for now. It has forest earth which I use for millipedes, some wood chips and sphagnum, cork hides, a coco hut and a large bromeliad as well as some small species of begonia. I seeded it with plenty of springtails and some isopods. It is kept at room temperature (>20°C), which is more or less stable throughout both day and night. I did not provide any additional lighting. I was planning on providing high humidity, but venting out the whole container once a day to keep it from getting stagnant. I will set up a proper terrarium in time if it makes it. I feed with fruit both hydei and melanogaster fruit flies as well as springtails. I alternate between a german brand of frog specific supplement in addition to repashy calcium plus, which are both refrigerated and fresh. 

At the moment I keep it in a separate room, to keep my own two groups (R. imitator pair and a O. pumilio trio) safe. 

I know it is a long shot but does anyone have any comments or suggestions to what I should do? 

-Jan Philip


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## Ian Hiler (Apr 9, 2009)

I have worked and breed these frogs for the past six years, I would bet long term exposure to 55*F would be a leading cause.


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## MasterOogway (Mar 22, 2011)

My first guess would be temperature too. I keep my Bassleri significantly warmer than 17C. They probably just couldn't handle it over an extended period. They are from the tropics, after all.


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## Viridovipera (Jun 17, 2008)

Thank you for the reassuring replies. I will keep you update on how it does. So far it sits out in the open most of the time and seems to have eaten the flies i put in this morning. Fingers crossed.


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## jsilva (Nov 2, 2014)

Any updates on your A bassleri?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Viridovipera (Jun 17, 2008)

She is still doing good. No further signs of problems since I got her, so I am pretty sure that the low temperatures were the problem. Surprisingly she is also the boldest frog in my collection at the moment. She is always out and I can almost dump the flies on top of her without any reaction apart from instant feeding. She is still in the plastic container, but I am planning to upgrade her at some point this year. I am considering putting her together with a lone Phelsuma quadriocellata quadriocellata male I have in a 80x50x100cm terrarium at the moment. I know the combination works well with D. auratus, but have no idea how Ameerega go in communal settings.


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## Viridovipera (Jun 17, 2008)

A final update on the A. bassleri female, with some crappy phone pictures. As I mentioned, I moved her into a 80x50x100cm with my male Phelsuma quadriocellata. So far it seems to be going good, they do not seem to care much about the company. I haven`t fed the gecko crickets yet, but hopefully the frog will not be too bothered about them. If so, I will feed it from a cup higher up in the cage. I will be adding some more plants as I go as well. 

If they go well together for a few months, I might try to add a couple more frogs to the group. A. bassleri appears to be pretty common in the german hobby.

Thanks again for your suggestions and help! 

-JP


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