# Frog loosing weight + not eating



## laughingcan86 (Jan 14, 2017)

So I got 2 dart frogs, one yellow and black (here after known as yellow) and one that is yellow black and blue (here after known as blue). Originally when I got them blue tended to hide more and yellow was out and about in the middle of the tank and was always the first to start catching fruit flies at feeding time and I was worried that blue wouldn't get enough to eat. They both seemed to do fine though and yellow was always a bit skinnier than blue so I didn't worry about it too much. Then blue randomly got a good bit bigger in a short time and stopped hiding and they kinda switched. Blue was always the first to eat. Pretty soon yellow started loosing weight. The last 2 feedings yellow wouldn't eat. I had just moved them back home after spending christmas at my mom's house so I attributed it to stress since he had never not eaten before (he had several fruit flies crawling on him but didn't seem interested in them. I tried again today and this time he chased a couple of them a little but he didn't eat any. He's now a good bit skinnier than when I originally got him and I'm pretty worried about him. I've got a mixture of dirt and peat moss in there with moss that I collected from outside my house and a few plants. There were no major changes to either diet or environment when this started occuring. I've attached some pictures of him when I originally got him and some pictures of him now with the other one for comparison. He's still relatively active and I'm not completely sure that the lack of eating isn't due to outside factors but he's definitely very skinny for a dart frog.


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## Hercrabit (Oct 6, 2016)

I am no expert, but right off the bat I see there is no leaf litter. From my experience frogs get highly stressed if there is not enough leaf litter and other hiding places around the vivarium. I usually have tons of oak leaves. Sometimes frogs are stressed when the substrate sticks to them and the leaf litter also helps keep that from happening as well. Being stressed might be the reason for not eating.
I hope all turns out well.


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## laughingcan86 (Jan 14, 2017)

You think that could be an issue? I recently tried swapping old moss out for just the peat moss and it was pretty clear they didn't like it so I switched back to moss. They've never seemed to have any issues with the moss though. I'll go find some leaf litter to put in there.


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## laughingcan86 (Jan 14, 2017)

Update: I put some of the smaller fruitflies in that he was eating before and he was definitely interested in them. I tried several times to eat them but kept missing the flies. Eventually I saw him eat a few of them though. I'm thinking his lack of eating was a result of stress from me trying to quarantine him for eating to make sure that the other one didn't eat all the flies and from the size of the other batch of flies. (roughly double the size of the flies they usually eat)


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Unless there is damage to the eye(s) the frog is not missing the fruit flies. What are you using for supplements and what was the previous owner using? 

Some comments 

Ed


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

Disclaimer! This is solely my experience.

When you notice a frog has lost weight you need to take immediate action. Separate the frogs ASAP. You can use something simple like a 14-15 quart clearish plastic storage container. I get mine from Target (but walmart has them also). Keep it simple in terms of what's in it, I use a base layer of a couple inches of sphagnum moss (not moss from outside - go to lowes or something and buy some sphagnum moss), a lot of leaves (oak leaves and magnolia leaves break down slowly and will last a long time), and sometimes I'll go ahead and add a coco hut if the frog is used to that. Spray it all down with chlorinated water. If you have a few plant cuttings I would throw that in also. Then add a slice of banana and add some fruit flies. Not very many. Try like 10 per day and see if the frog eats them. If it doesn't eat them they will be attached to the banana slice and should lay eggs on them. Use smaller fruit flies at first (the melanogasters if you can; the hydi may be too large at the moment).

Having said all that, you said you took them with you to your parents for the holidays. That could very well represent a major change of environment. Travel alone is stressful, but add in there were likely temperature differences between one home and the other.

Hope that helps.
Mike


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

Dart frogs are territorial. If you have different species together in the tank (not saying you do, just reading the description), it is unlikely they will be as well off as they would be with the same species, and of the opposite sex. Males will fight each other for territory, but sometimes the passive one merely wastes away. 

Other issues could be parasite/chytrid infection from outside introduction of moss or other factors, but I'd try to address the stress issue and nutrition issues first to see what happens. Lack of calcium could also lead to lack of coordination----always dust fruit flies with a supplement like Repashy Calcium Plus for a nutritional boost. Fruit flies alone, without a supplement, are not ideal nutrition.


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## tardis101 (Apr 11, 2012)

tardis101 said:


> ...Spray it all down with chlorinated water...


Sorry sorry sorry. Terrible typo on my part. 

Use DEchlorinated water.


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