# How can I tell if my frogs are well fed?



## moothefrog (May 16, 2008)

Are there any ways?


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## moothefrog (May 16, 2008)

I am just wondering a method to tell how fat/skinny my frog is.I heard you cant tell by looking a t them.


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## brettlt (Oct 5, 2006)

Well, I think it just takes experience. If they seem to have kind of a fat belly then they are probably a little over weight. When I first got my frogs I fed them everyday, and they got kind of fat. I changed to feeding them about 3 times a week and they slimmed down a bit and look good. I have seen pics of skinny frogs, but I have never seen one in person.


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## chibisan (Apr 4, 2008)

well, if this helps any, here's pictures of my two Azureus that were too fat. Their pictures are further down in the thread.
beginner-discussion/topic39885.html

I've cut down on amounts and they're looking much better.


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## moothefrog (May 16, 2008)

MY frogs belly looks ok,but its legs are fine but its front arms are skinny.


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## SusannahJoy (Jul 3, 2006)

When I first got my frogs I was always worried because the front arms were skinny, but I've realized that that's a really bad way to tell if a frog is over/under weight. They generally just have skinny arms. It's easier to tell by looking at the stomach and how much the hip bones stick out. Keep in mind that this is going to be different for every species. A good rule of thumb is to feed them as much as they'll eat in 30 mins or so, with only a couple extras.


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## moothefrog (May 16, 2008)

Well my problem is my auratus wont eat in front of me.So when I come back I dont know if my auratus have eaten the flies or the flies have run off.It is really hard to see flies in the tank.


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## SusannahJoy (Jul 3, 2006)

Oh, yeah, that does make it tricky. I'll see if I can find some pics for you.

Check out this site, it has a lot of pictures of the different morphs, from lots of different angles. Some of these guys are a little chubby, but it should give you a good idea.
http://www.tropical-experience.nl/index ... &Itemid=49


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## bbrock (May 20, 2004)

I think a good tool is to look at pictures of wild frogs. Only gravid females tend to ever look plump. But most are pretty slim with the girth of the body being about equal to the width of the skull. The back legs should look plump. But most of the wild frogs (especially males) have a very slim build it seems.


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## chibisan (Apr 4, 2008)

Have you tried putting in a piece of fruit to kind of keep the flies in a single area to get an idea if they're eatting much? Atleast that way you could get kind of an idea..


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## krharmut (Sep 22, 2007)

I'm a vet and we use body condition scores to assign dogs,cats, cows, horses, etc. an appropriate number for body condition score. There are scales that run from 1-9 or 1-5. Here is a link to the criteria for one such chart - http://vet.osu.edu/1851.htm. You can use your imagination to tweak it to frogs.

These charts are pretty consistent whether your looking at dogs or cows, etc. I think the first obvious indication that you have a skinny frog is that you can actually see the vertebrae (the score #2 on the chart). There should be nice fat pad that lies on either side of the vertebrae in just about all animals and if its not there, they are thin. Think this is more accurate than looking at belly size etc. 

Would like to get some pictures of frogs of various body condition scores and make a little photo chart. So if anyone has some good pics - send them. 

Katie


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