# Leucomelas losing weight



## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

Hi there,

Last sunday I've bought three leucomelas, without a single bit of regret. I already started loving them when I saw them making their first hops around their enclosure.

Anyways, the reason I'm posting is because I'm concerned about the well being of my frogs.
When I bought all of them they had quite a big belly size (they were very well fed) but two of them seem to have lost quite some weight, or at least they're less fat then the other one.
I understand it if they've lost weight because of the stress of moving and getting used to their enclosure. And as far as my knowledge goes about poison dart frogs, they seem to be on normal weight. But still, they've lost weight and I'm always worried about my pets. So I wanted to ask you guys just to be sure =)

Extra information:
- They should be a 'standard' leucomelas
- They're about 2,5-3 months old
- Their size is about 2-2,5 centimeters
- Their (temporary, I want to move them to a bigger one later) enclosure is 50 × 30 × 30
- There are several objects in the terrarium where they can hide their selfs in or behind
- They're being fed mainly adult fruit flies
- From what I've seen, their droppings seem to be totally fine. Nothing that indicates of any kind of disease
- Temperature during the day is about 24-25 degrees Celsius
- Moisture is about 70-80%

Behavior: In the begin they were more active, climbing on the walls of the terrarium. The last couple of days they're more hiding and sometimes pop out in search of food. Just saw one of the frogs I'm worried about eating.

Photo's:






























On the last photo, it's the one in the left corner of the photo. Never mind what the thermo- and hygrometer show, they're broke.


If you need to know anything else, just ask.


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## heatfreakk3 (Oct 15, 2008)

How much are you feeding them? And how often? Are you for sure that they are finding the food? Do you drop the flies in front of them or close to them?


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## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

About two days earlier I've put quite an amount of fruit flies in the enclosure and there's still a whole bunch in it. To attact the flies into the open I'm placing fresh food every morning inside the enclosure. The well-fed leuco has figured that out and sometimes visits that spot.
I could release more fruit flies in the enclosure now but the other leuco's are hiding. Should I release some fruit flies close to where they are hiding?


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

I wouldn't add more fruitflies than the frogs can eat in a day. Having too many ffs in the tank can actually stress the frogs out. The idea to have a feeding station is a good one. The frogs know where the ffs are and will come to them when they are hungry.

It can take frogs a while to acclimate to new surroundings. Leucs are very hardy and will likely settle-in soon.

Good luck, Richard.


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## Philsuma (Jul 18, 2006)

From what I can see - from those pics, especially the last pic....the body size looks fine.


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## mantisdragon91 (Jun 2, 2010)

If you have access to a source of termites this is a great way to put extra weight on a frog and most frogs are naturally attracted to them. If they are consuming termites and still losing weight than you have other factors at play and I would suggest a fecal test at that point to see what the parasite load may be.


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## frogfreak (Mar 4, 2009)

Some closer pic's would be nice, but seeing these one's, I agree that they look fine.

Maybe they were overweight when you got them???


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

They look okay to me as well. Many of the frogs in the hobby are obese.. 

Ed


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## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

Thank you all for the quick responses.

And yeah, the frogs were having some overweight when I bought them. It's one of the reasons why I bought them since it indicates that they feed well and if they would be losing some weight, it wouldn't pose a threat to their health right away.
It's the way they lose weight that worries me. They might look on fine weight now, but if this keeps up then they could get health issues.
But perhaps I got worried too quick. I'll keep monitoring them and post any updates in this topic.

And unfortunately, as far as I know I cannot get termites anywhere nearby. It's also winter here so wild ants aren't an option as well.


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## sbye (Nov 10, 2009)

I can't really tell in the pictures if there is any leaf litter or not, but you should add a bunch of it. It's great for the frogs to hide in if they feel stressed out at all.

Also add a coco hut for them to hide under. Most of the time when frogs start to slim down it is because they feel stressed out in their new environment.


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## FrogsNdogs (Nov 3, 2010)

In my experience, new frogs are generally timid, but tend to unwind after a while. Also, I have found that the more hiding places and retreats provided, the more comfortable the frogs are with being out in the open. I bet the frog's weight will stabilize after they settle in, but i agree with the other posters and think that they look quite healthy.


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## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

Small update
Two out of three frogs are starting to get used to their enclosure. They still hide a lot, but hide in other spots, move more in the open and have stopped climbing the walls of the terrarium. I've seen both of them hunting and eating.
I replaced the broken meters with one that works but the third leuco keeps hiding underneath it, staying sort of depressed there. He still seems to be good on weight, but it still worries me.

I've been looking around for coconut shells but none of the petstores in my area currently have them. I'll ask at the store where I always buy my stuff if it's possible to order some.
As of leaf litter, I would have to dig some up from the layers of snow and the chytrid fungus has recently been spotted in the Netherlands, so I want to be a bit careful of not bringing in any deceases (or parasites) to my pets.


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## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

Well it looks like I worried too much about them. About 20 minutes ago I saw all of them hopping around the enclosure looking for food. They all seem to be eating well.

With that topic closed I have another question. I just saw the boldest and biggest of them with some sort of white spot on it's back and right leg. Spraying water over her made it almost go away, was this just some dirt or something more serious? If it has something to do with a disease or fungus, it doesn't behave like it.
I have some dried cactus in the enclose on which some sort of fungus started to grow. I've taken the smallest piece out (where the boldest one seemed to like to hang around) since it had most of it but would you guys recommend to take it all out? I don't want to go too hasty and radical since they seem to adapt to their terrarium now.


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## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

I realized the stupidity of my question after posting so I've removed the items where the fungus was on, cleared some dirt and added new material. The white spot seems to have disappeared so I guess it was just some sort of dirt. I'll keep a close eye on it.


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## Woodsman (Jan 3, 2008)

Leucomelas do very well with a lot of added leaf litter (they'll often hide in the leaf litter), so you may want to add this rather than just have a "dirt" substrate (as you said).

Good luck with them, Richard.


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## Pumilo (Sep 4, 2010)

Sliske said:


> As of leaf litter, I would have to dig some up from the layers of snow and the chytrid fungus has recently been spotted in the Netherlands, so I want to be a bit careful of not bringing in any deceases (or parasites) to my pets.


Dig some up and boil it for safety. Leaf litter is great.
Doug


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## Sliske (Dec 19, 2010)

Thanks for the tip of boiling the litter! I'll look into it.


Woodsman said:


> Leucomelas do very well with a lot of added leaf litter (they'll often hide in the leaf litter), so you may want to add this rather than just have a "dirt" substrate (as you said).
> 
> Good luck with them, Richard.


I'm sorry that I haven't explained this part well enough, the vivarium is mainly covered by moss and for a part by dirt. The items where the fungus was growing on were on the 'dirt' part of the enclosure. Fortunately that made it easier to remove the fungus as well, I haven't seen it coming back in the past few days.

As for the litter: I've been changing their enclosure for several times now, would it be better to give the fellows some time to get accustomed in it's current state and then slowly add the litter to it?

As for the leuco's themselves, I've seen all of them eating and they start to get used to the vivarium. One is still a bit shy but I bet he'll get over it.
So I've been a bit too worried and should have had a bit more patience =) thanks everyone for the tips!


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