# is this a spindly leg?



## vet_boy77 (Feb 10, 2005)

Hey all.
Here some pics of a recently morphed azureus that is failing to thrive. The front legs are somewhat malformed, and have very limited mobility. They strike as haveing normal proportions, but almost no muscle. I had a dozen or so tads morph from these same parents with no problems, so I'm calling it a fluke. We'll see if I get any more like this (I did alter my feeding scheudle and food type) a month ago. Let me know what you all think.
Thanks.
John


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## nburns (May 3, 2005)

John,

You are correct in your diagnosis. I wouldn't worry too much unless you start getting a lot.


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## Dancing frogs (Feb 20, 2004)

I agree...


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## Roadrunner (Mar 6, 2004)

i would worry about it. spindly is sometimes a sign that neccesary vitamins or minerals are being depleted in the adults from improper nutrition, whether its not enough of a certain vitamin or mineral or too much protein not a successful dusting regime to handle the amount of eggs being put out, too much heat at breeding, too cold for the tads, etc. etc. wrong fish food mix, not enough water changes. the list goes on. if you dont find the problem it could get worse. in my case its usually from overbreeding and not enough dust left on the flies when i use the same pattern to feed. w/ the # of flies in a cup and the # of tanks i feed i have to switch it up or the 20th tank always gets flies w/ whatever vit or mineral sticks best and not much of anything else. you have to find out what is causing it for your conditions. 
since these guys breed so often it is hard to get the right mix to sustain breeding for extended periods of time. most people get success for a while then dont up the levels of all the vit and trace minerals BY shutting them down for a while and letting them "level out" and replenish lost trace minerals ,etc.
some people dust too much to create lost uptake of certain vit and minerals. some people feed too much so that the obesity of the frogs creates lo sperm counts and subpar tads and froglets. 
it`s all quite complicated and the "range" of getting good froglets is somewhat large but all froglets produced when your getting spindly leg are somewhat lacking since your on the edge of neccessary parameters for producing "healthy and genetically sound" froglets.
this is just my understanding from my own observations here. every place is different. there are many causes for spindly but it seems to always lead back to husbandry being close to unnacceptable in ONE or more categories. seasonal variation can sometimes create problems if temperature is the culprit. i use to start to get spindly in the end of spring to summer because of an uninsulated house keeping the temps a lot cooler than i was aware of and as the temps warmed up outside it did also inside. 78 was about 64 out in the living room where the tads were and when spring warmed up 78 was 78 again and i got spindly in some froglets every year until i figured i was on the edge of acceptable tad temp parameters. my froglets also took the longest and were the biggest and least problematic during fall winter.


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## vet_boy77 (Feb 10, 2005)

Thanks for all the helpful input. I'm not too worried yet. So far, all the others have been healthy and are doing fine. I did not want to give this guy a death sentence without a second opinion. I'll keep an eye out for it in the others. 
John


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