# Frogs & Toads > Frogs >  Need help caring for dying frog.

## Ashley

Last year I bought an albino American bullfrog for my boyfriend as a birthday present.  He wanted a one really badly.  At first he took care of her.  But for the past 3 months he has been working night shifts and as soon as he gets home he goes to bed.  Anyway, I had been riding him over doing at least partial water changes.  But he never listens to me.

So, I go to his house on Monday and find Lilly (the frog) just floating around in the tank with red blister like sores all over her face and a few on her back and legs.  She was also bloated and her front legs seemed stiff and her head was cocked to the side.  I asked when the last time he changed her water was and he told me he added water just the day before.  That's not what I asked!  He hasn't been doing water changes at all and has been just adding in more water as it evaporates out of the tank! 

I was so mad at him.   I took Lilly home with me and have been giving her salt and sugar baths.  I been giving them 2 times a day.  I couldn't find a solid answer on how many times a day.  Some said once and some said twice.  I've also been giving her a clean water bath between the other baths.  I've been keeping her on wet paper towels.  

This morning I found her splayed out on her back and thought she was dead.  I took a closer look and she was still breathing.  I righted her and sprayed her with some water and she perked up.  I was surprised to see her front legs moving and her head up right.  She was actually sitting up and not just laying on the floor.  I was hopeful.  But a few minutes later she started jumping all over the places and twitching.  Made a sound and "died".  Her legs were sticking straight out and her front legs were curled against her chest.  She didn't appear to be breathing.  I quickly got some water in the plastic shoe box I had been doing her baths in and put her in it and rubbed her chest.  She started breathing again and the legs relaxed.  But a few seconds later she had another seizure and went stiff again.  Not breathing.  I rubbed her chest again and she came back to.  I let her float in the water for 10 minutes before moving he back to the paper towels.

She seems to be ok.  However she did flip on her back once again and I had to right her.

Is there anything else I can do for her.  Should I put her back into an aquatic set up since she keeps flipping over and doesn't seem to be able to right herself?

I want to take her to the vet even though I know it's probably pointless.  I've asked them before if they could treat reptiles or amphibians and they told me they could do basic stuff but could call other vets for advise.  It will probably be Friday before I can get to a vet.  We are having a snow storm and the roads are not safe right now.

So anything I can do for her between now and Friday?

I feel she is going to die soon no matter what.  She is back to just laying limply on the floor of her box.

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## Ashley

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday morning.  I took them with my phone because I didn't want to scare her with a big camera and bright flash.

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## Lynn

:Frown:   this is so sad.
*Please* email Dr Frye!

http://www.frogforum.net/tree-frogs/...-prepared.html

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## demon amphibians

Looks like red leg to me. I am no vet so i cant give you a 100 percent correct answer. But like Lynn said contact Dr. Frye. If it is red leg there was a post on here just today stating there is a cure. Take a look at it and do it quick from the look of your frog i would say it doesn't have long. I give it 48 hours max if it is what i think it is. BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Frog killer fungus 'breakthrough'  
This was just posted today. I am not sure if your frog has this but it sure does look like it. Get a diagnosis before you try it.

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## Ashley

I sent an email earlier today.  

She had another seizure tonight.  I feel so bad for her.  I hate that she is suffering.

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## demon amphibians

i just hope you have your answer in time.

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## Ashley

Lilly's last seizure was around 8pm last night.  I gave her a bigger  plastic box and put about an inch of water in it with a large flat piece  of slate for her to use to get out of the water if she wished.  I she  seems a lot calmer in water.  She has survived the night and this  morning was gently swimming around.  After all those seizures yesterday  she looked pretty bad and was leaning to the right again.  Even floating  in the water most of her head was under the water except for the left  side of her face.  But this morning she is up right again.  She is  sitting and holding her own head up.  So far no seizures.  I've been tip  toeing around her because I don't want to startle her and cause a  seizure.

She has been in my care for 3 days.  Her red spots do  not seem so inflamed now.  They are smaller and lighter in color.  The  ones on her face look a whole lot better.  I've attached a picture from  this morning.  Also she is no longer bloated.

I know she isn't out of the woods and may still die.  But I'm hoping at least she feels a little better.

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## Ashley

Got a reply from Dr. Frye and he said I needed Silver Sulfadiazine (I have some) and Baytril (I don't have any).  I have to wait until 4pm to call my vet (they close a few hours in the middle of the day) to see if they have this stuff on hand.  I'm also going to ask for Flagyl too because she hasn't been eating well even before she got this sick.

If my vet has these things I will be going over there bright and early tomorrow morning.  I'll probably have to bring the frog with me (I'll ask when I call).  But it's an hour trip and I'm afraid it may be too much stress for her.

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## Lisa

You can always get his office to mail it you.  They usually shop same day too and then ur lil girl won't even have to go on a road trip. His office is super nice and very helpful.

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## Ashley

He asked for her size and weight and what she had been eating and how often.  I emailed him with that info.  Once I get a reply back I'll ask if he can get me the stuff.  I hadn't thought about that before.  Hopefully I can get it shipped overnight too.

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## Ashley

Bloating is gone now and you can see how skinny she really is.  Doesn't look like she has had a decent meal for a long while.  My boyfriend tells me that she just wouldn't eat.  That he gave her crickets and she wouldn't even bother going after them.  So I have no idea when the last time she ate was.

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## Lisa

She is pretty skinny poor Angel. His office is super nice they should be able to.

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## Ashley

Just finished order some meds.  Hope they will help her.  Besides the Baytril I also got some Flagyl.  Hoping it will help her want to eat something.

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## Lija

poor girl, but in the last pic she looks better then the ones before, so glad you are dealing with Dr. Frye and getting meds, hope she'll pull through.

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## Patsy

She's a beautiful frog. I had a frog with seizures, it's not easy to watch and know you can't do anything to make her comfortable. I hope you caught whatever it is in time.

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## Lisa

Good to hear meds are on the way. You hang in there too. Hoping the best for y'all.  She's such a pretty lil one and you're such a great care take to get her the care she needs. We re all rooting for ya on ff!

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## deeishealthy

Sending healing vibes.

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## deeishealthy

Sending healing vibes.

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## Ashley

I may not need the Flagyl after all.  Last night I gave Lillly a cricket.  She would chase it a little but couldn't seem to catch it.  She refused to take it from feeding tongs.  So, I left it with her over night and this morning it was gone!  I thought it might have escaped so I put in a couple more small crickets and she pounced on them and ate them pretty fast.  I gave her two more small crickets and those disappeared quickly too.  She is still hunting around looking for more.  But I don't want her to engorge herself lol.

I'm just really happy she is eating because that means she must feel better.

I have my fingers crossed she will digest them and poop and everything will go good.  I'm going to get her some earthworms to eat.  They should be easier to digest.

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## Caspian

I've been monitoring this thread for a while now, and I'm glad to hear the frog's doing better. Keep up the good work!

If something like this happened to a frog I gave someone as a present, you have no idea how angry I'd be. I've always put the needs of my frogs before my own.

I really wouldn't suggest giving the frog back to your boyfriend if he is unable to care for her properly and is not devoted to her. No matter how much he may beg, if he lets a frog get this sick and does that little about it, he should not be caring for one. I hate to be brutally honest, but in situations like this I must.

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## Heather

Psychotic, you've done a wonderful job! The best thing to do was soak her to detoxify her from the presuming my high levels of ammonia. 

I'm so glad you got a hold of Dr. Frye so quickly! Her eating is a great relief  :Smile: . I will be praying for her to heal up and pull through! I'm so glad you took her in. She's beautiful!

(I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner. I had surgery this week.)

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## Ashley

She will be at my house for quite a while.  Probably will never go back.

The thing is he has a basement and I don't.  We rescued a bunch of green frogs from a cistern on my property this past fall/winter.  The ground was already frozen and we had snow so we took them and set them up in his basement (I didn't have room in my house).  I go over to his house once a week and clean their tanks and change the water.  He feeds them.  He buys crickets and I give him roaches.  They are well cared for and will be released back into my pond very soon once the weather warms up for a little while.  So far it only warms up a little for a day or so and then goes back to freezing and snow.  Not enough for the ground to thaw or anything.

Lilly, along with Kermit and the baby are the pet bullfrogs.  I didn't clean their tanks as they are supposed to be his pets.  He is supposed to take care of them.  Lilly was housed in the same tank as the other two.  However only Lilly appeared to be sick when I went over to visit Monday.  That may be because she spends about 98% of her time in the water.  The others spend way more time on land.  They aren't as shy and do not hide like Lilly.  
The week before, she didn't look any different than she normally did.  She may have been bloated though.  After the bloat went down in my care you can see how skinny she really is.

When I found her sick on Monday, I made my boyfriend help me clean their tank.  Totally scrub it out.  I told him to keep an eye on the other frogs.  So far they haven't gone down hill like Lilly and still eat.  I believe he knows he was wrong in not taking better care of them.  He seems to be worried about her and is happy she didn't die.

As long as he is working 12 hour night shifts (10pm -10am) I'm probably going to have to take care of his pets too.

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## Ashley

> Psychotic, you've done a wonderful job! The best thing to do was soak her to detoxify her from the presuming my high levels of ammonia. 
> 
> I'm so glad you got a hold of Dr. Frye so quickly! Her eating is a great relief . I will be praying for her to heal up and pull through! I'm so glad you took her in. She's beautiful!
> 
> (I'm sorry I didn't reply sooner. I had surgery this week.)


She is doing so much better.  The red spots on her face are gone.  The skin is pink with little slightly darker pink spots where the sores were.  I don't know if it will scar.  But it's barely noticeable.  The spots on her legs are nearly gone too.  She just has a couple of spots on her hips that are still red.

She is still swimming around and after having a meal I guess she has more energy.  She has even been hopping a little bit.

I can't believe how fast she seems to be recovering.

Picture from this morning!

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## Heather

She looks much better  :Smile: .

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## Patsy

She looks good! She's lucky to have you. Your boyfriend has some MAJOR apologizing to do!

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## Caspian

Great to see little Lilly is recovering fast  :Congratulatory: 

 Bullfrogs are tough frogs, and amazing hunters too. She'll be fine in no time  :Wink:

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## Ashley

Thought I should update.  Lilly pooped a couple of days after she ate.  I was worried about her not being able to.  So I gave her a warm water soak and she pooped a tiny bit.  The next day I gave her another warm water soak and she pooped a lot more.  I fed her some more crickets and she pooped again (no warm water needed).  So I'm happy to report her plumbing is in working order!

I haven't been able to get earthworms yet.  All the local stores have not started getting them in yet.  
There is a reptile expo here tomorrow.  I've never been to it so I don't know how good it will be or what will be there.  But I have my fingers crossed for some different types of feeders.  My local pet stores only carry mealworms, superworms, and crickets.  I breed dubia's but I don't have any small enough for Lilly right now.  I have big adults and tons of teeny tiny babies.  They seem to grow so slow!

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## Heather

Glad to hear all is passing through properly. 

Sometimes Walmart sells earthworms. Just be sure there are no dyes or scents added, like some for fishing. 

Why does it always seem like there's itty bitties and adults? Lol!

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## Ashley

That's the only kind I can get are the ones from bait shops, gas stations, and sporting goods stores.  I haven't checked Walmart yet.  But I have got them there before.  Just no one in WV seems to sell them in Winter.  At least no one close by.  When I say close by I mean within an hour or two driving distance.  I live in the middle of nowhere.

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## Heather

That makes it tough.

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## deeishealthy

Yay for poop!!!  (Things I never thought I'd say for $200, Alex)

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## Caspian

Just curious: How is little Lilly doing?

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## Ashley

She's doing really good!  All the spots are gone. The skin where they were are a lighter color than her normal skin color.  She eats a lot and always seems hungry. She was always a shy frog. But I guess the one on one care has made her feel safe and calm.  Every time I walk past her tank she hops towards me and puts her hand and face against the plastic. She's like, "Is it food time yet?".

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## Heather

> She's doing really good!  All the spots are gone. The skin where they were are a lighter color than her normal skin color.  She eats a lot and always seems hungry. She was always a shy frog. But I guess the one on one care has made her feel safe and calm.  Every time I walk past her tank she hops towards me and puts her hand and face against the plastic. She's like, "Is it food time yet?".


This is wonderful to hear!!!  :Smile:  Awe, she knows your her Mum and healer  :Smile: . You've done such a great job! Congrats! This is the rewarding part where all of your hard work has not only saved her but brought you closer to her and how amazing they can be  :Smile: . Now you can enjoy watching her grow and be happy and healthy  :Smile: .

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## COREY

I love success stories...  and honestly..you deserve so much credit for everything you put in.. KUDOS to you!!!  VERY PROUD OF YOU!!!

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## Ashley

Tonight is the first warm night we have had this year. I went out looking for toads. They should be coming out this month.  Anyway, I didn't see any toads. But I did see hundreds of earth worms!  I caught a few small ones and chopped them up for Lilly.  She went into a feeding frenzy.  She just ate 3 good sized roaches last night.  I guess worms must taste good.  She kept trying to eat her own hand too!

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## Heather

Ha ha!  :Big Grin:  Silly frog  :Smile: .

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## Carlos

Great success story Ashley, congratulations and good luck  :Frog Smile:  !

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