Found bullfrog with badly injured back leg, missing skin, HELP?

[mollywog]

I found what may either be a bullfrog or a green frog with a badly injured back leg. Its skin is missing, exposing the muscle tissue, fat, and bones beneath, but all of these things seem to be intact. Based on other forums I've seen about setting up a "frog hospital," I set up a clean terrarium with wet paper towels on the bottom and taped to the outsides so he's less stressed out. I've been spritzing him with water too to keep him hydrated. I cleansed the wound with purified water (the stuff you use for new ear piercings etc.), and used bottled spring water with added chlorine neutralizer (specifically for amphibians, not fish), to make it safe for him. It sits in a little bowl for him to sit in.

I'm wondering what advice everyone has for me, and furthermore, how much and often and WHAT he needs to eat. It's the Seventeen year cicada swarm here, so there are plenty of those if he can eat them?

Thank you all so much in advance for your advice! I really want to help him pull through. I can't tell if it's infected already, but there doesn't seem to be any pus or foul-smell.

[LilyPad]

That doesn't sound very good Thank you for attempting to help this guy! Some wildlife centers have vets that might be able to help him, so it's worth looking up a few and giving them a call. Right now, I would use neosporin *WITHOUT PAIN RELIEVER* to help prevent infection. Depending on the severity of the injury, that may be enough alone to help him pull through.

Depending on his size, cicadas may or may not be a good food source. If the food is smaller than the space between his eyes, then you're gold. I'd look for the most freshly hatched because they will be the softest bodied and easiest to digest (light green in color), I'm sure your area frogs are probably enjoying that delicacy! Otherwise just go to the pet store and get appropriate sized crickets (again, shorter than the space between his eyes) or earthworms. You could find those in your yard if they're free of pesticides and herbicides but make sure they're nightcrawlers and not red wigglers. Some will eat red wigglers, others will be turned off of worms in general if you try to feed them (they taste yucky!) You should be able to get them at any bait shop also. Pill bugs, roly polys, isopods, whatever you want to call them would work too as long as they're not too small for him to be interested in.

Both bullfrogs and green frogs like water, so make sure he's getting a fresh dish of water daily.

It sounds like you're doing a good job and make sure to keep us updated. If you want to upload pictures, you can upload them through a photo sharing site like photobucket and link them here.

[mollywog]

Thanks so much for the quick reply! I live in a very small town, and our only exotic-pet vet moved out years ago. I'll check around the nearby towns to see if I have any luck though!

I dig up earth worms for the Box Turtles in the Nature Center where I volunteers (I love digging for them!), so I'll find some for him tomorrow and buy some crickets too!

https://66.media.tumblr.com/d43efbb6...qfpscz_540.png
https://66.media.tumblr.com/1afc0420...qfpscz_540.png

Here he is in his little hospital terrarium. I have paper towels taped on the outside so my curious cats don't stress him out. I'm hoping the spring water I mixed with the neautralizer made it safe enough for him. Despite losing enough flesh to reveal bone and muscle on the underside, he DOES still have use of the leg and uses it to walk and hop (though rather weakly) which gives me hope that if he can survive beyond the risk of infection, he'll be able to go back to his pond!

[LilyPad]

He does appear to be a bullfrog to me, though I am not the best at ID. I think as long as he can get through an initial healing process, he should be okay. Good luck!

[Cliygh and Mia 2]

If this helps any, it is a bullfrog. They have similar care to these frogs: http://www.frogforum.net/content.php...ocephala-(1886) except on a much larger scale and with plenty of UVB. For an adult, a 100 gallon or more tank will suffice, as once he/she is fully healed, they'll be a massive jumper, and smaller tanks will make it get noserub or break or bruise its nose, which ends up harming it even more. I hope this helped!

[mollywog]

Thank you so much! But, will I able to release him again once he is healed? That is the ultimate goal; I don't know if I could afford a large enough tank for him. I cannot get him crickets until tomorrow, but he has been gobbling up earthworms from my yard! I cleaned his wound again today and put on the neosporin. The underside looks so scary since I can see his bone. It'll be a tough recovery, but I'm hoping for him! Thanks for the help!

[LilyPad]

If he recovers, he'll be fine to be re-released The fact that he is eating is a really good sign!

[mollywog]

Man, I just came home for the summer so I just found out our local pet store closed. This means the closest place to get crickets is about forty-five minutes away, and I work today. Will he be okay eating worms again today, or will that not be enough? Thank you!

[LilyPad]

He will be perfectly fine with that. They are very nutritious! You may want to consider ordering a vitamin supplement or picking one up from your pet store. Depending how long his recovery takes, that might be necessary. Get a calcium+D3 supplement as well as a vitamin and use them on separate days.

[mollywog]

Okay, excellent! I'll drive to the city and pick that up this weekend!

[mollywog]

SO it turns out the worms I thought he ate were only escaped and hiding beneath the paper towels in his terrarium. I then tried soft-bodied cicadas still not in their exoskeletons, and he wasn't interested. i tried pill-bugs with no luck, and even slugs. Finally, I got off work a bit early today and drove all the way to the city for crickets, but after a few hours he still shows no interest. This means he officially has not eaten in three days, and if he hasn't eaten them by the morning, it will be four.

So here's the question. Do I let him go if he hasn't eaten tomorrow? It feels like a catch-22, because if I keep him, he'll starve, but if I don't, he's likely to develop and die of an infection.

I've done my best, but if anyone else has a bit of advice, I'm all ears. otherwise, thanks for all the help!!

[LilyPad]

It's not uncommon for amphibians to not eat up to a week or possibly more in captivity. Make sure he's in a peaceful of an environment as possible. Cover 3-4 sides of his tank to help. If he's not feeling well, it's not surprising that he's not eating. Keep up the neosporin and continue to watch for infection.

[mollywog]

Oh!!! I feel so much better! It's been years since I owned my pet frog from childhood, so I don't remember a thing about eating habits, much less about a wild-caught frog. All the sides of his tank are covered, and he's in a room no one uses unless they're passing through. It's peaceful. I'll keep cleaning and applying ointment to his wound and changing his water out daily. There doesn't seem to be any improvement to his leg, but it hasn't seemed to get worse either. It's difficult to watch for infection. I read that infections in amphibians won't necessarily be *****, but just red and inflamed? Which will be hard to spot since his pink and red muscle and fat is exposed!

Still, I'll keep doing what I'm doing and hoping for the best!

[LilyPad]

Have you contacted any wildlife centers to see if they're willing to aid you? Sounds like a few stitches might help him in the healing process.

[mollywog]

He finally ate, but he later threw it all back up. Is it possible he over-ate, or is this a sign of infection?

[mollywog]

Oh! Sorry, I didn't see that you had responded.

The only place within two hours deals only with snakes, it seems. :^( I'll look more!

I don't think stitches would work, because it's not a cut or a slice? The skin was just peeled of clean, exposing everything underneath. There is really nothing to stitch.

[herpdoc]

I'm no vet but these ulcerations look awfully like what you see with ranavirus infection and in fact you can see some areas developing on the back. I don't think you should release her (it's a female bullfrog). Bullfrogs are known to be carriers of ranavirus and generally tolerate it better than other species (like woodfrogs).

[mollywog]

I'm no vet but these ulcerations look awfully like what you see with ranavirus infection and in fact you can see some areas developing on the back. I don't think you should release her (it's a female bullfrog). Bullfrogs are known to be carriers of ranavirus and generally tolerate it better than other species (like woodfrogs).

Sorry that I haven't been on in so long! Thank you for sexing her for me! The skin on her leg has almost completely grown back and healed up. The spots that were sores tend to get red and angry when I mess with her a bit to clean her cage and she gets stressed out, but otherwise she seems to be almost totally mended. Would this be possible were it ranavirus? Thank you!

And if it is ranavirus, would it be harmful to keep her as a pet? I imagine I would need much larger than the ten-gallon tank she's currently in?

[LilyPad]

That's great that she is healing up! If you want to get her tested without running her to the vet, you can do that through this company - http://www.vetdna.com/test-type/reptiles

You can read more about Ranavirus here - http://www.************.com/threats/...rus/index.html

And yes, you would need a larger tank. I do not own them myself, but hopefully someone who does or is knowledgeable about them will jump on and help you out