Like almost any living thing, frogs get sick too. Although I am no expert on frog illnesses, I will try to provide you with the best prevention tips I can provide so hopefully you will never encounter any diseases while you keep your frog.

Below is a list of all of the possible diseases and problems that can happen to your frog. Included are ways to identify, treat, and prevent the illness from even occurring.

RED LEG

What is it?

Red Leg is the most common disease found amongst amphibians today. Red leg, or Aeromonas bacteria, enters through the frogs skin and attacks its body resulting in lethargy, lack of appetite and listlessness. When in its final stages of growth, red leg breaks down the blood vessel walls and produces internal bleeding, causing reddish patches to appear underneath the frog. Most commonly, these blotches of redness are found on the inner thighs of the frog, thus the name, "red leg".

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Symptoms

- Lethargic, lazy, groggy frog
- Red colored patches underneath the frog on its legs
- Seems to be bloated almost
- Lack of appetite

Treatments

Treatment for bacterial infections must begin as soon as possible. The earlier the problem is detected, the better the chance your frog has for survival. Unfortunately, the symptoms may be to insignificant until it is too late for your frog to recover. The infamous red patches often don't appear until days or even hours before death, allowing insufficient time for an effective treatment.

Your weapon to fight off this bacteria infection should be antibiotics. Before you do any treatments, make sure that your frog is IMMEDIATELY removed to an isolation tank to help prevent the bacteria from lingering around in its own habitat.

Before using any antibiotic on your frog, be sure you know what your doing. Many people *think* they know what they are doing until they end up with a dead frog. Betadine, for example, is a common medicine used freely on reptiles, but is very toxic to amphibians and cannot be used on your frog. This is a fact many veterinarians and so called "experts" are not aware of. Hydrogen peroxide is also lethal to frogs and cannot be used in the treatment of Red Leg. The best treatment consists of soaking your frog for fifteen minutes every day in a shallow water dish or bowl containing a diluted iodine solution. Many of the medicines sold in pet stores for treating "fin rot" in fishes contain iodine as their active ingredient, and these can safely be used to treat your frog. Mix the medicine at one-half the strength recommended on the packaging for treating fish. Bactine, a commercial antibiotic found in most drugstores, is also safe for frogs.

If your frog is still taking in and digesting food, oral tetracycline can be mixed with your frogs food to help fight off the infection.

After the disease is cleared from your frog, make sure you disinfect your frogs tank. This means remove EVERYTHING! Use new subsrate and moss if needed and scrub that sucker down! Use a mild soap or bleach solution to wash the tank out. Make sure you get all the bleach or soap out and let sit for awhile before returning the frog to its home.

If all is successful, your frog should return to normal health. If caught early, Red Leg can be a fairly simple thing to cure.

Prevention

Wait! Before you just put your frog back in its tank, you have to know why it even got Red Leg in the first place! Red Leg can be the result of a few things. Listed below are some of the possible causes of Red Leg:

Stress - Due to a small habitat or temperatures that are too hot or cold.
Unsanitary conditions - Waste accumulated in your frogs tank leads to bacteria and problems. Water bowls are also subject to this. Be sure to have fresh clean water almost every day from your frog and scoop up any frog waste you may see in the tank.
Touching your frog - If you have read this website, you know by now your not allowed to touch your frog with bare hands. If you do, this allows bacteria and fungus to enter the frogs system. Whether the frog has a cut or a small break on its skin, the salts and oils in our hand can irritate the healthiest frog. So, in other words, hands off your little friend unless you have gloves on.

Metabolic Bone Disease (MBD)

What is it?

Metabolic Bone Disease is a bone deficiency. It is a disease which causes the bones in frogs to become flimsy and eventually break down due to the lack of calcium. This disease is common in younger frogs.

Symptoms

MBD is hard to diagnose. It can be mistaken for a lot of things, such as Red Leg, but I will provide you with the most common symptoms.

-Weak, flimsy legs/limbs
-Drooping jaw bone
-Lethargic, little movement whatsoever
-Loss of body mass

Treatments

MBD can be fatal, but if caught in time, can be treated effectively. My first suggestion to you is that if any of these symptoms occur, especially the flimsy and weak legs, to bring your frog to a reptile vet as soon as possible. If a vet is not nearby or not an option, several books suggest changing your frogs diet. Since MBD is a calcium deficiency, load up your frogs diet with reptile vitamins such as Reptical or Reptivite powders(Please see my feeding section about information on vitamins). These easy to obtain vitamins come in powder form and are to be sprinkled on your frogs food. Whether it be fish or crickets, be sure to keep dusting your frogs food with the vitamin powder. Just offer your frog the dusted food and let it enjoy. Do not over do it with the vitamins either. Use the powder one to two times every week at the most! A frog with too much calcium ends up with major organ problems! Symptoms should subside if you act quickly. Although the disease is curable, some deformities may remain if not caught in time.

Prevention

Again, keeping your frog on a healthy diet minimizes any chance of it getting MBD. Dusting your crickets and fish as well as gut-loading (see the feeding part of this website for more info on gut-loading) will keep your frog healthy and virtually MBD free.

Prolapse of the Intestines or Gonads

What is it?

Prolapse can be a very scary thing for many frog owners the first time. I, for one, have experienced this problem with my horned frog. Here's the scenario. You just got done feeding your frog a nice sized mouse or even some crickets. You awake next morning to see your frogs "insides" hanging out of its rectum. Gross? Yes! Scary? Can be. Curable? Definitely. Prolapse is the result of either substrate swallowed wrong, a too large of a meal, or for no reason at all.

Symptoms

-Pink, fleshy tissue hanging out of thee frogs rectum. Either could be its intestines or gonads.

Treatments

Prolapse can be treated at home or by a vet. Before you do anything, bring your frog to the vet first to check it out. That's always the safest route. If a vet is not accessible, there is a way you can push the intestines or gonads back in. This is very risky and should not be tried by anyone. I personally would not do this because I would fear of injuring my frog. But here's how you do it. Be sure to keep the protruding tissue moist; some people recommend using a sugar water solution to shrink the tissue. Using a wet Q-tip, gently coax/push the hanging tissue back in the rectum without twisting the tissue. This method may work in minor cases, but may reoccur. So again, it is best to see a vet on this one. If it is the gonads that are protruding, this method may not even work at all and a vet is a must see. Prolapsed gonads usually need to be removed.

Prevention

Prolapsed intestines/gonads can occur for no reason at all. Or it can occur because of large meals or food/substrate that gets digested improperly. My advice to you is to feed your frog in small quantities and do not feed it anything it cannot swallow. Meaning, don't force feed it something it can't fit inside its mouth.

Quick Fixes

Here are some solutions to minor problems you may encounter with your frog. If your frog won't eat, is hiding, stressed, not moving, try some of these quick fixes and ask yourself these questions before you panic.

-Raise or lower the temperature in yourr terrarium. Is the tank around 80 degrees F? Or is it too hot? Too Cold? Adjust the temperature to its correct positions and see what your frog likes best!
-Is there anywhere for your frog to hidde? Caves? Substrate to bury itself in? Create some!
-Be sure to make the terrarium as life like as possible. Use plants to make the frog seem secure and "in the wild".
-Keep your frog out of any household traffic. That means, keep your frog secluded in its own little area in the house where little Timmy can't run by and shake the tank every five minutes.
-Do you handle your frog a lot? Don't! When you handle your frog, the frog is probably scared out of its mind and just wants to be put down. Frogs stress real easily and picking them up doesn't help them like you more. Leave it be!
-Is your frog dehydrated? Does it have enough water in its bowl and is it clean water?
-Are the lights in your terrarium too bright? Are you using normal household bulbs to light the frogs tank? This hurts the frogs eyes and may even ruin its vision. Keep bright and incandescent lights out of the vision of horned frogs.
-Is your frog getting a proper diet? Poor dieting and improper feeding methods can result in stress and sickness. Please take the time to read my feeding page and make sure you give your frog the proper nutrients it needs!

Euthanasia

Euthanasia of any species is a touchy subject. Humans or frogs, many people think its cruel or some think its the best thing to do. When it comes to frogs, I have seen questions regarding the euthanasia of frogs. For those of you who do not understand the word "Euthanasia", the question is: "What is the best way to kill my frog without it suffering? Assuming its going to die a slow painful death already" Well, after finding some good responses on messages boards, this is what I have come up with. If you honestly think your frog is in pain and is going to die soon and you have positively no access to a vet, then there are ways you can put your frog down painlessly. From what I've researched, using Orajel is a painless way to euthanize your frog. Orajel is a 20% benzocaine ointment. It is normally used to treat toothaches or mouth pain in humans. It is available at most any pharmacy or general store such as K-Mart. A bit smeared on a frog will be absorbed through the skin and result in a painless death. Supposedly, this is a humane way to "put down" an animal that is suffering. Other people suggest putting a blob between the eyes of the frog. This is suspected to be the closest place to the brain, thereby causing a quick death. Although this method is a way to put down your frog, I highly suggest you find a vet to do it for you.

End Remarks

In closing, I hope this page helped you out somewhat. When I find out more information on any other disease and illnesses, I'll be sure to post them here. If you still can't find what your looking for and I have not described an illness your frog has, please visit Kingsnake's Frog Forum and post your problem there. I'm sure someone there can help you out! Or, feel free to contact me and I will try to answer your questions the best that I can.

In all, your best bet is just to go directly to a reptile vet. Not sure where one is in your area? Check out this website ---->Locate a Vet In Your Area.

I hope you are now aware of the diseases that can occur when improper care is imposed upon your frog. I hope you never encounter any of these diseases with your frog and happy herping!