sick baby green tree frogs

Question
why are my baby green tree frogs dieing? I work in a pet supply store where I also sell snakes, bearded dragons, water dragons, turtles and fish. I have only had the supply of frogs for maybe six weeks and have already lost 11 of the frogs. It is a clean enviorment, the heating is correct but i don't understand why they are dying can you give me any advice. Hailey

Answer
Hi Hailey, What a heartbreaking and frustrating situation. A few things to double check would be the temperature gradient. The natural tendency is to house babies in small enclosures, which is fine, but once any heat source is applied it can easily heat the entire cage. Move your thermometer around the enclosure and verify that the temp. gradient ranges from around 80- 85F at the warmest with a cooler area as well. The cooler area is just as important as the heat.
If you sell fish then I will assume that you are using a de-chlorinator for the frogs' water as well. The chlorine and chloramine in untreated tap water is also toxic for amphibians. Young frogs are more prone to dehydration due to their smaller size, make sure your humidity level is adequate. You may need to mist them more often then adults.

It's particularly important to calcium-dust the crickets of young growing animals. Bone deformity is the chronic effect of this deficiency but the acute effect is low blood calcium levels which can result in sudden, fatal seizures. Make sure that the crickets are small enough for the frogs and the enclosure allows them to easily catch them.  

Frogs are prone to stress related bacterial infections from transport and shipping. If you got them from a wholesaler then chances are that they were exposed to crowding and poor hygiene prior to you receiving them.

I don't tend to recommend that people attempt antibiotic treatment on animals without the consultation of a vet but the sad reality is that inexpensive animals like these do not generally receive veterinary attention. This is true with both pet owners and pet stores. I know that the decision to see a vet about this is likely not yours to make.

I can tell you that when I was in a similar situation with a shipment of sick frogs that we resorted to treating their water with the antibiotic tetracycline which was available for fish. Maybe we were just lucky but the mortality rate dropped. Good luck with them, I'm hoping for you.