Whites tree frog not eating

Question
Hi Thea. I am wondering if you could help me figure out why my son's White's has become anorexic and quite underweight? We have had this frog and one other for about 4 years now, and in the last month, one of them has become distressingly thin. The other is his normal body weight. I have been observing the underweight frog, and he doesn't seem interested in hunting, and if he tries to catch a cricket, he is far off the intended mark. We have hand fed him a few crickets with forceps, but he is not very interested. I am wondering if you have ever witnessed blindness in these frogs? He has been bathing in the the daylight, and resting out in the open, which is uncharacteristic for him. He has also stopped singing. I am concerned that he will not survive much longer if I can't figure out what the problem is. Thank you for considering my question.

Answer
Hi Sherri,

Unfortunately the symptoms that you describe are not specific to any particular condition. Loss of appetite and weight loss are common to virtually all health problems in amphibians.
Daylight soaking and abnormal sleeping habits are two more general red flags. I suspect that his poor hunting attempts are more a product of weakness then decreasing eyesight.

Anything from bacterial/parasitic infections to an intestinal blockage could be causing these problems. White's are still routinely imported from Indonesia and enter the pet trade as adults. They are a long-lived species but simple old age is always a possibility with adult animals of unknown age.
Ideally a vet would be your best option but finding a vet that has experience with amphibians is a challenge.
Tetracycline (doxycycline) can be purchased over the counter as a fish medication and is tolerated well by amphibians. This link has some dosage information for soaking that you might try.

http://www.jcu.edu.au/school/phtm/PHTM/frogs/papers/hadfield-2005.pdf