I NEED HELP! I'm new, but have a major problem.

[Lady_M]

Hi I'm Lady_M sorry about the poor intro, but I have an emergency.
I work at a pet store, and I had a manager who was being transfered order a bunch of frogs knowing it was going to cause problems, well he ended up ordering a red eye tree frog and not a lot of people understand that it's delicate. So, I told my manager it's probably better if we had more than one??? I heard they like company but not too much???? Well I came in and it had a brown scab on it's knee, I believe it was, well I touched it and it just slid off easily revealing a wound/flesh?? We took it to the vet and they said we had the wrong light, and while there the frog got worse. I think due to stress, so we brought it back and the subbing manager said it's gonna die and if I want I can adopt it. So I chose to adopt it. We were supposed to give it a drug called Baytril orally, it smelled like alcohol and tasted bad so I told people to give it a drop on it's back instead of waking it up during the day and shoving the meds down it's throat. Well my words went over people's heads and I came in today only to be told they wanted to Euthanize the frog, and they explained they gave it the meds ORALLY and shoved a mealworm in it's mouth. I was furious, and was told to go check the frog out. I went to the back room, and was like OMFG!!! The frog had regressed so bad it was in the soil, dark olive colored and looked dry, it's rear was turning white as well. Also there was a full spectrum light and a spot light on it at the same time. Uh, I was kind of shocked, I was sure it was dead. I opened the tank after washing my hands with plain hot water and could literally put it on it's back, it wasnt budging. I quickly ditched the soil, washed the tank with super hot water as well as the bowl and artificial plant. Paper towels were placed in the tank instead of the soil. I washed the frog under cool/luke warm water and washed his wound. It started to gain some strength, and I let it sit on the plant, it opened it's eye and jumped off. I placed it back in the tank on it's plant and left. I came back and it was awake with it's eyes wide open and it's bright green color back, it soaked in the water bowl then climbed into the corner and went to sleep still keeping it's color. What can I offer this little guy so he can be comfortable for a change and get better? Also, how long do tree frog wounds last? It's like missing flesh on it's kneecap. I think it might have been from a bark cave/log someone put in it's habitat that I took out.

I'm familiar with other tree frogs, but the RETF that we have is my first encounter with the species, I really despise that a-hole for ordering the frogs. Sorry I wrote so much I needed to explain everything so I can get some advice for him.

[RecycledAgain]

Firsts off lose the spot light . A cool white florescent will be fine temps should stay around 75 deg and Humidity around 80 % constant. The temp is a little lower than normal because high temps and high humidity can lead to bacterial or fungal on the sore. Some pics of the sore would help a lot. as for the exact way to treat the sore on a Red eye I am unable to give you a 100% answer. I do know that many WC dart frogs develop nose rub, also an open sore and is treated with Silver Sulfadiazine or even neosporin. Both are topical creams.
I will try and find some more info for you..

Dan

I almost forgot the sulfadiazine is used at 1%

[Lady_M]

Okay I have a picture I took as of today.
I actually just went to work and got the frog. It didn't look as bad as yesterday morning, I think it's a male. Well I took it out of it's 5 gallon it was in, I took a 10 or 15 high terrarium and did a quick change at work trying not to stress it out. I put in a mixture of soil substrate jungle mix with coconut husk stirred in. I added 2 pothos and croton(iffy since it likes high light) plant. I bought a sun glo light 25 watt so it wasn't bright, and I have a heater under the tank that isn't extreme. It looked pretty happy after I transferred it, it took right to the pothos, it was better than what it did have (5 gallons of soil and a fake plant. Tell me, am I going to have to seal the screen so it locks in the humidity I'm having problems keeping it above 70%.
Anyways thank you and here is the picture of it's knee, I hope I can just put neosporin on it and ditch this baytril crap.

[beckdg]

ooooh that's pretty bad!... hopefully all works out... as for the humidity... close it in as fast as you can... if he keeps drying up he'll have more issues healing... he may want some branches also depending on how that pothos fills the tank... maybe not til that wound heals up a little though... i cannot advise on medicating though, sorry.

[kyryah]

Baytril has a reputation for being irritating... Using a long course of it on the skin or orally can cause problems.

If it was me, I would try some bactine or neosporine on the wound. While medicating with a salve I would remove the substrate, as anything "sticky" like that will attract dirt. Use damp paper towels in lieu of coco fiber or dirt.

I am not a vet, mind you, but I am a vet tech in training and I have dealt with gashes on horses so big they would make you pass out...

I would cover about 50% of the enclosure, plain old aluminum foil will work, and go from there. If you are still having humdity issues, cover a bit more, leaving some room for airflow.

Misting a couple of times a day can help, too. If the edges of that wound dry out too much.... Not good. I think an ointment is needed in this case.

Try and gently flush the wound with plain water, let it dry a little, and then apply the ointment.

Good luck! I am glad you have him, you seem to have a level head and are willing to do what the poor baby needs! Just please don't beat yourself up if it ends up being too much for him, you are doing excellent.

Kristina

[RecycledAgain]

Kyryah Is correct,, lose the coco. Break the tank down to a floor of damp paper towels , a shallow dish of water and some cover. As for cover a couple lengths of pothos will do great and is very easy to find. As a added benefit it will help with the humidity.

Good Luck That looks ugly.

Dan

[lowcountryfire]

like everyone said before, put some plants or something in there he can hide behind or under. That will help him relieve some stress... Are you feeding him anything at the moment? try some smaller crickets than you think he would normally eat, maybe even try hand feeding him... Keep a good ointment, or bactine on it to help it stay moist, and make sure the papewr towels are thoroughly moist, not soaking wet, but DO keep a water dish for him to soak in...

[Lady_M]

Thanks a lot kyryah! That really helps, I was weird with the Baytril. I will remove the soil/coco husk and leave the pothos in there. I discovered upon further inspection that he also has nose rub :-(. I'm going to have to hand feed him since he is not responding to the small crickets, and is super thin. At night I fill in the screen with this craft foam and it locks in the humidity pretty well.

Also thank you RecycledAgain,beckdg,and lowcountryfire, all were very informing. I will reply with an update when I see improvement......I HOPE!

[colton]

My frog had a similar looking wound, though not as severe, when i first got him. Following the advice that worked great for me I would suggest a PAINRELIEVER-FREE triple antibiotic ointment. You will start to see healing progress in a day or two. It costs 3-4$ at walmart.

[Chu'Wuti]

Colton, excellent point. The pain reliever can be toxic for some herps.