Frog Leg Deformaties

[REDDEV1L]

As some of you know, I've been raising a few eggs through to froglets...6 are doing fine, 1 still hasn't grown its front legs yet, but two are worrying me.
They appear to have deformed back legs (one has both, the other has one)



I originally thought that their legs would 'click' into their normal position within a few days of walking around....however they've been on land for over a week and have showed no change.

I did some research and it appears it could be caused by fertilisers getting into the water, causing parasites to bloom, which then attack/attach to their legs. However, I've had these since they were (approx) 3 day old eggs...so unless the eggs were attacked by the parasites, or I brought some of the trematode parasites in with the pond water, then maybe its something else.

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation (NSF) News - Nutrient Pollution Drives Frog Deformities by Ramping Up Infections - US National Science Foundation (NSF)

Has anyone ever seen anything like this ??
Is there any hope of them surviving ??
(One is eating ok, but the one with two dodgy legs hasn't eaten yet!!)

[Joe1507]

Hmm, Ive never heard of anything like this, it looks quite bad, try emailing andrew from pollywog he will probably know what to do.

[daftlassieEmma]

bad water conditions can stunt growth and cause deformities in limbs when they develop, just as fish fry can get spinal deformities etc.

[kizzy21_uk]

hey dont no if its kinda the same but i have a whites tree frog wiv an xtra back leg.

[daftlassieEmma]

Originally Posted by kizzy21_uk

hey dont no if its kinda the same but i have a whites tree frog wiv an xtra back leg.

there are certain bacteria/parasite which are known to do this though i thought they only occured in warmer countries

the extra legs make the frogs more vulnerable, thus they are eaten by herons etc then excreted in the droppings which often land in water, where they infect tadpoles

[Mrs dirtydozen]

Spindly leg? (sp)
My mate had this problem with his darts, he overcome the problem by giving the growing tads a blast for so many mins everyday with a mega ray bulb

[Saedcantas]

It´s spindly leg syndrome, which is arguably caused by all manner of things (but certainly easily by poor water quality), check out dartfrog forums for more info on peoples experiences and theories on the subject.

The animals really won´t have a good quality of life and I personally would certainly have them humanely euthenased.

Sorry!
Lotte

[pepsirat]

Poor little frogs. When we had a pond we had a frog with a leg missing. He lasted a while but didnt see him again the following year.

[LiamRatSnake]

I used to find them in my primary school next to a farm, often with missing and extra legs, not just warm countries.

[Pipkin28]

Last year when my FBT's went mad breeding, I raised over 260 toadlets. Of these, only one of them had deformed back legs.

Surely it's one of those things that can just happen, just as with any creature? Frogs and toads produce so many young because they have so many natural predators and the transformation process from tadpole to toadlet is also very stressful and with those numbers, the odd deformity here and there will occur. It's nature, after all.

My little toadlet wasn't as agile as the rest but it lived for several months and it ate well but I got home from work one day to find that it had died.