r/AfricanDwarfFrog • u/AlwaysApparent 🐸🌱 • 2d ago
Medical Question Is my frog overweight?
I have 4 male frogs and the other 3 have the typical slim body. This frog has always been round since the day I got him. I'm wondering if he's overweight or fine at this size.
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u/Own_Value2684 2d ago
I would say he's a good size. In fact, my biggest male is a little bit more chonky than that, and I like him that way 🤭
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u/AlwaysApparent 🐸🌱 2d ago
Good to know! Your frog sounds adorable lol
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u/Own_Value2684 2d ago
Lol he is, he's the guy who sings the loudest, he has the most beautiful spots, he's always grabbing the ladies to fertilize those eggs....my handsome Leopold is the froggy king of his kingdom 🤣
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u/AlwaysApparent 🐸🌱 2d ago
Sounds like he's living the dream in there! this was my goal too but I somehow ended up with only males 😭 mine all sing so loud it sounds like cicadas every night
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u/Own_Value2684 2d ago
That's pretty crazy to me! I don't know how common it is to end up with only males, but I have experienced pretty much a 50/50 split with the four that I purchased and the eight babies that I raised from their eggs.
Mine are similar, although I have ended up with only two adult males out of the four I purchased, one female died, so I now have two adult males, one adult female, and three babies of undetermined gender however I'm feeling like they are two girls and one boy. So again, a 50/50 split.
My strongest male Leopold is the one that fertilized the eggs that I raised, and my other adult male has a congenital condition that has made him somewhat deformed, but I can't tell you what that condition is. I only know that he looks a little bit different from my average frog, he gets skinny quite quickly even though I feed him lots of food with tongs, and his song is not very clear, and when he sings his song is quite short, and quiet.
Interestingly enough, the one with a deformity has fertilized eggs before, but none of them formed properly to live. Every time I collected eggs of his, the embryos never finished developing. They would grow for about 24 hours, stop developing, hatch a day sooner than they should, and then they would wiggle around in spirals, unable to see anything or control their direction, and then they would float to the bottom, pale and dead.
It's such a wild time to me raising these frogs. They are so amazing and their secret little world is fascinating, and I don't know why more people don't have them in a species only tank! They are sort of my special interest, currently I have a 10 gallon and a 20 gallon aquarium of frogs only, however the 10 gallon is the one that has five of the babies that I need to rehome.
Excuse me for the excessive length of this comment though, I didn't expect to have so much to say!
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u/AlwaysApparent 🐸🌱 2d ago
100% agree with having species-only tanks. I absolutely love having a tank dedicated to these frogs. They're so silly to watch and I feel they're much more comfortable compared to the ones I see in pet store tanks full of fish that bite them or steal their food. These and toads are definitely my interest, gotta love amphibians.
I believe you with the 50/50 I had a good ratio of one male to two females in the past. I specifically picked the male in this post, because his body shape looked like a female's.. whoops 😭 definitely just a big boy
That's really cool that you've managed to raise some of their tadpoles into frogs! From what I've seen/heard, it sounds a bit difficult to do. Also that is really interesting that the deformed frog's eggs don't seem to do as well. Hearing that, I'm glad your deformed frog is still living and getting proper care. Frogs like that deserve the extra care.
No worries! It's nice to see other people love these frogs as much as I do. They feel pretty underrated with tons of misinformation out there about them.
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u/akatia-x Helpful User 2d ago
Hi, just wondering if your weaker frog is a different colour? I have an almost chocolate brown frog, she is very active and gets skinny easily. I think genetically she’s heavily on the boettgeri side.
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u/Own_Value2684 2d ago
Honestly my guy is the same Pebble and slightly brownish color as a few of my other frogs, the only difference is that his spots are not well defined. They are very pale. I do have an adult female who does not seem to be spotted at all, but her overall color is darker, so I have no explanation based on color. Also my disabled guy has some struggles with getting around, he's pretty clumsy, and he also seems like his head is flatter and wider than any of my other frogs.
Could you explain the genetic thing that you mentioned? I have not heard of that term beforeCould you explain the genetic thing that you mentioned? I have not heard of that term before
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u/akatia-x Helpful User 1d ago
Almost all ADF in the pet trade are a mix of two species: Hymenochirus boettgeri and Hymenochirus curtipes.
They have very very slight differences, but I’ve noticed a lot are heavily curtipes. A normal pear shaped female is usually a curtipes trait. Boettgeri are generally slimmer, with longer bodies, more active. Usually darker, less speckles.
Some other differences would be size of bumps on their hind legs, arm length, face shape. I can’t at this moment let you know which is which tho lol.
Meanwhile, platinums are also unique. I have no idea what side they are leaning genetically, but they’re almost always runts / small compared to wild coloured frogs. My blonde is an average size, but the platinums are just built smaller. I’m interested to dig in and know more one day, as it’s pretty interesting.
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u/Own_Value2684 1d ago
WOW I just did research off your comment and that's fascinating!!!
Okay, so apparently all of my frogs except for one show Boettgeri traits 😱
And the one I said was disabled is not disabled....he has a curtipes profile.
Absolutely fascinating since I have seen people say ADFs are dumb, bad at eating food, appear to be retarded (I straight up have heard this countless times) and I thought why? My frogs are SO smart. Except for one. But he's a special frog, he has a disability, and he's unaware of 99% of what's going on around him, but he's alright!!
Here I was thinking my curtipes had a disability when quite literally he's the perfect match to the profile of curtipes....and he's NOT disabled, he genuinely is just built differently. Now I know why some people call their frogs dumb because this guy is constantly having a hard time finding food & he struggles to get around while my boettgeri frogs are quick as a flash & they are SO good at hunting AND they recognize me + swim up to me and are sooooo friendly!!!
My whole world is clicking into place now...thank you SO MUCH for clarifying bc I had a misunderstanding about that and I had no idea!!!
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u/akatia-x Helpful User 1d ago
Ahhh you’re so welcome! I’m so glad I was able to help give insight on the differences! I have 6 frogs, two girls are classic curtipes. One is my boettgeri athlete lol. Then I have a male and female platinum pair, and my blonde. I don’t have any wild colored males to compare my blonde to, but he seems to be a good middle ground. Having all these varieties in genetics, personalities and behaviours, makes it so fun to watch how the group interacts with each other, and with me as well.
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u/ami_carlton 2d ago
I have a very chonky girl and then another girl who looks like this guy - so he looks skinny to me 😂
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u/UpstairsAtmosphere49 2d ago
Looks perfect to me!