Frog in distress

[ivanharding]

Hi there
First time poster.

Our pond has been very active over the weekend and many clumps of spawn are appearing by the day. I think we had around 20 frogs in the pond at the weekend with many poor females having more than one desperate, eager male clinging on. I particularly enjoyed watching one male who was 'positioned' the wrong way around, if you know what I mean - I guess that is where natural selection comes into play!

Anyway, I walked out today to see a strange pink object in the pond. I thought at first it was something like bubblegum but on inspection it was a frog in distress. I have no idea if it was a male or female but the pink in question was a tangle of *something* clustered on the frog's rear.

My first thought was that it was some sort of disgusting parasites/worms but when I picked the frog up, it looked as if it was part of the frog and the rear of the frog was inflamed and red. Otherwise, the frog looked absolutely fine.

The tangle looked like tiny intestines, maybe it was 'frog piles', or some ruptured blood vessels. They were intensely pink, exactly the colour of chewed bubblegum or candyfloss.

Not knowing what to do, I put the frog back in our pond. It flailed around trying to dive but couldn't do so for whatever reason, and just scuttled off to the edge of the pond trying to find some shelter.

I have no knowledge about frogs and google has not helped me much. I am not sure if I should just put the poor frog out of its misery or if there is anything I can do (or should do). Even just knowing what is wrong with this frog would help.

If it helps, I will attempt to get a picture and post.

Thanks all for advice!

[Kayleigh]

Hi and welcome to WAB..I had to laugh about the wrong way round frogs lol
But I think the poor frog has a prolapse I have heard of them before but never seen it myself..
Not sure if there is any treatment or if anything can be done for it.

[Malx]

Until you get a positive herpetological response on here, I think you've got to accept that that frog is unhealthy, and let nature take its course. You know about Natural Selection, so you're aware that Nature's bigger than all of us, and don't let that fact ruin your day!
Just influence what you can, but if it's worthwhile do it bigtime!

[Malcolm Banks]

Sounds quite distressing for both you and the frog. It is tempting to put it out of it's misery but I would let nature take it's course. If it dies and you find it before it has begun decomposing then the people at Zoo Soc of London (ZSL) may be interested in it (so if you can find a suitable container put it in the freezer). In conjunction with Froglife (Froglife - information on disease ) ZSL run a frog mortality project and if your frog had a disease, whether of infectious, genetic or evironmental origin, then they should be interested in recording it, and maybe even in receiving the carcass through the post (which is where the freezer comes in). By people doing this with dead frogs they can generate epidemiological data on spread of diseases etc - if they don't want it then you can give it a state funeral in your garden
A photo could be useful for other frog watchers
M

[ivanharding]

Hi all, thanks for the pragmatic responses. The suggestion of the frog having a prolapse seems the most likely, reading up on it some more, although the pictures on the web show these to be more jellylike red blobs than the pink intestinal tract that was on my poor frog. Most websites suggests prolapses can heal naturally and you can help them on their way with a sugar water solution.

I went out to take a picture plus try out the sugar solution suggestion but could no longer see the frog in the pond. It might have wandered off in the day but my wife reported that a heron had not only visited in the afternoon but she chased it off after seeing a frog leg hanging out of its mouth Our pond is teeming with frogs and newts at the moment so it might not have been *the* frog but given that the poor thing couldn't dive, I doubt it could have got away.

Mother Nature is sometimes a tough parent! If pinkie comes back, I'll make sure to post a pic....

Thanks again for the responses and interesting thought about collecting the specimen. I'll know what to do next time....

[Gill Catton]

I reckon your frog survived an initial attack by the heron (but was rather injured). Frogs are strange creatures they are rather instinctive in behaviour and don't tend to show pain as a mammal or bird might. I suspect it has now gone to feed baby herons!

Also although it might be a bit sad for the individual frog, I wouldn't worry about herons taking a few frogs - it is what they are supposed to do. Look at the piles of spawn, now imagine all of those tadpoles becoming adult frogs and breeding, we'd soon be beneath a massive mountain of frogs, other animals are always going to eat frogs, its why they have quite so many offspring. The overall population will be fine.

[Herpvet]

Hello,

As well as the discussion already, just to add that you could have considered taking the frog to a vet for assessment and possible treatment. Obviously this depends on your views on interfering with nature etc, but you should certainly be aware it's an option.

Hope this helps,

Bruce.

Originally Posted by ivanharding

Hi there
First time poster.

Our pond has been very active over the weekend and many clumps of spawn are appearing by the day. I think we had around 20 frogs in the pond at the weekend with many poor females having more than one desperate, eager male clinging on. I particularly enjoyed watching one male who was 'positioned' the wrong way around, if you know what I mean - I guess that is where natural selection comes into play!

Anyway, I walked out today to see a strange pink object in the pond. I thought at first it was something like bubblegum but on inspection it was a frog in distress. I have no idea if it was a male or female but the pink in question was a tangle of *something* clustered on the frog's rear.

My first thought was that it was some sort of disgusting parasites/worms but when I picked the frog up, it looked as if it was part of the frog and the rear of the frog was inflamed and red. Otherwise, the frog looked absolutely fine.

The tangle looked like tiny intestines, maybe it was 'frog piles', or some ruptured blood vessels. They were intensely pink, exactly the colour of chewed bubblegum or candyfloss.

Not knowing what to do, I put the frog back in our pond. It flailed around trying to dive but couldn't do so for whatever reason, and just scuttled off to the edge of the pond trying to find some shelter.

I have no knowledge about frogs and google has not helped me much. I am not sure if I should just put the poor frog out of its misery or if there is anything I can do (or should do). Even just knowing what is wrong with this frog would help.

If it helps, I will attempt to get a picture and post.

Thanks all for advice!