Although they are definitely one of the more difficult to care for amphibians out there, tree frogs have been seeing a spike in their popularity recently and a number of people have been adding tree frogs to their family to keep them as pets.
Due to usually not being suitable for beginners to keeping amphibians as pets, people often have problems with their tree frog with one of the more common problems being a bloated tree frog.
The most common cause of bloating in tree frogs is dropsy caused by either a bacterial infection or a metabolic disorder in the frog.
Less common causes of bloating in tree frogs include sepsis, organ failure, and overfeeding but there are a number of other potential problems related to humidity and temperature too.
It can be surprisingly difficult for people new to caring for tree frogs to be able to accurately diagnose the problem and thus, apply to correct treatment for the condition in the frog.
This is why we would highly recommend that you try to book a video call with a veterinarian to have them assess your tree frog via the camera on your smartphone and offer you the best options possible for treating your tree frog’s condition.
Why Do Tree Frogs Get Bloated?
Even a healthy tree frog can end up having problems with bacteria causing it to bloat up due to contracting dropsy.
It can also be very common for people new to keeping tree frogs to accidentally overfeed their tree frog or feed them an unsuitable diet resulting in metabolic disorders that can cause the tree frog to bloat up too.
It is highly likely that either of these two causes will be the reason that your tree frog is starting to bloat up so we would recommend that you initially base your investigation around this when trying to treat a bloated tree frog.
Although dropsy is technically not contagious, if you do suspect that your tree frog is bloating due to dropsy, it is usually a good idea to quarantine any other, unaffected tree frogs in another tank until you have had a chance to deep clean your main tank to purge any bacteria.
If you are unable to find any signs of dropsy or metabolic disorder in your frog then it may be bloating due to sepsis, temperature problems, issues with humidity or overfeeding resulting in the frog gaining weight that is often mistaken for bloating.
These are all less common that dropsy and metabolic disorders in tree frogs though so it is less likely that this is why your tree frog will have problems.
How To Treat A Bloated Tree Frog!
We would never recommend that you try to treat a bloated tree frog at home that is suffering from dropsy as the condition can be very difficult to treat successfully.
If you do suspect that the bloating in your pet tree frog is due to dropsy then you really should be taking your frog to an exotic pet vet for treatment as soon as possible.
We go into this in more detail in our article going over how to treat bloated frogs and although some of the other causes of bloating in frogs can be treat at home, dropsy is not one of them.
You will often require specialist tools to correctly drain the bloat from your frogs abdomen in a frog suffering from dropsy making the condition difficult to treat at home.
If your tree frog is bloating due to overfeeding or a poor diet then making the correct changes to what you feed your pet tree frog can be enough to treat the condition with minimal long-term problems.
If your tree frog has problems in its environment with its humidity of temperature that is causing the frog to bloat quickly then you can often treat the condition by offering the tree frog optimal conditions to live in by tweaking your heating and humidity systems,
How Long Can A Bloated Tree Frog Live?
It can be difficult to predict how long a tree frog with dropsy will be able to live as you are unable to see the internal organs of the frog and the amount of pressure that the bloat is causing.
Estimates can range from as little as a week in very bad cases to a couple of months in less developed cases of dropsy but you should always try to treat the condition as soon as you notice it.
As we covered in our article on treating bloat in albino African clawed frogs, the sooner you get assistance from a veterinarian in trying to treat bloat in your frog, the less likely it is that the condition will cause long term problems and the more likely it is that your tree frog will make a full recovery.
The same is also true for the various other common causes of bloating in your tree frog too.
If the bloat in your tree frog is due to problems with its diet, humidity levels or temperature then the condition tends not to be as serious as dropsy and your tree frog can live for many months with the problem.
Still, you really should be trying to treat the condition as quickly as possible though to prevent long term problems from taking hold in your frog.
Will A Bloated Tree Frog Treat Itself?
The majority of the common causes of bloat in tree frogs will not treat themselves and they will almost always require assistance from the person who keeps the frog as a pet to treat the condition.
When it comes to bloating in tree frogs, just hoping the problem will go away is not enough as it is highly likely the condition will just get worse and potentially be fatal.
As we covered in our article on treating bloat in African dwarf frogs, we have seen some people report that they have been able to leave their bloated frog for the frog to heal naturally.
It is very unlikely that this will work in all situations and this is usually when the bloat in your frog is due to temporary problems with humidity and temperature in the tank rather than problems with the diet of the frog or dropsy so you should never rely on this treatment method.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how to treat a bloated tree frog to an end and we hope that we have been able to help our readers better understand just how serious bloating in tree frogs can be. We would never recommend that you even attempt to treat the condition at home as you will almost always need the assistance of a veterinarian to treat dropsy that is the more common cause of bloating in tree frogs. As we mentioned earlier in the article, it is also surprisingly difficult to correctly diagnose the various problems that can cause bloating in tree frogs too so you will often require the assistance of a veterinarian for that too.
