We are gonna be going over what we call “toxing out,” or Toxing Out Syndrome. You’ve probably seen these words floating around in the comments of our group and others. It can be quite scary to experience as a frog owner, so to make things slightly easier I’m gonna give you some info about it and show you what you can do if you ever come across it. Let’s get into it!
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧?
Toxing out occurs when a frog is exposed to extremely dirty conditions for a long period of time. The environment they are in becomes toxic. Unlike a bacterial infection, toxing out affects the whole body all at once rather than starting in one area and spreading. Typically, toxing out happens due to dirty water or substrate, but it can also happen when their overall habitat is dirty. This is why it’s so important to change the water, change or wash substrate, and clean your tank weekly.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐭?
There are three key symptoms to tell whether or not your frog is experiencing toxing out syndrome:
- Unevenly sized pupils where one is dilated more than the other. Often one is very large and the other is very small. - Legs sprawled out from their body like they have passed but they are still breathing. - Seizure-like spasms and twitching of limbs
The very first thing you’ll notice is the weirdly dilated pupils. This happens before it gets bad. Now, this can happen occasionally without toxing out syndrome but the dilation difference is often slightly off rather than completely different sizes with TOS. The sprawled legs are normally the stage we see posted about in groups because it’s such a scary difference in behavior. On most occasions when a frog passes it will curl its arms tight towards the body and push its legs all the way out straight. With TOS you are more likely to see just the legs spread out but the arms in their regular position. Plus the frog will be breathing quite fast as it’s very stressful to experience. The seizures happen when it gets bad. When you see them, the frog’s time is very limited and you need to start treatment fast. These spasms can paralyze, typically from the waist down so act fast, they are very painful.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐱𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐭?
If you are starting to see any of the three symptoms you must begin treatment ASAP, as things can get tough quickly. The first step is to make sure you always have flavorless Pedialyte handy. We talked about this awesome tool to keep stocked in week one! Remember, it HAS to be flavorless. The dyes and flavors can harm frogs. Get yourself two bowls and a de-chlorinator. You are going to pour enough Pedialyte to cover the frog’s lower belly and legs in one bowl. Slightly warm the Pedialyte to allow for a comfortable soak. You don’t need it hot, it should be a little over room temp. I like to use the Pedialyte cap to gently rest the frog’s upper body or their head on while they soak, it keeps their nose above the water so they won’t inhale any. Set a timer for ten minutes and before it gets down to zero, repeat those same steps in the other bowl. Every ten minutes you will switch out the Pedialyte bowl for another, you can also slowly add water into the mix as well since you only get so much Pedialyte in a bottle but for the first few soaks just Pedialyte alone. Soak until your froggy friend is feeling better. You’ll start to notice a difference as time goes on. Yes, this will take a very long time -- certainly hours, so cancel your plans for the night. While you are waiting, clean the tank and make up a quarantine tank (also mentioned in week one) for them.
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐈 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠?
Prevention is quite easy. Keeping your tank, water, and substrate clean is key. What helps me with remembering to do my cleanings is creating a schedule. Every Tuesday we do spot cleaning, every Thursday we deep clean. Water is changed every day to every other day depending on cleanliness, and dirt substrate is changed once a month. TOS can happen to any species of frog as well as other amphibians so it’s important information to keep on hand even if you have a species other than WTFs. You’ll hear me say this over and over again in our guides:
𝐂𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐤 = 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐠
Frogs are extremely sensitive, even the more hardy ones like WTFs. So keep your tank clean and you shouldn’t have much problem! Keeping humidity down also helps, because as we know excess water is a breeding ground for bacteria and other nasty things, which can cause infection or TOS.
If you’re in a TOS situation, don’t panic. Remember, you’ll always have people here ready to help and this guide to look back on. Frogs have pulled through and bounced back from TOS and have gone on to live happy healthy lives. Also, know that things happen and you are not a terrible owner when these things happen. They can sneak up on us, it’s happened to me a few times and while it’s not the proudest moment, you are not a horrible human for going through this!