Sad Green Frog Story

The other day when it was raining (it has rained pretty much every day since Liz left - so the rain frog she gave us for Christmas is proving its worth!), two of our Green Tree Frogs were out and about near the water tank. One, which was sitting in the leaf-excluder, was fat and healthy. The other, which was down near the tank was looking a bit thin, though it had a good colour - unlike when they were really starving during the drought, just skin and bones, and their skin colour was dark and unhealthy looking.

When Hanneke had a close look at it she realised that its face was a mass of raw flesh - looked like it had poked its nose into a cheese grater - with large red and white raw patches, one of which looked like a growth on the bottom jaw bone. Looked like the sort of thing one sees in reports about the cancers on the faces of Tasmanian Devils. It was really heart-wrenching to see. She caught it and brought it inside while we thought about what to do with it.

We have had at least one of our green frogs with a growth on its face - since a few years ago, but we can’t be sure it was this one. And that growth wasn’t open and raw like these, just a raised, warty-looking ridge above one side of the top jaw.

A search on the internet led to items from the Cairns Frog Hospital that seven green tree frogs have been recorded with cancerous growths on their faces. This is being studied by a team from James Cook University, along with other frog diseases such as a fungus that seems to be very widespread and that really weakens its victims.

Hanneke contacted the manager of the Cairns Frog Hospital, who asked for some photos of our frog. When she received these she thought that it might be a combination of cancer and flesh-eating bacteria, but she wanted the frog taken to someone who could take some samples to confirm what it was. She and Hanneke discussed sending the frog via Qantas air cargo to Cairns or Townsville (or to a NSW university, but NSW has a regulation banning the sending of diseased frogs into that State). Eventually they decided on a PhD researcher at Queensland Uni, who is working on frog diseases.

We made a special trip to Brisbane (actually Manly West, the other side of Brisbane, two hours away) to deliver the frog to her, and she will take samples of the wounds to try to identify the problem, as well as trying to nurse the frog back to health. She is obviously very much a frog lover, so we felt great about leaving the poor thing with her.

Will let you know when we have more news.