# African Dwarf Frog - too skinny?



## ally108 (Jan 4, 2013)

I have two ADF's, one is small, skinny & dark skin. The other looks twice the size, huge back feet, plump, and lighter skin. Both have "tails" and I haven't noticed the armpit bump on either. had them for about 5-6 months, no idea how old they were when I got them. Got them about a month apart. 

I'm concerned about Hades, the small skinny one - I rarely see either of them eat, but they both come out at feeding time for blood worms & frog bites - fed every other day. 

Hades' back literally looks concave. I googled skinny ADF's and he actually looks WAY healthy compared to those.

here's a pic of his concave back
http://i1307.photobucket.com/albums/s589/letsgetsquirrely/DSCN99331_zps9c9a4b67.jpg



my other concern is -- am I worried about the wrong guy? Maybe Ares is TOO fat? I don't have a pic of him (her?) but considering the back feet are twice the size of Hades' i'm assuming Ares just has "larger" genes or something.

Does anyone have any idea what I'm talking about?


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

Looks like a pretty hefty frog to me!!! I see the concavity that you mention, and that is slightly odd. . . but the generic term 'African Dwarf Frog' refers to one of several different species -Hymenochirus boettgeri and Hymenochirus curtipes are the two I can think of offhand - it's possible that your frogs are a different type than the ones I've kept . . . 

If you aren't seeing any pimples, then you have girls, and compared to skinny boy frogs, the females can be bruisers! They're ALWAYS huge compared to males, lol. They're also very greedy at feeding time compared to the males I've kept. . . from the images posted, they look okay to me, definitely big girls, but healthy. Your feeding schedule is good for adult frogs, too. I'd vary the wetfrozen foods if possible, but since you're feeding a quality pelleted food, you're probably okay. . .

The stomach of ADF can easily be seen if you look at their underside, it's in the middle, but slightly to the left of their spine. You should be able to tell if your frog is getting enough/too much/or not enough by taking a look on their left side before/after feeding. A hungry frog will have a bit of flatness or even concavity (just a BIT!) to the left side, where if the frog is full, there should be a slight bulge on that side. If the belly bulge is REALLY bulgy, you're feeding too much, and should cut down a bit.

Really, in my experience, these little babies come in a fairly wide variety of shapes and sizes, genetics definitely plays a role, as all of mine have been very easily distinguished from the others by both physical characteristics as well as behavior. As long as they're behaving as you have come to expect from them, with no odd sudden changes in feeding, activity, or hanging at the top, you should be okay 

Hope this helps?

If you want to get more opinions, you can always post your picture up here. It's a thread on ADF that many of us keepers hang out on and babble about our undying love for all things froggy  You're welcome to join in, and I'm guessing that more people will see and respond to your question over there!


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## ally108 (Jan 4, 2013)

Wow! I didn't realize there were different types of ADF's! Hymenochirus Curtipes looks like Ares, the plump one, and Hymenochirus boettgeri looks like Hades the skinny one. That makes me feel a LOT better, thank you! They both are active and seem to be happy, and are always cuddling so I guess I should't be worried! Thank you for that info!


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## Chesh (Feb 17, 2012)

Sure thing, glad I could help! I'm a HUGE froggy lover myself, currently have three of the little buggers  My original female that I lost a few months ago looked a lot like your Ares, and the other three are a different type, too. It can be really difficult to find info on them, for some reason, so feel free to send me a PM if I can ever help - or stop by our ADF thread, been quiet for a week or two, but there's always froggy picture spam going on, lol!


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