Amphibians need our help! My very own toads are suffering from the amphibian plague!

[Schnauzer]

I recently learned that 2008 is the year of the frog. I have Planet Earth on dvd thanks to my boyfriend, and it tells of how we might loose half of all amphibian species within our lifetime!! Why? Habitat destruction and pesticides were the major threat for a while, but now the biggest threat has been spread by scientists experimenting with African Clawed Frogs in South America. An accident occurred and a fungus leaked out into the water that causes Chitridiomycosis, or Chitrid for short. It is now wreaking havoc on every continent. Amphibians are important. Some people may think they're slimy and gross, but I personally adore them, keep them as pets and would hate to see them go.

I went home for spring break two weeks ago and looked at the new cute little male toad my boyfriend found and put with the others. I also noticed that my older male toad was skinny, lethargic and had odd looking sticky skin. My mum takes excellent care of my pets while I'm at college and I usually complain of them being too fat along with Eyes, my leopard gecko. I didn't know what was wrong with him and blamed mum at first because when questioned, she said she hadn't been removing the females so the male could eat. (Sometimes he has to be separated because the females are piggies!) She also said he looked fine the day before. I had to force feed him and soak him in warm water. He got better. I noticed a poop in the water bowl that was half white. Toad poop is always solid brown. I showed mum and suspected a fungus. This prompted me to clean the entire aquarium and sterilize everything. Over the days my older male went back and forth between looking healthy and being very sickly. Then my red female came down with it too. The morning I went back to college, my red female looked ok and my male looked awful. His back legs were spread out behind him, he was stiff and weak, his head was pointing up, his skin was shedding without him eating it and it didn't look right, he was very skinny, his eyes were sunken in, and he didn't move for hours. I knew he would die before the day ended, and I was right. Shortly afterwards, the new young male died of the same causes. He looked completely healthy when I left, aside from being in a branch in the same position for at least a day. While surfing the web the other day, I found information on Chitrid, the amphibian plague. I looked up the symptoms because I had never seen what my toads had before, and my male had every last symptom. I made my diagnosis and realized that my two females have to have it too. After all, my red one had been following the same cycle. I found multiple sources claiming that if you bathe them in 0.01% solution of itraconazole (an anti fungal), they have a chance of full recovery. Now the problem is finding it. I don't want to loose my other two toads. That would mean no more toads for me because you just can't find them anymore... because that new male introduced Chitrid to the others. I should have had him quarantined. Chitrid has probably killed most of the amphibians around here. I don't even hear frogs croak at night when I'm at home like I used to. This is very saddening... and silent.

Go to www.amphibianark.org to learn more! Sign the petition while you're at it!


UPDATE:
The red female was very sick, but my mum picked up the medicine and it seems to be working. They are in a new sterile environment. I will be looking for toads frequently and taking them in if I can find any, and treat them because I know they have Chitrid. Chitrid spreads 25 miles per year and it has obviously reached my area. I'm turning my home into a toad/frog sanctuary if I can afford enough itraconazole to cure them all. If I don't do something, there will be no amphibians left in my area, though it already looks that way anyway.

UPDATE 1:
It seems as if the red female, now called Ginger, is doing just fine. I am moving out tomorrow to go home and I will be able to see for my own eyes then. Butterball (the gray one) never contracted the disease although she would have had she not have been treated. Itraconazole works!