Hi there
I am new to the forum, but I have read a few good tips from here beforehand. I am very new in caring for a pacman frog (received him as a Christmas present), so he's been in my care for about a month now. He is about a few months old, and I have been feeding him fish and earthworms, dusted with calcium. As I read from many sites, crickets should be the staple diet, so I would like to introduce cricket. I gave him two crickets yesterday, he ate them, however he seemed to have a hard time digesting - he shut his eyes tightly and the sides of his body curved inwards, like he was in pain. Is this normal? Should I break the pointy tails of the crickets before feeding them to him?
He spat the first one out, and ate it again a few seconds after...then we had to use tong to feed him the second one as he wouldn't catch the other one himself though we placed the cricket right in front of him.
Would anyone be able to let me know?
Many thanks.
Earth worms are a good staple for Pacmans. Crickets are the more common staple food. Him shutting his eyes tightly and squeezing his sides in(which looks like he rolls his belly) is normal. They do this to force the food into their gut. How big is your Pacman. For small ones 1 inch to 2 inches should be fed crickets that are not larger than the distance between your frogs eyes. Break the hind legs off the crickets to make them easier to catch. Tong feeding is a good idea to do all the time. Helps prevent your frog from ingesting the substrate when they miss a food item.
Nothing to worry about. They press theire eyes down onto their head using the eye mustles to help force the food down their throat. Pressing his sides in and doing the belly roll is normal as well.
Welcome to the forum.
Post some pics of your Pac. We love Pictures.
Many thanks, that explains it. I am glad it is a normal behaviour, and not cause I didn't break the sharp end of the crickets (sigh of relief). Pedro (my pacman) is about 6.5 cm long, approx. 2.6 inches - the crickets were small, I didn't buy the big ones as I read many care sheets for pacmans (almost everyday), that the size of foods shouldn't be bigger than half of the size of the pacmans - plus I think it would pain me to see him trying to swallow something so big (like many videos posted online).
Would nightcrawlers be good for him at this stage? I am trying to give various foods for him to eat.
Will definitely post some pictures of him, he is hiding at the moment.
Thanks again
For smaller frogs the crickets should be no larger than distance between frogs eyes. Reason for that is that the crickets head is pretty much indigestible and could impact a smaller frog. Think could take the smaller night crawlers or you can cut them in 3 in. pieces for Pedro. My 3 in. C. cranwelli can eat 2 of the large night crawlers and 3-4 crickets in one meal.
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
He definetly eat night crawlers as long as you cut them into appropriate sizes. I would cut them into about 1.5 inch pieces and offer them with tongs so that the substrate doesn't stick to the worm and your frog ingest it. As long as you are using Eco Earth Coconut Fiber substrate it won't harm your frog to eat a little of it because coco fiber is easy for them to pass. You can also occationaly offer him Wax worms, but very sparingly because they are very high in fat and have almost no nutrition. Think of them as junk food. One or two every week and a half to 2 weeks is fine for wax worms.
As Carlos said the cricket heads can't be digested because the exoskeleton is much to think. So until your frog reaces adulthood he won't be able to eat large crickets. He should be able to eat medium crickets now, but onlt ones that are about 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch just not too many.
i didn't know that about the cricket heads! thanks grif!
Thank you all for the answers and added information
You're welcome.
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