New Ornate Pacman Frog owner: my concerns/ questions

[agdevils30]

Recently just bought a Ornate Pacman Frog, its about 10months old. I know a good amount of information about it, but just had a few questions and concerns. At the pet store he was in a small 5 gallon tank with the coconut fiber substrate, a water dish, a rock, and had a nightlight bulb I believe 40watt(red). I wanted him to feel at home so I matched the habitat he was in almost exactly except I have a 10 gallon tank. I run the light 24/7 and it lights up about 60% of the tank. is this enough light? too much? the 2nd day I had him he seemed comfortable and ate 5 crickets. Only plan on feeding him night crawlers and crickets. is that okay? I mist the tank daily. any suggestions and helpful comments are much appreciated.

[Lija]

welcome to the forum! and congrats on getting a frog!

what is your temp and humidity? it should be adult size, what is his size? would you please post some pics or even better of you could post your answers to trouble in the enclosure questions it would be easier to advise you better.

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! First of all please read this article on their care: http://Pacman and Horned Frogs - Cer...e and Breeding . Red lights produce heat so you match their wattage to enclosures desired temperature. Also, there is an inverse relationship between bulb wattage and enclosure humidity; hence Lija's question about temperature & humidity.

Gut loaded (carrots and oatmeal) crickets and night crawlers are good diet. Remember to dust with CA/D3 2X and vitamins 1X weekly on different days with skip day in between. Dish water should be dechlorinated tap or bottled spring for both dish and when mixing with shredded coco substrate. Good luck !

[GrifTheGreat]

Answer these questions http://www.frogforum.net/pacman-frog...enclosure.html and repost your answers here in your thread.

[danfrog]

Should be pretty big if its 10 months old.

[agdevils30]

IT's pretty big, probably almost 2 inches wide and long. temp holds steady at 84, humidity 65%

[Lija]

2" is very small especially for ornate. 10m old should be adult size. it is either way younger then that or stunted. let's figure things out so you have a happy frog.

you need to lower temps for night to about 78F, and lift up up humidity - it should be between 70-80

[danfrog]

Yes either its still a juvenile or stunted. Got any pictures? Ornates are one of the largest pacman frogs. Please do the trouble in the enclosure questions

[agdevils30]

the place only fed him 2-3 crickets everyday(maybe that's why he is small). and I just measured him, he is 2 1/2 inches wide and long. how can I get my humidity up properly for him? also I purchased a moonlite bulb for night.

[agdevils30]

Picture of tank (tank setup). He's in the back left corner, very hard to see him near the rock

[Lija]

please answer "trouble" questions, otherwise it is just fixing little here and there, we gotta see the whole pic, there might be nothing but a few minor fixes needed, may be something more then that.
the only lamp you need is infrared for day/night heat, or you may opt to heat with heatmats on a side, but they never worked for me the way i needed.
humidity- limit air flow, hard to say without knowing more about your enclosure.

[Lija]

oh i see the tank now, you need to cover 3 sides of it with some sort of background, fish tank cling works excellent, or you can just paper, absolutely anything for outside, as long as it is not see through it will do.
the next step- you need to create some sorts of hides for him to make him feel safer, stick some plastic plant to the side so it will be close to the ground or out some cork or standing plant on a bottom ( fern type or similar), anything, but actual snake hides are not really useful.
for humidity, spray more, but you need to get humidity up not by much, chances are if you cover 3/4 of your screen top with plastic wrap, foil, plexi it will solve the problem.

[agdevils30]

my apologies, Im very new to this site. only concern I really have is temperature and humidity. 84 during day/ 78 night with just moonlite (25watt) bulb on to keep the enclosure from getting too cool.

[danfrog]

Your temp/humidity guage needs to be in the bottom middle about two inches above the substrate. No point in having up top since your frog will never be up there.

[danfrog]

Looks like you need to add some more substrate so your frog can burrow also.

[danfrog]

These are the questions we want you to answer.

 Trouble in the Enclosure

“Trouble in the Frog Enclosure”The following information will be very helpful if provided when requesting assistance with either your frog or enclosure. To help with your questions, please utilize the below list and post the information in the proper forum area to get advice from FF members that keep the same frog. This will allow for little confusion and a faster more informed response.

1. Size of enclosure
2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
3. Humidity
4. Temperature
5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
6. Materials used for substrate
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
8. Main food source
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
10. Lighting
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
12. When is the last time he/she ate
13. Have you found poop lately
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog
16. How long have you owned him/her
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
19. How often the frog is handled
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)

by Lynn(Flybyferns) and GrifTheGreat.

[agdevils30]

1. Size of enclosure- 10 gallons
2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
3. Humidity- 68%
4. Temperature- 83
5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish- purified water
6. Materials used for substrate - coconut fiber substrate
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv. - large water dish and good sized rock. matched completely to what he was in before.
8. Main food source- crickets, and night crawlers
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)- once a week calcium
10. Lighting- 40watt red nightlight bulb for day and a moon light bulb (25watt) for night.
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure- 40watt red nightlight bulb
12. When is the last time he/she ate - yesterday (5 crickets)
13. Have you found poop lately- no
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog- between 8-10months I believe
16. How long have you owned him/her - 3 days
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred - captive bred
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats - crickets/ night crawlers
19. How often the frog is handled - rarely
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area - my bedroom, so more low traffic then high
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc) - change water dish everyday, mist 3 times a day

[danfrog]

3. You can raise the humidity from what Lija said earlier.
4. That is a good day time temp, night time should read 77-78.
5. Purified water is no good. You need to get some water dechlorinator. Its real cheap.
6. Like I said he needs enough so he can completely bury himself.
7. Would add some fake plants.
9. Need to calcium dust twice a week. Go buy some vitamin dust also. They need vitamin dust once a week with atleast a day inbetween calcium and vitamin days.
10. Make sure that the frog has some sort of regular white light for a day cycle. They need twelve on twelve off. I would get rid of the moon bulb keep the red one and use a regular low watt energy saving bulb for day.
Those should maintain decent temps also. Might need to get a dimmer for the day bulb so you can fine tune the exact temp.

[agdevils30]

so are you saying to not use the red one for the day and use a white light low watt bulb for day and the red one for night?

[NialR35]

Yes, the infrared one should be used for night time since frogs cannot see it and will not disturb their night/day cycle yet will help you sustain temps around 78F during the night.

For the day time it is okay to use a 50W bulb, with a concentrated/tight beam so you can provide your frog a day cycle and temps of 82-83F.