Hi, I'm new here and I'd like to know what kind of food should i be feeding my baby pacman frog. I just bought it today and I'm not 100% sure what exactly to get. I've heard some people say crickets, and some say chopped up worms (nightcrawlers). It's very young, he still has a little bit of a nub for his tail left. I REALLY don't want to mess up because I really enjoy pacman frogs. I have it in a 10 gallon tank with moist subsrate and a shallow filled water dish. I also have a heating pad on the opposite side of the water dish. That's all I have inside besides the frog. Any insight in what else I need to do would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
>pic related (my frog)
Update, he's swollen up a good bit and seems to be taking in deep breaths. I just recently put him in the tank.
Day 2
He seems content on the wetter side of the tank, opposite the heating pad side. As you can tell he's dug himself a nice little hole. I'll keep updates on him.
Crickets, earthworms, roaches and once a month you can feed a pinkie mouse when he is big enough. Remember babies need fed daily to every other day and require calcium + d3 to help them with their fast growing bones. Make sure the heat mat is on the wall, not bottom. I prefer to use a heat lamp as it raises the ambient air temperature in the terrarium
You also need a multivitamin to go with the calcium and D3. Don't put the matt on the bottom as stated above because they burrow to cool off, always on the side. And once on the side you always want to go up a size then what your tank is. Getting some heat producing bulb like a red bulb or the purple night ones is your easiest way to heat the tank. And you will want to hook the heat source up to a rheostat or dimmer to control the heat. Remember though with the over head heat from the lights it will dry out your tank faster so you will have to mist more or buy a fogger. IMO zoo med hygrotherm is a life saver, plug in your heat source and your fogger and you are worry free. For the feeding Jason has you covered just remember the feeders shouldn't be wider then the space between his eyes and no longer then half his body length, this is very important for babies. And if you can get some Canadian nightcrawlers that would be your best as a staple for his diet and then throw in crickets and roaches etc. The nightcrawlers are also really good for the babies because they are soft and very easy digest.
I just fed him 4 crickets. The lady at the local pet store said that her crickets are fed with calcium and that the calcium powder wasnt necessary. I'm planning on buying some of the multivitamin soon. I have a heating mat on the side (not inside), but its not on the very bottom of the side, I have it kinda in the middle above the coco substrate. Should i move it down? Also how well do i need to mist? Tonight I just misted enough to cover the whole tank once. I plan on re-filling his water bowl tomorrow. Anything else I need to worry about?
I appreciate the help, I really don't want to mess up! Thanks!
Also, i have him in about 2in of substrate, is that good for now? And what brand of multivitamin powder should I get?
The heat matt is ok where it is, I let mine sit about an inch above the substrate. And this way being a little higher up, as he grows and you have to add more cocofibre you don't have to take the matt off and reapply it higher. For the crickets yes you need calcium and D3 the lady at the store gave you wrong info, gutloading the crickets with calcium isn't going to be enough. You need to change his water daily even if he hasn't used it, and for the misting you want the humidity to be around 70-80%. For brands of vitamins Repashy makes good ones and so does Rep-cal.
Sorry to double post but I just wanted to clear up that you don't want to give the calcium and d3 on the same nights as the multivitamin, always on separate nights. I think maybe the way I put it before you may have thought to give it all at once so just wanted to correct that so im not giving you the wrong advice.
Heres a pic of my tank. The black thing on the right side is the heating mat. I'm gonna get an auto mister soon also. I live in southern Georgia, my county borders florida, so the humidity is pretty high already. How do i know that my substrate is too dry? I just put more water in because i felt like the substrate was sticking to his skin. When he was eating the crickets, i noticed he kept trying to brush it off and had a bit of it on his tongue and all over his body. I know it's ok that he might consume some, but i dont want it to bother his skin and his eating. Maybe I should feed him in a different tank? Should I invest in a lamp (what brand)? I'm sorry to bother you, but I wanna do the best I can. Thank you so much.
He's in the corner because he was hopping for the last cricket. He's not a very docile creature lol. His name is Farley after Chris Farley.
Hiya,
By the looks of the heat mat is too big for the tank you have, you want it to cover no more than half the wall. Remember heat mats MUST be used with a thermostat to prevent over heating and fire hazards. Also, a heat mats temperature should be monitored by a digital thermometer, with the probe on the heat mat. Whether or not you need a heat lamp depends on how warm you house is, I prefer to use them because I live in a cold climate and the ambient temperature of my house is low. You want to invest in a humidity gauge to monitor the humidity and keep it between 60-80%. Because it's a baby consider getting a silk hanging plant to trail down and offer the frog some security.
OK, the heat matt where it is fine you don't need to move it. it is ok if it covers abit more then half the tank in the back. I have mine like this and my frogs are healthy as champs and I have seen numerous other people with their matts setup the same way. leave it the way it is. You want your humidity around 70-80%, if you let it drop below 70% they tend to have a hard time shedding and when its to dry its not very comfortable for them. Try to keep it around 75%. To help keep the humidity up you can cover 2/3 of the screen top with foil or saran wrap. And yes you want to buy a digital hygrometer and a thermometer so you know the exact temp and humidity.
Last edited by monster; October 5th, 2015 at 09:08 AM.
Not really, it should be a third to a half of the wall so the animal can thermo-regulate, it should say this in the instruction manual. Just because the frogs are healthy doesn't say anything, I've seen these frogs house innapropriatly and do fine, they're hardy. No need to cover the screen top, especially with a heat mat. Humidity isn't such a concern with these frogs, they're from a place that will have dry seasons but ideally should kept moist to keep them active. With heat mats I mist 1-3 days and heat lamps every morning.
That is when the heat matt is placed on the bottom, my tank right now I just checked is 82 on the warm 80 in the middle and 78 on the cool so he has various temps to regulate his body. Yes they have a dry season butt it doesn't last all year so humidity is kind of concern, if its not high enough they don't shed properly and if its not humid enough it can also cause dehydration. And if the top is covered it will help trap heat in. And I checked with a infrared gun so temps are accurate.
Nope, I've used several mats and the all say no more than half the wall. As long as you give them a mist they won't go into estivation and if there's a water dish it can go in there if they need help. I don't see how that would help retain heat, heat mats do not heat the air
where are you getting it doesn't heat air? If you put your hand in my tank the air is pretty warm and the foil helps because as the heat is going up it is reflected back down into the tank. The first 1/2 in of My substrate is even warm till you go abit further down, and there is other people also that use heat matts on the side of the tank and not just with pacman frogs. And tons of people use the foil on the top to help maintain heat and humidty, and again not just pacman frog owners. TheCryingOrc there is several ways to heat and keep humidity up in your tank and it is going to be up to you which one works best for you. Hope you get it figured out and your frog stays healthy. Oh and my probe is not exactly against the wall where the matt is either it is placed right in the middle of the warm end. So if the air isnt heating up how is it that my basement is 72f and the middle and the warm end of the tank is 82F.
The mats iinstruction manual on how they work. They produce infrared that heats objects in the terrarium such as the frog, substrate or thermometer probe but not the air. People who usually cover the screen have animals like mantellas or darts that need a lot higher humidity than a pacman frog. I'll leave it at there because this isn't a debate, the member asking the question can decide on what advice to follow or buy a book by herpetologist. All the best
Under Tank Heaters (UTH)Under tank heaters can be used as a primary or secondary heat source for many tanks or habitats of reptiles that need temperate or tropical heating, ranging from Hermit crabs and spiders, to large snakes and monitors. Under tank heaters, or UTH, as they will be referred to here, are a flat heating element, inside a durable rubber casing. They are great for continuous use of twenty four hour, round the clock heating of reptile habitats. For this purpose, UTH can be found in several physical sizes and wattages. Sizes range from mini at about four watts, up to large at about twenty four watts. Length and width, often vary by brand name and company. The size and wattage of the UTH needed, is usually gauged in tank or habitat size. Mini, being for about a five gallon enclosure and large being for a fifty so sixty gallon enclosure. The size and wattage actually needed will also depend on the ambient air temperature required for optimal condition specifications for each reptile.
The actual purpose of a under tank heater is to heat the ambient air temperature of a habitat or enclosure, not to heat the actual animal like a basking light or a ceramic heat emitter does. Ideally, an animal should never come into direct contact with an UTH. There should be several inches of substrate or bedding, in between where the animal actually lays or walks, and the UTH, if the UTH is actually used UNDER the enclosure.
I copied this from a website called everything reptile.
Read this, I meant to mail it to you: http://www.pro-rep.co.uk/heating/heat-strips
So the 2 sites say 2 different things. Again I have my tanks like this for I don't know how long and I can guarantee you the air is heated not just the furnishings, actually if you touch the plants they actually feel cooler then touch then the actual air so I don't what to say. Again the op is going to choose what ever works best for him and what works for his frog.
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