New Pacman care-taker

[traildrifterphalanx]

Greetings,
I am new to the board and just submitted my introduction in the introduction section. I also want to apologize for what has now become a lengthy post.

I have a new baby pac-man frog after pining for one for months.
The first one I obtained from Petsmart, and even while "adopting" him, he was very unresponsive but I wanted to try regardless. Unfortunately, he did not make it past 2 days at home and passed away. I was devastated.

After calling around 8 different chain stores, I found one at a Petco about 30min away and picked him up.
His name is Hypnotoad, and appears to be in great health compared to the first. He is slightly larger than quarter size, is green, and has slight horns at the top of his eyes.

I have had him just over a week at this time. Brought home 3/26/17

• He is housed in a 10g tank, alone, with hood in a quiet bedroom for now.
• 15w red infrared bulb is in the hood, hood has placement for 2 25w bulbs.
• Substrate is moistened, but not soggy, eco earth, about 2"-3" deep
• He has 2 small "pools" made from shallow reptile food dishes, will upgrade
• He is with 4 small pothos plant clipping from my own pothos
• He has an angled log/hubba hut
• 2/4 walls are covered by a background
• Zilla mini UTH (4 watt) stuck to lower 1 side of enclosure near pothos clippings
• Enclosure is misted twice a day, will be obtaining a gauge today (4/4) to accurately monitor humidity

I did want to note upon arriving home I did keep him in a small 1 gallon hooded aquarium to not overwhelm him. He was upgraded to the 10 gallon 3/31/17.
I opted for the hooded aquarium as I thought this would help maintain humidity while being relatively easy to lift and work with to maintain the enclosure rather than a screened top. The hood is removable.

I use a laser temp gun to take temps. The general substrate temp is only 73 degrees throughout. This is when I "invested" in a mini UTH, stuck to the side in his main squatting spot, and the temp in that area now reaches about 83 degrees, but of course only in that area.

This morning, Hypnotoad was out and walking about unassisted for the first time, checking out his log, and then proceeding to take cover further inside when I misted the enclosure (not the frog directly.)
He hasn't been seen eating since I brought him home. He did take 2-3 poops in one of his pools about 4 days ago, but I figure this is from food prior to coming home as he hasn't touched anything I offer. I have been offering small dubia roaches (dusted) from my colony that he has refused. I have tried small superworms, dusted, to entice him. He refused.

I just wanted to confirm I am on the right track regarding his care. It sounds like he's beginning to overcome the relocation stress and I believe his crickets are slowly disappearing (will have to count when I get home. Yes, they were left in the enclosure, but I figured if I'm stressing him out he won't eat, so left him to eat while I'm away.)

I do have hang-ups regarding his temperature. Everything I read when planning to bring him home stated ambient room temperature would be fine (70's - 80's) but I am now seeing they should be at low 80's with a drop into the upper/mid 70's at night. My frog does not burrow, which to me is saying it's not warm enough in the enclosure. He maintains 73-74 degrees, and does have a warm spot that gets up to 83, but it's not large.

I opted for the hood for convenience to access the frog, maintain humidity, and keep in heat. He is not handled, but if I need to clean up, I did not want to have to remove lights, remove screen, etc, whereas with the hood, the lights are attached. I'm now concerned that the hood will need to be removed and replaced with a screen top to accommodate heating options. My ADF are in the same 10g tank with lid and maintain 78-80 degrees when lights are on and figured it would be the same with the pacman frog, but I do not run lights on him all day. If I were to swap his lights would that up his heat? I understand this would also be more drying, but I'm unsure if a lidded aquarium would maintain muggy heat better or not.

By all means, the health and well-being of the pet is by far more prioritized than my own convenience, but convenience is always a plus when keeping animals.

[traildrifterphalanx]

I did stop home on lunch and he seems to have burrowed himself in the back corner near the UTH, tucked with a pothos clipping. That seems to be good news

[traildrifterphalanx]

Not that I've gotten any feedback on this post, but I did purchase a hygrometer yesterday as well as a 25w incandescent bulb.

His humidity is at 80%, attached right above the substrate,
His temps are now 80 throughout the enclosure, and up to 86 closer to the UTH.

He burrowed himself yesterday as mentioned, and appears to be in ideal living conditions at this time. Lights go off at night, allowing for him to cool down, but UTH stays on to provide a warmer area if needed.

Now to get him to eat more.

[privet01]

Not that I've gotten any feedback on this post

I'm still wondering about that too.... maybe the website issue is still affecting others and they have not been able to contact the webmaster as I was able to do.

I have not seen but two or three of the normal active members post anything in almost a week..

[Adam Lane]

Indeed. This forum ate my account. When I attempt to login under my first account, it's "database error messages". Although I think I contacted the webmaster, the problem persists.
I established another one. If it eats this account, i'm probably not going to establish another.

[danfrog]

Heyo and welcome! If you could please fill out the trouble in the enclosure questions stickied at the top of the forums. That will give us a better idea of the Hyponotoads husbandry. But from reading the enclosure may too big for such a tiny frog. Would remove the UTH heater, the frogs burrow to cool off, and if its on the side it does little for warmth. I would go ahead and cover the third side. All water must be treated. The temp guns only measure the surface temp not the air temp, get and electronic temp/humidity gauge. And yes, your temps need to come up a bit. 82-84 day with 77-78ish at night. I bet the reason for not eating is stress. Give him a couple more days, and if he still doesnt eat try moving him to a smaller enclosure with three sides covered. Hope this helps!

Sent from my SM-G930P using Tapatalk

[monster]

Hi, if the hood has no way for ventilation yes you will have to change it for the screen top. Your humidity is good but you can let it drop to around 70-75%, I keep all mine at 75%. This way when you mist it doesn't shoot up past 80% for to long, if kept in anything over 80% for long periods of time it can lead to fungal or bacterial infections and even respiratory problems. If you find your losing a lot heat and humidity you can cover half or a little more of the screen top with foil or saran wrap to help keep it in. Your heat can come down in that warm end back down to around the 83f mark that you had and have the opposite side of the tank a few degrees cooler, this way he can thermal regulate his body temps. The highest the heat in the warm end should be is 85F, and from what I have read and seen a lot of people keep it around 82f to 84f. If that UTH is on the bottom you need to have a probe right against it under the substrate to know what the temp is, if its 86F above ground its going to be around 90f or more by the glass and this is way to warm. Something to remember is that these guys bury to cool off. Not saying to not use the UTH if this is the only way to get your temps right, its just something to consider if you can get away with not using it.. For night time what your doing is what you would want to do, you want the temps to drop a few degrees and this should trigger him to come out and eat. For the eating some are way more fussy then others so just keep trying, when are you feeding him? The best time to feed is at night an hour or so after the temps have dropped, and try to have as little light in the room as possible. If your tong feeding try rubbing it under his bottom lip, sometimes this will trigger them to eat. I think you already mentioned you covered some of the sides but if not covering 3 sides of the tank helps and if not already try to have his tank somewhere in the house that has low traffic, they get scared and stressed pretty easy.

[traildrifterphalanx]

Hey all, after lack of responses I kind of gave up on this forum, but after mentioning it to someone, here I am and see I got replies.

I am pleased to say Hyponotoad is doing great and growing. He has a new bigger pool that he loves, and likes to sit and just be a puddle of a frog.
Thank you for the eventual responses and I do understand the site may have been having issues at the time.

His heat is about 83 degrees at a constant and he burrows all the time, there are frog potholes everywhere that I smooth out during cleaning. His humidity hangs out near 70% and I'll mist the enclosure if it begins to drop.
I've only ever witnessed him eat once, but crickets disappear and he's getting fatter, so I know he's been fine.

I'll keep you all updated and maybe get more active on this board w/ photos.
Thank you

[alane]

how can you tell your pacman frog is happy? a happy pacman frog is a blobby contented frog burrowed into a moist hole for days on end not moving, just staring and absorbing water.

mine got up the other day. the media is getting old and has dried out somewhat. he doesn't like that. when they don't like it, they go on the move.

now he has fresh, particularly moist media. instant happiness. i can see my frog is ready to sit contentedly for, oh, maybe half a week.

i feed mine crickets, worms and pellets. Unfortunately, for the pellets, there's only one way I can get him to eat them. Rubbing his lip is not enough. I have to physically grab my poor frog in one hand. Only then, when there is no hope of escape, will he open his mouth to eat a pellet. I can spend half an hour rubbing a lip and it doesn't work. But if I grab him and rub his lip, he eats it momentarily.

It's fully just how hard they clamp down when they do bite. I've never been bitten, but once the frog clamps down on the pellet, the pellet is now a "frog handle".

I prefer to feed him live food, but live food is not always convenient.

Yes, 83F seems to be the ideal temperature for these critters.

[JawsofaFrog]

how can you tell your pacman frog is happy? a happy pacman frog is a blobby contented frog burrowed into a moist hole for days on end not moving, just staring and absorbing water.mine got up the other day. the media is getting old and has dried out somewhat. he doesn't like that. when they don't like it, they go on the move.now he has fresh, particularly moist media. instant happiness. i can see my frog is ready to sit contentedly for, oh, maybe half a week.i feed mine crickets, worms and pellets. Unfortunately, for the pellets, there's only one way I can get him to eat them. Rubbing his lip is not enough. I have to physically grab my poor frog in one hand. Only then, when there is no hope of escape, will he open his mouth to eat a pellet. I can spend half an hour rubbing a lip and it doesn't work. But if I grab him and rub his lip, he eats it momentarily.It's fully just how hard they clamp down when they do bite. I've never been bitten, but once the frog clamps down on the pellet, the pellet is now a "frog handle".I prefer to feed him live food, but live food is not always convenient.Yes, 83F seems to be the ideal temperature for these critters.

Honestly you should not have to force feed your frog. The feeding of the pellet is nothing you should force feed. I would just stick to what your frog likes to eat. I have one very shy eating Brazilian captive bred baby pacman and she/he only eats wax worms and crickets. I rub the earthworms on the lower jaw, but I don't force feed my frog. Holding your frog to eat a pellet causes a lot of stress.. Keep letting your frog what it prefers to eat.

[JawsofaFrog]

Hey all, after lack of responses I kind of gave up on this forum, but after mentioning it to someone, here I am and see I got replies.I am pleased to say Hyponotoad is doing great and growing. He has a new bigger pool that he loves, and likes to sit and just be a puddle of a frog.Thank you for the eventual responses and I do understand the site may have been having issues at the time.His heat is about 83 degrees at a constant and he burrows all the time, there are frog potholes everywhere that I smooth out during cleaning. His humidity hangs out near 70% and I'll mist the enclosure if it begins to drop.I've only ever witnessed him eat once, but crickets disappear and he's getting fatter, so I know he's been fine.I'll keep you all updated and maybe get more active on this board w/ photos.Thank you

That is great news! 83F is totally letting your frog digest and want to eat. At those temps my frogs have been pooping.