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Thread: Baby Pacman Questions

  1. #1
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    Default Baby Pacman Questions

    Hello!

    So I'm unsure if I'm just overthinking but I wanted to get some feedback on my current situation. I bought a baby Pacman frog on Saturday! He's super cute and small (a little bit bigger than a quarter). I did as much research as I could but I'm such a noob with a lot of questions as I'm new to the whole frog-mom life LOL.

    Since Saturday, I've tried tong-feeding him small crickets every day but he just turned away and showed no interest at all.

    On Sunday, I saw him chilling in his water dish and tried tong-feeding him crickets. He didn't take it and then started to try and hop out of the dish, but he was struggling so much that I thought it was too big for him. I replaced it with a smaller dish.

    I got worried because I read that baby Pacman frogs should be eating every day. I thought maybe his enclosure (a 10 gallon tank) was too big and was stressing him out.

    After reading this forum (recently), I realize I probably should've waited a few more days before making adjustments but on Monday I moved this big log hide to cut the tank to half its size. I then put a plant in to give him more coverage to make his tank feel smaller. On Tuesday, I walked into a pet-store to ask a few questions and the pet-store employee told me that the old water dish was perfectly fine and I should just go back to it. He also told me to separate Oscar and feed him a small minnow. That night, I put him in a separate enclosure (a critter keeper) and put a minnow in it so he can eat it and while he was in there, I put his old water dish back. When I checked on him, it seriously looked like Oscar couldn't care less about eating! And the fish was dying. So I picked it up with my feeding tongs and let it touch his mouth. He finally ate! Quickly too! I decided not to mess with him on Wednesday to let him settle again and veg out.

    Today (Thursday), I tried tong-feeding him a chopped up nightcrawler (in his terrarium) dusted with calcium and D3 (yes it was slimy AF LOL, never again). He's super clumsy so every time he opened his mouth he got a little bit of the substrate (eco-earth coconut fiber) in his mouth. He finally got it but then spit it out. Since it worked the other day, I put him in his critter keeper and tried tong-feeding him the nightcrawler pieces (not dusted) there. He looked pretty annoyed and turned away every time I tried to put the piece by his mouth.

    I definitely feel like I should've waited a few days to let him settle before making adjustments, but I was just really worried about him not eating every day and I was trying to get everything perfect. He spends all day just standing in the same exact spot! Not burrowing or anything, just straight chillin. I wish I could read his mind and know exactly what he wants from me D:

    Sorry that this post is so long, but I just wanted to be thorough about the situation. His temps are low 80s during the day, and high 70s at night. It's just a bit warmer in my room because I don't have A/C. The hygrometer reads 86% but I just feel like it's not accurate (seems a little unrealistic) so I just mist every morning and evening.

    I made so many mistakes already :/ So before I try anything else, I joined his forum for some feedback. Is the set-up weird? Should I continue to try feeding him in a separate enclosure? But then I feel bad about messing with him every day, so should it be every other day? Or should I continue tong-feeding him every day in his terrarium even though he always gets substrate in his mouth? How long is too long for a baby Pacman to not eat? The fact that he's only had a small minnow since Saturday kinda bothers me

    Video is when I first got him (please excuse my annoying voice LOL) and pictures are the current situation.

    Pictures: https://imgur.com/a/EJ65iYR

    Any feedback would be much appreciated!

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  3. #2
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    Default Re: Baby Pacman Questions

    From the video, he looks very skinny, maybe it’s just a refraction from the water but he should be very round in the mid section. If he ate a fish the day before there is a good chance he is somewhat full. Might also get scared when being moved to a feeding enclosure or frustrated from missing the food several times before. A couple of mine will take food a second after being handled, one might even eat when being held, never tried, but the other two need a while to calm down. Sometimes they have difficulty catching their food, I’ve gotten good at popping the food in the mouth of the one that doesn’t do well on taking a second strike, he will will open he mouth just a little several times after missing, so I can slip it in if I’m super fast and prepped just right. On another I’ve just learned how to hold the food to maximize its ability to get ahold. Another response technique that works for me is dragging the food over top of their front foot.

  4. #3
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    Default Re: Baby Pacman Questions

    Hi there!

    Congrats on your new baby! He/she is such a cutie!

    First of all, I want to tell you that you're doing great. I'm sure we've all felt nervous when we first brought ours home. I know I did! I watched him like a hawk for the first month, & only laid off a LITTLE since then.

    You were very smart by cutting the tank in half with the log, making your frog make you feel more secure in a smaller space. My other suggestion to that would be covering up all sides of the enclosure except one, that way he feels even more secure. When I say "covering up", I mean placing a sheet of construction paper or something similar on the outside of the glass so that he cannot see out of it. This will help him not stress out as much about the activity in the room.
    People have their personal preferences about a separate enclosure. Some feed on paper towels, & others prefer to leave them in their enclosure to reduce stress of handling. Personally, I feel like moving to a separate enclosure is mainly for people who feed crickets, because the frog will chase the cricket down & may get a mouthful of substrate instead. With the worms, he will probably get a little bit of substrate, but nothing like what he would if he was actually hunting. A little Eco Earth here & there isn't going to harm them, but like with ANY substrate, just keep an eye out for impaction, (making sure your frog poops & doesn't have any hard lumps on its side).

    I was going to suggest checking your temperatures, but I see that you have got that down! Even with mine being 5 months old, if my temperature on the warm side isn't 80F, he won't touch his food. The moment it heats up, he's devouring everything. As for the humidity, I try to pay less attention to the actual reading & more attention to how the substrate feels. With the heat mat, it dries out the top layer of substrate terribly, & I find myself having a feel of the rest of the deeper substrate to make sure that it still "packs". (You don't want it dripping wet, but you want it to pack up like you were making a snowball.) When you're misting, are you misting the hygrometer? I know it's hard not to, but just try to avoid that if you haven't already, as you'll get a much more accurate reading!

    As for him sitting in the same spot, welcome to owning a pet rock! Sometimes, you'll even have pet dirt with eyes! It's completely normal for them to stay in one spot for days. (I even have to move mine sometimes to make sure he has pooped.)

    You seem to be doing great with his care! Perhaps he is one of those frogs who needs a little more time to settle in, or he's just not hungry. Trust me, if your temps are correct, & he's not stressed in his enclosure, you'll know when he's hungry! I would keep offering him food once in the late evening, & if he doesn't take it, simply wait until the next. I would suggest sticking with the nightcrawlers, since you won't have to move him out of his enclosure when you're not even sure that he's going to eat them right now. Also, as stated before, they are very good with being digested.

    I truly hope you don't get too stressed out by this, as a lot of us have been through it when getting our frogs! Just give it some time & I'm sure he'll come around. Keep offering the food, wait until he tells you "no", then let that be that for the evening. Perhaps more experienced people will come along telling you how long to wait, but as long as he's not falling limp in your hand or losing weight, I wouldn't be too concerned. If worse comes to worse, there are things you can do to force him to get something in his system, but that's the last resort, & we will cross that bridge when it's time.

    I'm sure he'll come around for you! Please keep us updated. Good luck!

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    Default Re: Baby Pacman Questions

    Thanks for your reply! Oscar's pretty round! But definitely not as round as I feel like he could be. I actually spent a good while looking up pictures of baby pacman frogs and holding them above him so I can size him up LOL!

    I'll try waiting a bit for him to calm down if I move him and dragging the food along his feet instead of from above. Thanks again!

  6. #5
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    Default Re: Baby Pacman Questions

    Thanks for your reply! It definitely alleviated some of my anxiety hahaha. I think I definitely keep getting some on the hygrometer because it's placed in the back and I mist from the front because I'm like there's no way that it's this high half the time.

    I'll definitely keep an eye on him and try my best to feed him every night! Thanks again for sharing your story and your advice. Will keep y'all updated!

  7. #6
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    Default Re: Baby Pacman Questions

    You are very welcome!

    How is the little guy doing?

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    Default Re: Baby Pacman Questions

    Hey Heather!

    Thanks for checking in! He's doing SO much better! It definitely took a few trips to the pet store to get help feeding him though! I was getting nervous because he's not as big as he should be. The pet store employee also pointed out that it looks like he may have an over-bite? And his right arm is a little lazy. Sometimes when he hops, he'll fall to his side D: So I've been dusting all his meals with Calcium & D3, hoping his bones will grow out stronger and changing his water more often (even though I've never seen him in there) He doesn't like to eat every day, but he'll eat till he's full every other day (2 medium crickets). I'm trying to get him to eat night crawlers but have had no luck. When it finally got in his mouth, he literally spit it out right after LOL! Finding poop in his substrate is also a mission because it just blends right in there, but so far he's pooping every few days!

    Here are some pictures!
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    He looks slim right after he poops and when he eats, he rounds out really well! Just wish the weight would stay on D:

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