My Pacman won't accept food from tongs or plastic tweezers

[Ebenezer Frothingham]

My Pacman has a good appetite, but he has yet to accept anything held in tongs/plastic tweezers. He/she will only eat bugs that walk by on their own- This has proved trickey when feeding him/her occasional superworms, as they immediatly dig into the substrate if not eaten at once, and are not easy to dig up. He's eaten them before, and i know my frog really likes superworms. I'm not sure if frogs can be trained- but if so, how can I train mine to accept food from tongs? My frog also seems frightened of me, as when I open the tank lid to feed him/her, he immediatly burrows. i hope at the very least my frog can learn to associate me with food. Any suggstions? My frog will sometomes eat food dropped right in front of him/her, but food held in tongs in front of his/her face is always ignored. Any suggestions on how to get my frog to accept food from tongs?

[Poly]

My toad acts very similar to your pacman, but it's not afraid of me which I guess helps.

What I normally do, is pick up my toad (out of it's terrarium), set it on the floor, (yeah, the floor) and put a food item in front of it, the second it moves, the toad strikes and eats it.

I've tried feeding it with tongs/plastic tweezers, etc. but it just isn't interested, by putting it on the floor, it's gets "exercise" as it occasionally hops around, and it's food can't escape anywhere, also, you may find it helps if you get a large flat rock, and put it in the terrarium, then drop insects on top of the rock when the frog is near/looking, they can't borrow anywhere, and the frog can strike them eaiser on a hard surface, I use that method when feeding my toad grubs.

Hope it works for you!

[Sublime]

I had a problem with superworms as well, I had to soak my frog in a warm water bath while I dug out all the coco fiber to find this superworm that was still alive in his dirt. I was nervous that the superworm would bite him so I had to take it out. As far as feeding superworms, you can crush the head on them so they can't burrow with your tongs and then place it in the dirt right in front of him. They will still squirm somewhat. My frog didn't accept food off the tongs either, it took him about 3 weeks to try it. I would suggest just keep offering food in front of his face with the tongs, if he doesn't do it that day then try another day and just drop it in front of him. If placed correctly and not to quick in front of his face, he might try it. Just keep trying, mine only accepts food off the tongs right in the beginning when I first offer him night crawlers and then crickets. Once he's done eating the night crawlers off the tongs, he doesn't do anything else off the tongs and then I just drop the rest of the food in. Hopefully this helps with some of your concerns.

[Wormwood]

A small glazed ceramic dish (found at most pet stores) with a high enough wall works well to. Meal worms and super worms are unable to get out of them since their bodies don't bend the right way, not to mention the sides being pretty slick and smooth. Sooner or later your pac man will become used to feeding out of this dish and might even wait by it if he's hungry.

[GrifTheGreat]

You mentioned that you think your Pac is scared of you. Your frog will not take food from tongs if he/she isn't used to you yet. Your frog must be used to you and not afraid if you want it to take food from tongs. They can be trained to feed from them. Once they realize that they can easily get food from tongs they will feed from them. I would get your Pac used to you first then try to train it to eat from tongs. If your frog won't even eat in front of you then there probably is no need to try and train him/her yet.

[Eel Noob]

My brown cranwelli is a stubborn one as well. I have had no problems getting young frogs to eat from tong but this one won't budge no matter what I try. Going to give it another try within a few weeks and see what happens.

[Ebenezer Frothingham]

You mentioned that you think your Pac is scared of you. Your frog will not take food from tongs if he/she isn't used to you yet. Your frog must be used to you and not afraid if you want it to take food from tongs. They can be trained to feed from them. Once they realize that they can easily get food from tongs they will feed from them. I would get your Pac used to you first then try to train it to eat from tongs. If your frog won't even eat in front of you then there probably is no need to try and train him/her yet.

Well, my frog tank is on my desk right now, and my frog has been starring at me for hours, so hopefully he'll get used to me. i'm beginning to think he has bad experinces with humans at Petco, hence his being afraid.