How can I get my pacman used to being picked up?

[Ebenezer Frothingham]

I'd like to be able to pick up and Pacman and handle him/her- I thought they were too skittish for that, but i've seen a number of photos pf pacman owners holding their pacmans, or letting them walk on thier arm. I've never held my pacman-what is the best way to get him used to being handled and not feel threatened? Or...should I leave my pacman be?

[BG]

You can work on him slowly. Don't stress himout where he won't eat on ya.

[Sublime]

Frogs are not social, companion deprived animals. They don't benefit from being handled, some people say that after handling their frogs after awhile they develop their own individual personalities as a sense of liking for their owner. Young ones are generally don't do well handled, as they are usually skittish like you said or nervous of their new owner. As they become accustom to your care, your frog should settle in to being handled more frequently. As they get older, they will be a lot easier to handle for you than your young one as most of the time they will mellow out or get 'used' to you. Only advice I can give you for trying to handle your frog is don't make fast movements, bring one hand down slowly and the other scoop gently or pick up into that hand. Have them over something soft in case they jump off your hand so they don't injure their self. Nothin' much to it, just put him back if he gets stressed as George mentioned and leave him be.

[bshmerlie]

I am a firm believer that frogs are look but don't touch pets. I don't even like it when I hear that people remove their frog everyday and feed them in a separate container. All of these things add unneeded stress on the frog. From sheer stress alone frogs have been known to stop eating or from continued daily stress it weakens their immune system making them more susceptible to illness. Why risk it? My opinion...leave them be.

[Ebenezer Frothingham]

I am a firm believer that frogs are look but don't touch pets. I don't even like it when I hear that people remove their frog everyday and feed them in a separate container. All of these things add unneeded stress on the frog. From sheer stress alone frogs have been known to stop eating or from continued daily stress it weakens their immune system making them more susceptible to illness. Why risk it? My opinion...leave them be.

You make very good points. My frog looks comfy half buried in the substrait, and I suspect from his/her perspective, some giant creature picking him up would cause stress.

Some animals don't like to be touched-plus some have sensitive skin, and salts and oils (plus soap) on human skin might hurt them. I doubt my goldfish would enjoy being picked up either..

i think to play it safe I will NOT handle my Pacman

[John]

I agree completely with Cheri. Having said that, there are very rare examples of the frog not minding. I had a female Gray Tree Frog who would consistently jump on to me as soon as I opened to terrarium to feed her. She knew where the food came from and wasn't prepared to wait for it, really. Only example of this behavior that I've ever seen.

[Sublime]

I am a firm believer that frogs are look but don't touch pets. I don't even like it when I hear that people remove their frog everyday and feed them in a separate container. All of these things add unneeded stress on the frog. From sheer stress alone frogs have been known to stop eating or from continued daily stress it weakens their immune system making them more susceptible to illness. Why risk it? My opinion...leave them be.

Well I see where you are coming from, but I barely handle my frogs at all. Only if he is in his water bowl will I take him out so I can change it, or when it is feeding time I set him into a separate bin to feed which is every 2 days. If owners are having a hard time getting a consistent feeding, then why not let them try out the separate bin. If I would of saw my frog stressed out and just stopped eating as soon as I placed him in there, I would of known that it wasn't going to work and would of just had to stick to feeding him in his tank. With my pixie, obviously you already know this, but they are ambush predators and my pixie literally won't even barely hop for his food anymore. He'll stay in one corner of the sterilite bin while I tong feed him night crawlers and shove crickets his way. That's very hard to do in a tank that has plants, etc. I just want him to grow big and strong with plenty of food where I feel he is content, he has no signs of being lethargic or ill. Maybe this is the case with other frogs, but I'm a strong believer in a separate feeding bin with these guys to be honest.

[BG]

I have four wtf living togetherand only one is getting fat. He eats all the food. Know I take all of them out and feed them in another container. They are fine not stressed at all. But that's wtf again. The pacman can get stressed out by deling with them too much. Again they are not puppies.

[bshmerlie]

If owners are having a hard time getting a consistent feeding, then why not let them try out the separate bin.

I'm not meaning this to be a hard fast rule believe it or not. If you are having difficulty getting your frog to eat then I think someone should try anything and everything to get the frog to eat. But taking the frog out at every feeding will cause undue stress and over time will have a toll. I had two pacman frogs that were giving me trouble with feeding at various times. I tried removing them to feed them in a separate container and they would panic to the point of exhaustion. If, on the other hand, the frog sees this as a daily routine and doesn't seem upset by the transfer and its working for you then by all means continue. But to do this simply because you like to interact with your frog...I just don't think its beneficial to the frog. This is just my opinion. Although I do think we have strayed from the original question. How do you get your pacman to get used to being picked up? You don't...or rather you shouldn't.

[Heatheranne]

Yep, I agree. Unless your frog is used to a certain routine as for feeding or other needed purpose, as little handling as possible means less stress for them and a happier, healthier frog. They are domesticated animals and don't look for affection. But that doesn't mean that they might get a bit used to us either. My big RETF now sits right on her front branches and looks right out the tank when she's hungry, lol! It's super cute. So, some may learn to tolerate us. But, can you imagine a big scary thing 100+ X's our size reaching into our homes to pick us up, ha ha! They have an inherent instinct of fear to larger animals because they often are prey.

Oh yeah...George, my "pone" does that too, lol! And my typing with a thumb probably doesn't help either, ha ha!

[BG]

You also have to keep in mind my thumb was half eaten just the other day.lol Its hard to type.

Yep, I agree. Unless your frog is used to a certain routine as for feeding or other needed purpose, as little handling as possible means less stress for them and a happier, healthier frog. They are domesticated animals and don't look for affection. But that doesn't mean that they might get a bit used to us either. My big RETF now sits right on her front branches and looks right out the tank when she's hungry, lol! It's super cute. So, some may learn to tolerate us. But, can you imagine a big scary thing 100+ X's our size reaching into our homes to pick us up, ha ha! They have an inherent instinct of fear to larger animals because they often are prey.

Oh yeah...George, my "pone" does that too, lol! And my typing with a thumb probably doesn't help either, ha ha!

[Sublime]

You also have to keep in mind my thumb was half eaten just the other day.lol Its hard to type.

George it's all good, 5 more frogs for you is worth getting a prosthetic hand right? I mean eventually they'll get all your fingers sooner or later lol.

[Heatheranne]

Oops, that was suppose to say they are NOT domesticated animals.

[Heatheranne]

Ha ha! Good point . Well, no excuses on my end except I'm a poor typist from my phone with my thumb, lol!

[Heatheranne]

Lol!!!!!!!!