Mysterious pacman death...

[Sublime]

First off, I just wanted to say sorry about your loss. Hopefully we all find the true cause of his death and you'll pick back up right where you left off with more knowledge. How old was mandarin when he attempted to aestivate (Hibernate)? A general rule of thumb is to never let a pacman attempt to aestivate before they're about a year old. Reason being is young frogs need a regular basis for feedings as their growth develops rapidly in the first year. Sexually mature frogs are able to conserve energy focused on living off fat reserves and water than frogs that are still fairly young. Sounds like malnutrition played the biggest part in leading to his death.

If a pacman hasn't eaten for two weeks isn't provoked to feed - you need to force feed a mouse or several night crawlers supplemented. The white fluid that was released into the water I'm assuming was just a release of bodily fluids that is common when a living human or animal dies.

These are common questions we ask everyone before diving more in depth (Don't take offensively): Did you treat the water you were spraying the tank or pouring in his water dish? Did you supplement regularly? Was he exposed to a lot of human activity? Did you handle him a lot?

[Capojames]

Sorry for ur lost. Was ue frog wild caught or captive breed?

[MonsterPyxie]

Did you treat the water you were spraying the tank or pouring in his water dish?

This is the first thing that came to my mind.


Hopefully it was just a fluke. Sorry.

[Jimifrog]

Another thing could be that bulb. Those red bulbs get extremely hot. They can dry out a ten gallon tank very quickly.

I am sorry your pac died.

[GrifTheGreat]

I am so sorry for you loss. It is always hard to lose a beloved pet. I am glad to hear that you are looking into this before getting another pacman. We just want to see healthy pacmans here.

That being said, it is hard to diagnose what happened without pictures and many details. As Sublime mentioned, toxing out due to not using de-chlorinated water is probably the most common cause of death that we see here. What age was your frog? If he was too young and attempted to aestivate without proper fat stores that can be fatal. For an adult frog who just had a big meal, going two weeks without eating is fine, but for a younger frog it is too much. The inability to move his right side may have been due to a neurological problem. Did you happen to notice if his pupils were responsive to the light at the time? What wattage was the light? You should never go over 50 watts. A lot of things can trigger a loss of appetite in pacmans. While they are very easy to care for overall, they can get stressed out easily and if they do they often respond by not eating. When this happens they simply waste away. Too much light, noise, handling, or a draft from a window or air vent are all possible problems. Again, I am very sorry for your loss. Please don't hesitate to ask any questions. We are all here to help.

[IvoryReptiles]

From what you have described so far, I am thinking one of two things :
Toxed out due to water not being de-chlorinated
Toxed Out from being over supplemented

It could also be from Chytrid Fungus......it would take a necropsy to know for sure.

Sorry for the loss.

[GrifTheGreat]

Chyrid fungus as Jessica mentioned is a good possibility. The fungus attacks the frogs skin and causes the skin muscles to tighten and no longer allows the frog to obsorb water through its skin. This causes dehydration and death. As it also attacks the frog when it is weak once the actual signs show up it is nearly too late. The way he was trying to get water makes me suspect that it could have very well been chytrid that may have played a serious role in Manderin's passing. Again I am sorry. Jessica is right though. Your frog would have to be tested for the fungus. I hope you meet with more success this next time around.

[mandarin]

Thank you all for your help so far. Here are some answers to your questions:

I dusted Mandarin's food every other time he ate his meals. I also used water conditioner to dechlorinate the water that I both sprayed in the tank and poured into his water dish (I'm very conscious about things like that). I misted his tank every day and gave him fresh water and made sure that the humidity was at 80% every day. The bulb I used was 40watts. I had Mandarin for a little over a year and a half, I'm not sure how old he was when I purchased him but he was about the size of a silver dollar. As for if he was CB or not, I'm honestly not sure and hadn't even thought to ask when I purchased him - I bought Mandarin from a local small reptile store. Oh and I didn't handle him more than once a month to change his bedding, he was really temperamental haha.

Is there any way I could have recognized the fungus prior to this happening?

Thank you all so much. I'm really trying to learn as much as I possibly can about these great frogs and hopefully prevent anything like this from happening again.