I'm scared to force feed my pac man frog

[LIZZIE82]

I don't know what to do.... My sister, who is a reptile breeder and has a lot of experience with amphibians as well.... Gave me her pac man frog about 2 months ago. He's over a year old. He's about the size of a golf ball. He's also albino if that means anything. Anyways, that is his background. When I first got him he was fine and ate just fine. I don't think he's been eating for a couple of weeks now. I have brought his temp up in his viv and noticed that he perked up a little bit. I noticed within the last week that he's not looking so good. I had to change his substrate because I didn't like the the moss I had in there and I haven't changed it since I got him. When I was cleaning it I noticed how much he has NOT been eating. The crickets and roaches had all burrowed when I thought that he was eating some of them. I soaked him in some warm water and I know he needs to eat. I'm scared to force feed him. He's generally got a bad attitude and I'm pretty sure he hates me as it is. There isn't much of herp vets in my area. I took my red eyes to one and generally he tends to think they are goners by the time they get to him. I do have some leftover baytril that I can give but I don't think there is an infection or parasite. I really think it's stress. He needs to eat to overcome this. So, please, someone help and tell me what to do! Or, if you live in Nebraska...come over and do it for me!!!

[dsmalex97]

Well, the fact that you haven't changed the substrate in that long is no bueno...

You should be changing the substrate every month to every other month at the most. You need to give us more information. What are the temps of his enclosure? If it's too hot, or too cold you could be running into problems. Buy a thermometer and hygrometer. You need to verify that all your conditions are correct. 78-83 degree's, and humidity should be up around 70%. I have never had to fore feed, but I have watched a lot of video's on it. It seems pretty easy. If I did it I would back the frog up into the corner of the enclosure, take a credit card, slide it very gently on the side of his mouth and give a small push. His jaw should crack open. Have an earth worm ready and, when he opens put the worm in. Just make sure to be very gentle and not press hard. It shouldn't take much.

Your frog definitely sounds too small. At a year old it should be the size of a softball or so. If he hasn't been eating for that long there could be some kind of issue inside, especially if the conditions haven't been clean. When you feed you should also make sure to watch and see what happens. If you keep it on moss, then that's even MORE of a reason to be VERY observant when you feed. Moss is a tough substrate to digest, and can impact their digestive tract. This could very well be what your problem is right now. I'm not tring to frighten you, but make sure your temp/humidity is perfect. Force feed it some earthworms and give it sometime. If the frog still looks weird bring it to the vet asap. Get it on coco fiber, or maybe even wet paper towel to ensure that your not impacting the frog even more. Again, I don't know this for sure at all because I'm not there, but even coco fiber could cause issues. I'm just trying to come up with a sureshot way of preventing it from happening any more if that is your issue ya know? Please give us more information on your setup, take pictures, do you what you gotta do so we can help you with this better.

[LIZZIE82]

I have spot cleaned for sure. The temps are well within the range and I have recently gotten them a little higher. It runs between 75-80 during the day and drops to maybe 70 at night. I have a side heater. I use coco fiber on the bottom and cover with some moss to help with the humidity. I AM struggling with humidity in all of my vivs now that I have my heater kicking on. I have two humidifiers going in the house, cover half the screen with saran wrap but I can't get it much higher than 60 consistantly. I do have a hygometer as well as thermostat in there. I don't think he's impacted. I know he seems small. My sister thinks he's got failure to thrive and maybe was just doing really well where he was familiar with her.... then, I come along and turn his little world upside down. I feel terrible. Also, I see people say to feed earthworms.... Where do I get those? Like, from the convenience store for bait?? Should I gave him the whole one, cut it up? I feel sooo bad. I don't want to hurt him or make things worse. Right now, he's still pouting and soaking in his dish.

[LIZZIE82]

To be clear, I have spot cleaned the viv in the last 2 months that I have had him.... I just haven't purged it all in the two months that I have had him..... Mainly, I didn't want to stress him and make him throw his lovely tantrums like he did when I got him a bigger, shallower dish. I'm really trying my best with the little guy.

[Capojames]

Has it ever ate? Try to get the heat up to 85

[Sublime]

To add to dsm's post: Dust the food with calcium with d3 and a multivitamin (1:1 ratio). Start from the bottom to the top to see where the problem is. Disinfect tank, change out substrate, and add plants or other hides back into the enclosure. Don't use moss anymore - coconut fiber already holds in moisture really well.

The earthworms (Night crawlers or red wigglers) can be found at: Sporting goods section of Walmart or other Sports Department stores, petco/petsmart, and reptile shops. Just make sure if you buy from Walmart or another non-related pet store, that the worms don't have additives on them.

Glass, plexiglass, or a damp towel works well. Try covering more of an area on your screen lid and leaving 1/4 of it open for airflow where the light fixture is. Dropping to 70 at night isn't horrible, but that is on the low side and need to bring his appetite back up with the heat.

Just let him soak in a shallow-warm tote box or other tank while you're cleaning his main one out for like 20-30 minutes.