Adopted Albino Pacman Frog Help

[Lija]

so glad this frog went to someone who cares! I exchanged a few emails with his previous owner, he knows nothing about frogs and pacmans in particular so I'm pretty sure you saved the frog. by the way it was eating adult mice every week with occasional gold fish.

welcome to the forum!

so... we have 3 people from Calgary including me here as of now! that's exciting!

[Pruvmerong]

Thanks for all the info. I'm bored so I thought I'd post an update on my frog to see if she's okay. I fed her a mouse last week and and it was quite entertaining to watch. She failed miserably and got a mouth full of dirt on her first dash. I know that's bad so hopefully she's not impacted. She basically hopped right over to the water dish and cleaned her face off and maybe tried to spit out dirt. She sat there for a bit and the mouse came near - she noticed something move and instantaneously rotated to that general direction. The mouse stepped in the water and BAM! Grabs the mouses torso and brings it into the water. She then sat there drowning the mouse until it no longer twitched and she just swallowed it. Now she is so fat! She found a nice comfy spot between the two plants I have in there and burrowed half way in. She hasn't moved once (As far as I know. Unless she gets up and goes back to exactly where she was) . I figured that is normal from after having a big meal. Maybe she just needs some relaxation to digest the food.

I have that Flukers 5.5 clamp with a dimmer switch on top of the tank. I keep it on as bright as it can go (It's 50 watts and infrared) 24/7. I find it difficult keeping the frogs temp around 80 degrees otherwise. It's kinda cold here in Calgary right now and I keep my house at around 73 during the day and 70 at night. Which brings the enclosure temp down to 76 at night. Would this be related to why the frog doesn't move? Just curious.

I'm kinda curious how long it should take her to digest an adult mouse? Also how long should I wait from disturbing her awhile she digests?

I don't think she's sick.. Some days her eyes looks half shut so I'm assuming she's just napping or something. But when I mist the tank and spray her a little she perks right up with huge eyes lol

Also.. having a hard time finding information on "Expanding" the bricks of Coco Fiber Eco Earth. Do I just soak it in dechlorinated water and take it apart? Do I have to let it dry afterwards? I just want to make sure I don't do anything wrong since I'm thinking about cleaning her enclosure tonight or on the weekend. But I wanted to know a little more about my question on the digesting length before I attempt to pick her up with my hands. Her mouth is huge and I heard it hurts to be bitten.

[Maharg]

I use about 3 liters of warm dechlorinated water per brick to expand. I pour it in about a liter at a time and work it with my hands til its the proper texture and broken up nicely.

With the mouse, id only feed once every 3 weeks MAX. Once a month is better. Have you tried Nightcrawlers or Hornworms yet?

[Pruvmerong]

I use about 3 liters of warm dechlorinated water per brick to expand. I pour it in about a liter at a time and work it with my hands til its the proper texture and broken up nicely.

With the mouse, id only feed once every 3 weeks MAX. Once a month is better. Have you tried Nightcrawlers or Hornworms yet?

No not yet. I wanted to make sure she ate something that I knew she would like before experimenting. Now that I know she isn't hungry I'm going to gradually offer her a different kind of food and see if she'll eat off tongs. Lije told me where to get those Hornworms (Or Goliath worms) here in Calgary so I'll be trying those next. They look like the biggest so I'll start there.

[DVirginiana]

For expanding the eco-earth, just get a tupperware container or a plastic bucket or something, put the brick in there, and use the treated water to expand it. You can break it up if you need to.

Frogs will blink, but they should not be sitting with their eyes closed or half-closed for long periods of time, even asleep. Can you post a picture of this?

Even though the person you got her from has been feeding frogs and fish, you really need to try and get her on a healthier diet. Feeder fish from pet stores are almost always diseased; if you ever want to give her fish, buy a pack of frozen silversides. As for the mice, it can be very dangerous to put a full grown mouse in with a frog. I really wouldn't recommend doing this again. Frogs' skin is very fragile so even a small bite or scratch from a mouse can damage it greatly.
Also, even large pacs shouldn't really be eating anything much larger than a fuzzy mouse. The hair and claws on mice don't digest well, and this is a big impaction risk. I never recommend feeding anything other than pinkies because of this (paranoid about impaction).

If the frog won't take nightcrawlers or other insects, you can try taking the insect in tongs and rubbing it on her lips. She will probably get annoyed after a few minutes and take it. Once they realize it is food, they will take it more easily.

Thanks for doing research on your pet! She's a very nice looking frog Yes, these frogs can draw blood with their bite. You're doing right, not handling her. The less stress until she gets used to her new home, the better.

[GrifTheGreat]

I second D's post but with a little extra info. While it is dangerous to offer adult mice because they can harm your frog the frog's skin while sensitive is tougher than most people think. If you ever have to give them an injection you'll discover this when you notice that the needle is having difficulty penetrating the skin. An adult mouse can and will hurt even adult frog since they can bite pretty hard and scratch. The scratching is really only bad around the eyes.

Mouse fur can and will impact the frog if your not careful. From now on when offering mice use pinky mice or fuzzies. An adult mouse will take about a week to digest.

They do occasionally sleep with their eyes closed. More than likely this is caused by you having the Light up on full blast. If you have a UTH on the side its should help maintain temps. 76° at night is fine, but keep it at 80° during the day. Having the light on full will also suck humidity out so keep an eye on it.

[Pruvmerong]

I second D's post but with a little extra info. While it is dangerous to offer adult mice because they can harm your frog the frog's skin while sensitive is tougher than most people think. If you ever have to give them an injection you'll discover this when you notice that the needle is having difficulty penetrating the skin. An adult mouse can and will hurt even adult frog since they can bite pretty hard and scratch. The scratching is really only bad around the eyes.

Mouse fur can and will impact the frog if your not careful. From now on when offering mice use pinky mice or fuzzies. An adult mouse will take about a week to digest.

They do occasionally sleep with their eyes closed. More than likely this is caused by you having the Light up on full blast. If you have a UTH on the side its should help maintain temps. 76° at night is fine, but keep it at 80° during the day. Having the light on full will also suck humidity out so keep an eye on it.

Thanks. You're right about the light drying up the moisture. I have to mist the tank every few hours or so. When I wake up in the morning or come home from work in the evening the humidity is sometimes in the 60's. Will being in the 60's for max 3 hours a day be okay? If not I'm not sure how to fix it. I have the light on full with a heating pad on the side. Has to be on all day to maintain correct temps. I have just the center of the lid exposed with a light and saran wrap on the edges as you instructed.

[GrifTheGreat]

Thanks. You're right about the light drying up the moisture. I have to mist the tank every few hours or so. When I wake up in the morning or come home from work in the evening the humidity is sometimes in the 60's. Will being in the 60's for max 3 hours a day be okay? If not I'm not sure how to fix it. I have the light on full with a heating pad on the side. Has to be on all day to maintain correct temps. I have just the center of the lid exposed with a light and saran wrap on the edges as you instructed.

Should be ok if its only for a little part of the day. to raise humidity buy a Reptifogger or humidifier and hook it up to a timer to periodically turn on and off throughout the day and that should fix the humidity issue. Add a second heat pad for extra heat so the light digest have to be up that high. Should be fine then.

[Pruvmerong]

Some pictures of my Pacman as I cleaned her enclosure last night. She was being pretty aggressive so I didn't want to get too close. Does this mean she's hungry and ready to eat again? I fed her an adult mouse last Thursday November 1.

[Pruvmerong]

For expanding the eco-earth, just get a tupperware container or a plastic bucket or something, put the brick in there, and use the treated water to expand it. You can break it up if you need to.

Frogs will blink, but they should not be sitting with their eyes closed or half-closed for long periods of time, even asleep. Can you post a picture of this?

Even though the person you got her from has been feeding frogs and fish, you really need to try and get her on a healthier diet. Feeder fish from pet stores are almost always diseased; if you ever want to give her fish, buy a pack of frozen silversides. As for the mice, it can be very dangerous to put a full grown mouse in with a frog. I really wouldn't recommend doing this again. Frogs' skin is very fragile so even a small bite or scratch from a mouse can damage it greatly.
Also, even large pacs shouldn't really be eating anything much larger than a fuzzy mouse. The hair and claws on mice don't digest well, and this is a big impaction risk. I never recommend feeding anything other than pinkies because of this (paranoid about impaction).

If the frog won't take nightcrawlers or other insects, you can try taking the insect in tongs and rubbing it on her lips. She will probably get annoyed after a few minutes and take it. Once they realize it is food, they will take it more easily.

Thanks for doing research on your pet! She's a very nice looking frog Yes, these frogs can draw blood with their bite. You're doing right, not handling her. The less stress until she gets used to her new home, the better.

Thanks for your help. I know I need to change her diet I just wanted to her be fed as she's used to before I start experimenting with food. I'm aware it could be dangerous to put live adult mice in for the frog to hunt. But I also heard their skin is tougher then it looks as Grif mentioned. When I feed her a mouse again. Maybe next month or something, I'll try a pinky and see if she's satisfied.

I have a short clip of her eating the mouse if you/anyone would like to see it. Not the best quality though. Might be the last time she hunts prey!

I will try to take a picture of her eyes half closed. She's kind of alert right now since I just misted the tank.