Tongs or no Tongs?

[lorenjas]

I would like to know what would be better Tong feeding or letting the pacman chase the food im new to pacmans and just want to make sure i do everything right when i go to feed him i get suprised when it goes for the food and accidentally pulls it out and it doesnt seem to want to try and eat anymore wondering if i should just go to live food or just stick with it and trya and get use to it

In my personal opinion, this is not a Technical question, but rather one of preference.

Many people will suggest the use of tongs, and they will suggest to begin teaching as early as possible. If you'd like your frog to only eat from tongs then I suggest this method, its much easier to train to tong feed as a baby than as an adult.

But consider this.

If from birth your Pacman has been tong fed and has never had the need to hunt, he may not do so if you leave food alone with him in his cage. I have a beautiful 4.5 in Red Ornata who's a sub adult now, who was fed his entire life on tongs. What should be a super agressive eater, was unable to take down a tiny hopper mouse, even given a weeks time. My baby full green Cornuta I raised the exact opposite. He/she (still unsure should know in a couple months) has hunted its own food from very young, and was only later trained to eat from tongs. In fact it won't eat crickets off of tongs, only hornworms lol. I find it Much more exciting to watch it hunt it's own mice and crickets and worms. Just make sure you're using an ingesting-safe substrate if you choose to go the Live feeding route. In fact when very young (smaller than a half dollar) I like to feed them in a separate container (I like to use a clean water pot because crickets can't climb metal but other things will do) lined with damp paper towels. That way no substrate is ingested when it goes after it's food. At young ages even Eco earth(ground coco fiber) in small amounts can kill them due to impaction. Juveniles- adults can safely swallow an pass small amounts of Eco earth as long as the substrate and frog are both kept moist. No age of frog should be fed on any type of moss as this will almost certainly lead to death over time.

Sorry for so much information, I didn't want leave anything important out. (though I probably have, there's a lot to cover)

Ps make sure to always use dechlorinated water to rehydrate your substrate, as well as in the water dish and mister. Adding products such as reptisafe or prime will do the trick

Enjoy your new addition to your home!

[hello12590]

thanks for the posts it makes me feel a lot better i just get worried about my friends and want to make sure i do everything right for them and everything is declorinated and i have the proper humidity and temperature in the tank and the im using eco earth

[Pluke]

You just have to be careful with your position of the tongs and do your best to keep them from chomping on them, I've had this happen a few times and it's kind of scary.. I've learned though and it's easy to avoid once you get the hang of it. Lots of people use Rubber tongs and that's probably the best route.

[hello12590]

yea thats what i use is the rubber tongs to be on the safe side

[DVirginiana]

They are insanely fast to be little blobs that move maybe once every 48 hours

Frogs' feeding responses are pretty much all instinct. The feeding responses are movement based, so even if you tong feed for the frog's whole life, it probably would learn to take food just running around its cage very quickly. The tongs aren't natural though, so they're what you want to get your frog used to from a young age.

My frog has a narcolepsy-like disorder; once she grabbed onto the tongs then 'passed out'. It took ten minutes to work them out of her mouth. Since then, I make VERY sure to angle them away from her face. If you do that, even if they overshoot the food, their face just bounces off the tongs and they won't bite them. Rubber tips are a good idea.

[GrifTheGreat]

Do both. Teach them to eat from tongs, but occasionally allow them to Chase their food. This does not apply to Night Crawlers or other worms because well their really isn't a Chase involved there. Young rodents preferably pinkie and fuzzies don't add to the Chase category either because they can't yet see and are basically helpless. Roaches, crickets, and other skittering insects are another matter. Roaches tend to burrow as do crickets sometimes and can be difficult fir the frog to catch, but these are sit and wait predators so hunting isn't required, but surprise strikes are.

Yes it involved personal preference, but both are beneficial and one much safer than the other.

[lorenjas]

Both safe if done correctly.

[MatthewM1]

Zoomed also makes plastic feeding tongs which so far have been easy to remove when he accidently grabs the tips

[GrifTheGreat]

Both safe if done correctly.

I never said neither were unsafe, but tong feeding is much safer than allowing them to hunt in their enclosure. Removing them and placing them in a feeder tank or using the filter foam is the safe way to allow hunting. I prefer to allow them to burrow in Coco fiber which is natural to them and thus I tong feed and do occasionally allow them to hunt. I use night crawlers as a staple so hunting doesn't apply. When I offer Dubia. Roaches they either Chase them or wait for them. It is in their nature to sit and wait for food to come to them. Instincts of the ambush predator.