He's a year old, but barely grown at all

[locomike1219]

Hey everyone, great to find a place like this.

So, my Pac-Man (Tucker), is going on about a year old now, and so far he has hardly grown at all.


These two pictures were from when I got him about a year ago. He has grown only a little and is just about the same size today. His color hasn't changed either, and still appears relatively healthy looking. Also, I try not to handle him when I don't need to, so the pic of him on the desk isn't how I typically treat him. Just FYI. All of the dried mealworms were just there in that picture as well, and aren't usually crowding his space.

About his enclosures: He lived in a small cirlce-ish plastic tank with moss and coconut husk for the first 6 months I had him (the thing on the top in the below picture). Recently, I moved him to a larger 10 gallon tank with plantation soil and no moss. The plantation soil is about 2in deep. It is much larger than his previous home, but he still hasn't really grown a lot since. I have a 40 watt light lamp on a timer, and keep it decently humid I did used to have an under tank heater, but I unplugged it a few weeks ago after reading some threads on this forum.

Recently (past month or so), he has gotten into the habit of completely burying himself, sometimes all the way down to the glass bottom. I'm not sure if this is a normal hibernation thing, but I doubt he can dig himself out, and thus cannot eat or stay properly hydrated. I've had to dig around and get him up several times after not seeing him for 5 or more days.

Feeding: He ate mostly crickets at first. I tried to dust calcium dust about twice a week, and they also drink calcium enriched gel chunks. I've recently started him on decent sized mealworms. He isn't usually very successful at eating on his own though. He doesn't go thru the crickets on his own very quickly, and I usually have to feed him myself. The mealworms are in a little dish, but he won't go over and eat them himself because they never seem to disappear while I'm gone. When I do feed him manually however, he will usually chomp lively at them and eat a decent amount.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAIR9...1&feature=plcp
This is him at about 6 months old (still hasn't grown much since then). Pretty adorable if I say so myself, but it's supposed to show how he at least tries to eat sometimes, and isn't very good at it.

TL;DR, two main questions. 1) Is it bad that he isn't eating as much as I would think he should, and thus why he has barely grown? 2) is it okay the he is burying himself so much and so deeply?

Thanks for any help
Mike

[DVirginiana]

Can you post the answers to the 'trouble in the enclosure' sticky? Just for info on his humidity and temps and all.

As for the mealworms, these have a lot of chitin in their exoskeletons and are difficult to digest and can cause impaction. Stick with crickets. Dubia roaches are also a good food. My favorite is nightcrawlers; you can cut them into appropriately sized pieces. He probably went off food due to temps dropping off (am I reading it right that this behavior started when you removed the UTH?). Bump his temps back to where they were and see if this changes.

I don't know what caused him not to grow, but it wasn't your conditions. Conditions bad enough to stunt growth like that would almost certainly kill a frog before he got this old, and your guy seems to be pretty healthy. I saw something almost exactly like this in a snake once; it was a European garter breeder working with a subspecies that has a VERY limited captive gene pool and is extremely inbred.
When the snake died around five years old it still looked like a six month old juvenile. It had been healthy and had no deformities; just never seemed to grow at all.

[locomike1219]

1. Size of enclosure. 10 gal tank. see op picture
2. # of inhabitants - just Tucker
3. Humidity. between 60-80%, and I try to keep it around 80%
4. Temperature70-80
5. Water - type Distilled, but I still treat it for dechlorination. just in case.
6. Materials used for substrate: Currently, "Plantation soil" shredded coco husk, which is pretty much the same as eco earth.
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials. Just one fake plant
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
8. Main food source. 60% crickets, 40% live mealworms
9. Vitamins and calcium? i dust crickets and mealworms about twice a week.
10. Lighting. next to a window, which I keep closed when it gets chilly. there is a 40watt lamp ona timer which keeps it warm. I also have an OTH for a while
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure. see amove
12. When is the last time he/she ate. maybe a few days ago, he eats infrequently
13. Have you found poop lately. no, but i've found it occasionally
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog. about a year
16. How long have you owned him/her. about a year.
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred. captive bred, but he was a gift, so i dont have specifics on where exactly he came from.
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats. Just crickets and mealworms.
19. How often the frog is handled. rarely, but i've had to dig him out from underneath the soil a few times recently. I put him in the water when i do that.
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area. low
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc). change the water whenever It has been used, or every other day.

am I reading it right that this behavior started when you removed the UTH?

No, he actually may have started doing it after I put the UTH in. Since i've turned it off, his behavior hasn't changed though.

I've at least tried to keep him well maintained, and follow what one should do for pac-mans. If he is going to be a small frog, that's alright with me because I think I'd like him smaller rather than monstrous. I just wanna make sure I'm keeping him healthy.

[Maharg]

1. Size of enclosure. 10 gal tank. see op picture
2. # of inhabitants - just Tucker
3. Humidity. between 60-80%, and I try to keep it around 80%
4. Temperature70-80
5. Water - type Distilled, but I still treat it for dechlorination. just in case.
6. Materials used for substrate: Currently, "Plantation soil" shredded coco husk, which is pretty much the same as eco earth.
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials. Just one fake plant
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
8. Main food source. 60% crickets, 40% live mealworms
9. Vitamins and calcium? i dust crickets and mealworms about twice a week.
10. Lighting. next to a window, which I keep closed when it gets chilly. there is a 40watt lamp ona timer which keeps it warm. I also have an OTH for a while
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure. see amove
12. When is the last time he/she ate. maybe a few days ago, he eats infrequently
13. Have you found poop lately. no, but i've found it occasionally
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog. about a year
16. How long have you owned him/her. about a year.
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred. captive bred, but he was a gift, so i dont have specifics on where exactly he came from.
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats. Just crickets and mealworms.
19. How often the frog is handled. rarely, but i've had to dig him out from underneath the soil a few times recently. I put him in the water when i do that.
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area. low
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc). change the water whenever It has been used, or every other day.


No, he actually may have started doing it after I put the UTH in. Since i've turned it off, his behavior hasn't changed though.

I've at least tried to keep him well maintained, and follow what one should do for pac-mans. If he is going to be a small frog, that's alright with me because I think I'd like him smaller rather than monstrous. I just wanna make sure I'm keeping him healthy.

distilled water is a huge no-no. That must change emmediately. Distilled water contains zero minerals which are vital to a frogs health and growth, and since frogs skin is highly permeable, the water is sucking it right out of him. Switch to tap water (treated) or spring water right away.

[MatthewM1]

Using distilled water can leach vitamins and minerals from your frog, use spring water or dechlorinated tap water

[GrifTheGreat]

Lack of a diverse diet and not getting proper supplementation can be detrimental to their health and stunt their growth. He should be eating 6 to 7 small crickets everyday. Babies and juveniles nees as much nutrition as possible becauwe these are crucial growth satges

Distilled water can only be used fro misting a d humidifiers. As was stated above it leaches vitamins, salts, and nutrients out of the frog.

His growth is most likely stunted due to these errors.

[Herpguy]

In theory distilled water is bad for frogs, but once the water comes in contact with the air, a cup, a container, it immediately becomes contaminated, and thus is not distilled. I have talked to Josh from Josh's Frogs on this issue and he uses exclusively distilled and RO water for all his frogs, and has NEVER had a problem. Distilled water is not certain death for your frog.