Pixie keeps going under?

[Turtlestork]

Hey everyone,

I have a pixie frog that keeps burying herself deep and not eating. I thought maybe she was estivating and thus left her, but it has been months. A few occasions I dig her up, put her in some warm water, and feed her to try to push her to become active again. She has a huge water area and a nice moist substrate. The tank is heated with a 150 watt bulb (not sure what temp, but this tank is quite large). I guess what I am asking is what am I doing wrong to make her keep feeling she has to go under again? Or should I just leave her? I just hate not feeding her for so long!

[GRABibus]

150W??
Which tank do you have ? Size ?
Temps at day ? Temps at night ?

[habeeb]

150w is too much..it can hurt ur frog i believe...u should only use 50w...but what are u trying to feed it?? they have better feeding response to different foods...they tend to not eat earth worms as much as they would eat roaches,crickets, or superworms

[FLUXCORE]

150w is too much..it can hurt ur frog i believe...u should only use 50w...but what are u trying to feed it?? they have better feeding response to different foods...they tend to not eat earth worms as much as they would eat roaches,crickets, or superworms

I use a 75w about 2ft away and it keeps my tank in the 80f range, just watch your temps and have shade available. 150w is should be fine if its at the correct hight, he could be digging for shade?

[GrifTheGreat]

Answer the questions asked above. You should also have a temp gauge in there as well as a hygrometer. You cannot just guess the climate conditions within the enclosure and assume they're correct.

[Turtlestork]

Hi everyone,

I do have a thermometer but this doesn't live in there with her. I was looking for some quick suggestions so I hadn't looked at the temps yet. Lights are out right now and I will get temps when they come on for the day. Do you think the frog would utilize like plants or something if I put that in there for shade? The place she is kept is too cold for her without heat. What temps do you guys keep yours at? I never see any specific answers to that in the caresheets. Her tank is kept with coco fiber which is constantly moist, and she has a water area. I feed her frozen thawed mice (small adults) every second day when she is up. She eats pretty regularly at that interval. How do you guys heat your frogs tank? I figure these frogs don't move a whole lot so what cage features do you use to provide a thermocline in the tank?

[demon amphibians]

i use a 150 w bulb in a 15 gallon tank i use eco earth. but i do have a temp and a hydro gauge. the bulb keeps the tank between 80 and 90 which is just right for my male. he is about a year old and weighs about 2 lbs and eats like a machine. although i use such a big bulb i do keep the tank well ventilated and i mist everyday. this keeps mold from forming in the tank do this day i have yet to have to clean mildew or mold from the tank. these frogs require higher temps than most frogs. males tend to eat a lot more the females and they grow much larger. i no longer have my female because i sold her to a breeder, but i did have her for about a year. when she was small she ate a lot more often then when she got bigger. it got to the point where she would eat very little, once or twice a month maybe. compared to the males eating habits i assumed something was wrong with her. so i asked one of my friends at a local pet store who owns about 50 of them and breads them. he said she was completely normal and remind me that in the wild the frogs would normally go 9 months out of the year without eating. so if your frog eats but very little she should be just fine but remember it is important to keep the substrate moist because they will burrow and dehydrate. but when she is hungry she will emerge. i would recommend roaches. for good reason the reviews are good they breed like crazy and require little maintenance. and an adult female roach has the nutritional value 12 times grater then any cricket. i adopted a baby pixie from a store for free because it would not eat and was doing very poor. i took it home and the first thing i did was give it some small crickets dusted with vitamins, the frog wanted nothing to do with them. so i put some roaches in and the frog went nuts. well needless to say the frog was only feed roaches and it was my fastest growing frog. it tripled in size in one month and then became healthy and very active for such a species. i also sold that one to a breeder along with the female. the ways to tell if your frog is not in normal health is if it is skinny. If it has trouble swimming in water deeper then it can stand in. or if it is off colored.The biggest sign the sick frog i nursed back to health had a very pale color to it. it wouldn't burrow or make much attempt to do anything. these frogs are a bit lazy so that may be a hard judgement call. but if it shoves its arms and lets to its side and just lounges there is a way to tell. all my other frogs will stay in one spot for days so long as they are not chasing food but they have there arms and legs under them for the most part. I still do have one male pixie and it is huge healthy and dark green. his main diet i feed roaches with calcium dust on occasion. i remove it from the tank to feed in a small plastic storage bin because anything i feed it even if its the supplemental rat i give it every other month burrows into the substrate and he cant get to them. he seems to like that better because the prey is easier to catch he knows its time to eat and it prevents him from ingesting the substrate. even though eco earth is not know to be to big of a problem of impaction he none the less wont eat something covered in the stuff. the vitamin powder i use i notice also boosts there materialism they seem to feed much better after the feeding when i powder the food.