Pacman feeding question?

[loganste123]

So I went to petsmart and got my pacman frog 2 days ago. I have been reading alot on him and he is in his cage, and at night (feeding time) i try and give him crickets. The lady at petsmart held them infront of the frog till he ate it. Should I do that or just put them in its cage?

[lovenokia]

I would try to put the cricket in front of the frog. I had an experience were by leaving the crickets in the cage with the coconut fiber, they would miss the cricket eat the coconut fiber and get bloated. I would recommend to move the frog in a container without the coconut fiber or whatever bedding your using if you want to let the frog hunt for the food such as crickets.

[DVirginiana]

Don't put him in a separate container to eat if you just got him. He's already stressed out from moving into his new home. If you put him in a new tank to eat this soon he probably won't eat.
You can take the hind legs off the crickets so they can't hop around and instead of just placing them in front of him, kind of put them off to the side and nudge them to crawl forward. Pacman frogs' feeding response is triggered by motion more than anything.

Mine had problems with eating cocofiber as well. Generally cocofiber is safe for them to accidentally consume in small amounts, but can be a problem if they eat a lot of it. The general rule for leaving crickets in the tank for the frog to eat is no more than an hour or so. You may have to do this if he doesn't eat with you placing the cricket there. Like I said, he's probably already stressed from moving, and might not want to eat when with people around.

[lovenokia]

I not think that the frog could be getting stressed but you have a good tip that the legs could be taken off. Isn't that painful form the cricket though? My frog got impacted once from eating too much coconut fiber hunting crickets.

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[GrifTheGreat]

I not think that the frog could be getting stressed but you have a good tip that the legs could be taken off. Isn't that painful form the cricket though? My frog got impacted once from eating too much coconut fiber hunting crickets.

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It is briefly painful for the cricket, but their legs are designed to break off easily so that they can escape birds and other predators. Like how a lizards tail will break off to escape.

[DVirginiana]

I not think that the frog could be getting stressed but you have a good tip that the legs could be taken off. Isn't that painful form the cricket though? My frog got impacted once from eating too much coconut fiber hunting crickets.

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They do get stressed from moving to new homes, and if they aren't used to their owner and surroundings they can get stressed from being moved into a new container even just to feed. That's why one of the more common thread topics on this forum is "It's been awhile but my new pacman still won't eat" and the recommendation is usually to decrease handling and viewing, and cover three sides of the tank. It's all about the stress.

How long were you leaving the crickets in there, and were you removing the hind legs? Limiting the amount of time they are in with the frog and especially removing the hind legs are both things that make them easier for the frog to catch them and avoid coco-fiber. Like I said, eating a little coco-fiber will not hurt the frog (that's why it's widely recommended as a safe bedding). Was your frog having any other health problems when this happened? That could lead to it not being able to hunt efficiently.
Remember, they don't have anyone tong-feeding them in the wild and they're still around

[Lija]

So I went to petsmart and got my pacman frog 2 days ago. I have been reading alot on him and he is in his cage, and at night (feeding time) i try and give him crickets. The lady at petsmart held them infront of the frog till he ate it. Should I do that or just put them in its cage?

i would do exactly what that lady did, to held food in front of a guy with tongs people are trying sometimes for so long to tong train their frogs, and here you have a baby who is already trained, keep it this way, less problems later.

[loganste123]

i would do exactly what that lady did, to held food in front of a guy with tongs people are trying sometimes for so long to tong train their frogs, and here you have a baby who is already trained, keep it this way, less problems later.

Yea he doesn't have a problem with them, and my tree frog was starving because he wouldn't go get the crickets at the bottom of the cage and last night I used the tongs hoping he would eat and he ate them all so all is well

[DVirginiana]

Yea he doesn't have a problem with them, and my tree frog was starving because he wouldn't go get the crickets at the bottom of the cage and last night I used the tongs hoping he would eat and he ate them all so all is well

I didn't realize he was already used to tong feeding. You're lucky! Took me forever to get mine tong-trained.

[loganste123]

I didn't realize he was already used to tong feeding. You're lucky! Took me forever to get mine tong-trained.

Damn, is it really that hard?

[DVirginiana]

Depends on the frog and what they're used to. If they've grown up hunting their own food in the tank or if they're especially nervous it can sometimes take awhile. My parents had mine for almost a year when they changed policies in my university housing, so I didn't get to start working on tong feeding her till she was over a year old.

[Lija]

Damn, is it really that hard?

yeah, for lot of frogs it is, some would never eat from tongs, like my pixie, he better starve

consider yourself lucky!