My 22 year old pacman

[DeeDub]

Very cool frog and great job! Could you give us a detailed husbandry in a new thread....or this one. I would really like to know how you've done it. Not many people have kept them this long I don't think. Again great frog, and welcome!

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Thanks
DW

[Samalander]

Very cool frog and great job! Could you give us a detailed husbandry in a new thread....or this one. I would really like to know how you've done it. Not many people have kept them this long I don't think. Again great frog, and welcome!

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Thanks
DW

Sure thing! I've always considered this frog to be the most low maintenance pet ever, as he stays buried most of the time. For the last 10 years or so, he has been buried in total for ~6-8 months per year, with a solid 4 month hibernation over winter (he has progressively been hibernating/burying himself for longer and longer periods over the years). Typically he eats voraciously for a few weeks, then buries himself until he gets hungry again. Over winter I let the water level drop and turn off the heater, to simulate a cool/dry period.

When I first got him (I was 11!) he came in a small plastic flip top tank (1-2 gallons?). He soon outgrew that and I moved him into a 10 gallon, then a 20-gallon, and now finally a 33 gallon. The vivarium setup has typically been 50/50 land/water, with substrate depth of ~12" on the land side tapering down into a water depth of about 6". There is a small submersible heater and an undergravel filter/small pump to keep things fresh. For about 15 years the substrate was strictly small-sized gravel (oops), but I have since started using a coco-coir/worm casting mix on top of a gravel drainage layer. He has *always* had lots of substrate depth to completely bury himself in.

As for feeding, he's had just about anything that moves, including lots of wild caught things :-p When I was younger I would often take him to school with me (the little tank fit perfectly in my locker), and make lunchtime trips to find all sorts of things to feed him... worms, grasshoppers, grubs - it was actually a bit of a game to see what he WOULDN'T eat. He has also outlived 6 pet cats, who provided him with a constant supply of high quality, organic, free-range sparrows and chick-a-dees ;-) When I do yard work I usually collect earthworms and he'll get a nice plate of worm spaghetti that night. The rest of the time he's had store bought stuff, such as mice, crickets, goldfish and beef heart.

I'm looking forward to our next photo shoot (definitely need to clean his vivarium up first though!)

[DVirginiana]

Haha... I have a snake like that. Got him when I was 10, could probably write a book called "Things that will kill Snakes" with all the stupid things I did when I was a kid, and he's outlived his species' average lifespan by almost half.

You should totally breed him! I'd buy a frog from a line with a 22 year old animal a heck of a lot faster than I'd buy a 'designer' frog; not that I have anything against those, just a personal preference for WT frogs

[Lija]

Haha... I have a snake like that. Got him when I was 10, could probably write a book called "Things that will kill Snakes" with all the stupid things I did when I was a kid, and he's outlived his species' average lifespan by almost half.

You should totally breed him! I'd buy a frog from a line with a 22 year old animal a heck of a lot faster than I'd buy a 'designer' frog; not that I have anything against those, just a personal preference for WT frogs

talking about snakes, just remembered one story that a breeder of my new snakes told me, the guy got a snake from him, put a tank on his very powerful speaker that was on for almost all day, so in a few years the bottom of a tank got detached because of all vibration and slid down trapping a snake between the bottom and screen top. the snake survived

oh and put me on a list for his babies, we are in Vancouver quite often

[Zlitni]

I've heard that they can live 10 years... lol

[Samalander]

Looks like I had better start reading up on breeding!

From what I understand, Pacmans need about 2 years to reach sexual maturity. Would it be best to buy some young frogs now, in the hopes of breeding in a couple years, or try to find someone locally with an already mature frog? Or both? (I think I just answered my own question)

[Jenste]

Welcome to the forum! Love your Pacman! Surely for being around this long he must have a name!