I just got my pacman frog (fantasy) 1 month ago, when i first got him home, he ate a small grasshopper right away and the first 2-3 weeks he ate a grasshopper or mealworm every day or so, but a little over a week ago he just stopped eating?
The temperatures are 26-29 celsius (78-84 Fahrenheit) during the day, and goes down to 23 celsius (73.4 Fahrenheit) at night, i keep the humidity up at around 70-90% with daily mistings. He is roughly 2 inches in length.
If anyone knows how long he can go without food at that size before it starts to get unhealthy i would like to know. Thanks in advance.
hi and welcome to the frog forum RallG!
please reply to the questions of trouble in the enclosure ( sticky thread) and post them here so we can help you and also post pic of the enclosure and a frog (preferably view from the top). from what you said already night temps are too low, you want to keep them at about 26C for a baby at night.
Save one animal and it doesn't change the world, but it surely changes the world for that one animal!
Hello and welcome to FF Rall! Not sure about grasshopper size, but a mealworm a day sounds too little for a 2 in. snout to vent Pacman. Hard to tell how long frog can go without eating because that would depend on frogs health when it stops feeding.
Do please answer here the questions in sticky thread Lija mentioned: Trouble in Enclosure. Also, could you please let us know how much has your frog grown during the month you had it? If you have not read it, this is good information about your frog: Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding . Good luck !
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
Trouble in the Enclosure
1. Size of enclosure
2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
3. Humidity
4. Temperature
5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
6. Materials used for substrate
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
8. Main food source
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
10. Lighting
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
12. When is the last time he/she ate
13. Have you found poop lately
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. How old is the frog
16. How long have you owned him/her
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
19. How often the frog is handled
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)
Answers to the questions:
1. 80X40x40cm (128L)
2. Only one frog in the enclosure.
3. 60-90% (depending on when the last misting was)
4. Daytime temps 26-29 Celsius. nighttime temps goes down to 23.5-24 celsius
5. Just plain tap water (we have VERY clean tapwater where i live, with no chlorine or chemicals in it)
6. Not quite sure, but i think it is some sort of eco plantation soil, it came in a hard block and needs water to get soft.
7. 4 live plants, 2 pieces of cork and a vine. i washed the roots of alle the plants for any kind of old soil. The vine and cork where just put in. and the entire viv was running with light and mistings for ~3 weeks before i got the frog home.
8. Small-medium sized grasshoppers and large mealworms, will be getting alot of dubia roaches from a friend in a week or 2, then that will become hes staple food, and the mealworms will become treats.
9 Every other feeding the food was dusted with calcium.
10. A 25 watt exo terra day time heat lamp and a fluorescent light (don't know what brand of light that is, but it is ment for frogs and has a blue-ish glow)
11. Heat lamp (listed above)
12. April 24.
13. April 30.
14. pics of enclosure above. (cant get a pic of the frog atm since he's hiding under the fern)
15. Not sure, got him home april 6. and i think he was ~3.5 cm when i got him, now he is ~4.5-5 cm
16. Answered above.
17. It's a Fantasy frog, so guess that would be captive bred.
18. Answered in question 8.
19. Probably handled him 4-5 times in the time i have had him
20. That would be high traffic area, since i spent most of my day in my room, and have friends over quite often.
21. The water is changed every time i can see he has been in it (not that often) or once a week.
I hope this will help you, help me.
I think i will leave him completely alone for 2 days before trying to feed him again, just to let him relax a little.
From reading your answers, appears your frog is stressed due to a number of reasons discussed above. It is important to correct as many as possible because a stressed frog will stop eating and it's immunity system is also compromised. If those conditions persist for long it will get sick. Please keep us informed how things go the next few days. Good luck !
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
Carlos, i've already fixed a few of the things you suggested.
I just recieved the humidifier i orderet a few days ago, but even on the lowest setting the humidity goes up to 95% and 5 minutes after i turn it off it goes down to 60%... so that was a waste of monney... so im still trying to stableize the humidity...
It turns out my digital thermometer was WAY off, so the daytime temps were around 28-30 degrees celsius all along.
I covered up the sides with black plasticbags, and turned off the fluorescent light and i must admit, it looks alot more tropical with only the heating lamp on.
and i am 100% sure my water is without chlorine or any other chemicals.
and i will try to make a makeshift devider for the tank if you think it would help.
Anything that has to do with a vet is not an option for me unfortunately, there are no vets that knows anything about exotic animals anywhere near where i live.
and i wont handle or try to feed him tonight or tomorow, just to let him relax as much as possible.
Yep, 95% humidity is too much and then the swing to 60% won't help either. I keep my packman's in ExoTerra's 12x12x12 cubes or similar with front half covered in saran wrap and rear half has the top with light on. Couple daily sprays keep humidity constant at 80%. If going for divider try keeping him in 1/3 of enclosure. Do watch temps with that heat bulb in there.
Could try to call local vet's and see if they will at least do a fecal exam on the frog. They probably do them on dogs and cat's anyway and parasites are parasites. Think there is not much difference from dog roundworms to frog roundworms etc. If they find any, we can help with medication doses if vet can't research. Good luck !
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
what kind of humidifier do you have, where is its output and where are the gauges?
it seems Carlos got you covered. Your tank is beautiful, but not for pacman frog unfortunately, it would be converted to 32"x16" footprint, that is huge, you can easily do 3 tanks out of it for adult frogs, so even when your frog is an adult it will still too big for him.
size of the tank is your main problem here.
Carlos, in Alberta, you can spray 5 times a day and humidity will be going up and down from 100% to 20-30% in a matter of 30 min lol so i guess it depends
i would suggest following: there is a thing called hydrotherm by zoomed, it is humidity and temp controller, hooked into humidifier and heat source it will control climate for you with night drop of temps, that is lifesaver and totally stress saver for meand one of the best investments i've made out of equipment and on top of it you could cover majority of a screen top leaving some for ventilation as Carlos suggested.
my problem is also the fact that you were feeding him staple of grasshoppers and mealworms, i really want to see a frog from a top, can you feel his sides for any hard lumps, does he look bloated in any way?
Save one animal and it doesn't change the world, but it surely changes the world for that one animal!
Lija.
He is not bloated, and there are no lumps on him (i looked for lumps and firmness 2 days ago after he took he's last dump)
but i wont dig him out from he's hideout right now to take a picture, i will let him rest for a few days. i will try to take a picture of him sunday.
Mybe you've freaked your frog out im using on my frog worms as they easy to eat cheap an easy to keep also I dust mine with calcium and d3 also try an feeding the frog in a small tub an leave him to it I do it every day at 1st 1 worm now 3 in one go yes 3 worms in 1 mouthful so I try an more in leave him 5 to 10 mins with them if he anit eaten them just tryin to get out off tub then I know he's eaten an try him again in morning or when he's in the water I feed him then good luck
I just woke up this morning, and my little Friend has found a new spot where i was able to snap a picture of him. to night when the lights turn off, i will try to feed him again. I covered half the screen top with ducttape, and it works perfectly, the humidity is alot more stable than before, still a bit to high at 85-90% but it's better that than the swings between 60-95%. i will give you an update in around 12-14 hours and tell how the feeding went.
Just tried feeding him a grasshopper, but it seems like he's afraid of the food? right after i tried feeding him, he jumped away from he's spot back under the fern. He must be really stressed out, i am not sure he will ever get better. it has now ben 11 days since he's last meal and he seems even more stressed now than he did 3 days ago.
He is beginning to move around ALOT now, every night he moves pretty much all over the tank. I dont know if that is good or bad? (He is still not eating)
I was ablo to take a better picture of him.
He has ben moved to another smaller tank with better conditions, and placed in a room with no activity at all. I then left him alone for 4-5 days and tried feeding him again, but he still turned away from the food. I tried this a few times but without luck.
Today i tried forcefeeding him, and it worked so now he has gotten something to eat for the first time in a month.
I'm so sorry nobody replied before, honestly i haven't seen it
anyhow you did good, when a frog is off food for a month force feeding is in a cards. I would soak him in electrolyte solution ( whatever unflavored you guys have for sale) in North America we have Pedyalyte but there are so many names for the same thing. the point is you need electrolytes to soak your frog in, if they come ina powder form, you gotta dilute with water according to the instructions. whatever concentration do for human babies, would work for a frog, at this point i would dilute the solution with 6-8 parts of water and place frog in, water level up to a chin, water should be warm ( 80-82F ish) and put a few drops in honey in that before you put frog in.
that would give him some boost of energy and hopefully he'll be up eating, but the chances are you are looking into ff for a bit, how he is looking now, with these guys patience is a key.
You gotta do something about humidity to keep it in 70-80 range, that is not why he is not eating, it will affect him in a long run. you got background on 3 sides of the tank, it is right?
how you were ff him? can you get some reptiboost in the same way? or if that was piece of nightcrawler you can dust it with reptiboost and ff him.
Save one animal and it doesn't change the world, but it surely changes the world for that one animal!
i found this description "Pedialyte is the #1 pediatrician recommended brand of oral electrolyte solution to help prevent dehydration due to diarrhea and vomiting" If that is what you mean i have found a danish pruduct with the same description under the name "revolyt"
The new tank is a lot smaller, and all 3 sides are covered with cardboard. The humidity is somewhat stable at 80-85% but sometimes goes up to 90 right after a misting.
The forcefeeding where done by opening his mouth carefully with a small spoon in the side of his mouth and i then put a dubia about half way in his mouth and removed the spoon. Then i just left him alone for about 2 min. before checking back on him, and then the dubia were gone.
Pedialyte is an oral electrolyte solution for infants and children that helps prevent dehydration by replenishing vital minerals lost during diarrhea and vomiting. If Revolyt is the same and unflavored, it should be OK. Just follow Lija's instructions for soak. Noted the grasshopper in pic is a bit big for frog size (length should be around distance between eyes). Good luck !
Remember to take care of the enclosure and it will take care of your frog !
yeah, it seems Revolyt is the one, i tried to google it but it came back not in English but go ahead if it is unflavoured and without any dyes, it should be clear solution, like water.
instead of dubia i would better do piece of nightcrawler coated with reptiboost, nightcrawler or earthworm is easier to digest then anything else, after not eating for so long it's better not to overload digestive system, but small dubia is fine too.
you said he is not eating, would you please describe how you were trying to feed him as well as what time a day, what food and where. how long has he been in his new smaller enclosure before you tried to feed him?
and you gotta try to lower humidity some more, you want 75-80, not 80-85.
Save one animal and it doesn't change the world, but it surely changes the world for that one animal!
When i try to feed him, it is usually with tongs, or i just drop the insect in front of him, but he never takes it. The time of day is around 10 pm or when it has been dark for a few hours.
The humidity is kind of hard to get any lower without the surface of the substrate drying completely out.
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