new pacman frog owner

[breenaful]

I'm new on this forum so sorry if I'm doing something wrong. I have adopted my first frog on June 4 and I believe ive been doing a okay job with setting up his/her new home and everything. But I have a few questions,

• If my pacman doesn't croak does that mean it is a female? I just got him/her and I don't want to handle it to much if he/she is unsure about anything.

• I had originally fed him/her some crickets (which he/she seemed to really like) but I thought I would see if he/she also enjoyed mealworms. He/she ate a few but two got loose. I have read alot about how they can chew threw a frog and I'm very worried about it. Is it possible they could? And I had also read that when they grow into Beatles they will try to eat him too, did I already ruin his cage? Should i change his/her substrate right away?

thanks, im the kind of person who gets attached to pets even though its only been a few days if something happens i will be so upset.

[DVirginiana]

Hi, and welcome to the forum

First things first; answer the questions for the Trouble in the Enclosure sticky http://www.frogforum.net/pacman-frog...enclosure.html and post them here.

Also, I notice from your picture that you have moss in the tank. This is only okay if you feed in a separate container. Pacs strike at anything moving, and will inevitably eat some of their substrate. If they end up eating moss it can cause impaction, which can be fatal. Coco-fiber (Eco Earth is a common brand) is the only good substrate to use.

Stay away from mealworms. Their chitinous exoskeleton is hard to digest and can lead to impaction if you feed them as a staple food. Waxworms are okay as an occasional treat, and once the frog is big enough a pinkie mouse no more than once a month is a nice treat too (so is a frozen silverside fish; mine loves those).
As staple foods though, stick with dubia roaches, crickets, or nightcrawlers.

A healthy frog won't sit there and let a worm/beetle eat THROUGH it, but they can bite them. This goes for crickets as well; anything with jaws can bite, and a bite can get infected. I'd say don't worry about it. Just try to find the mealworms and remove them if you can.

Yours looks too young to be calling yet. At around 4-6 months, a male should start calling. You can play pacman calls from youtube to them and see if they respond to tell for sure (my WTF Dubstep will call when I play him dubstep music). Also, males will develop nuptial pads on their front legs when they mature. Before that, there's really no way to tell.

[Lija]

dubstep, seriuosly???? hahahaha my waxy goes crazy when he hears it too


Welcome to the forum! glad you seeking information now!
DV covered it all., mealworms and moss are big no-no, nothing really to add other then we would LOVE to see pics of your baby male will start calling at about 3" size, some sooner then 4-6 month, at about 2.5" nuptial pads are starting to develop, so at that size you can look for these.

if you could answer to "trouble in the enclosure questions and post them here we could go over it and suggest to fix if anything needs to.

[breenaful]

Thanks! and I went out today and bought coconut substrate and crickets. My mom once raised crickets for our iguana when I was young so she knows what she's doing with them.
To answer everything else:
1. Size of enclosure
10 gallon tank, screen top.
2. # of inhabitants
1 baby pacman frog, a little bigger than an inch
3. Humidity
62
4. Temperature
75 degrees
5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
filtered tap water (*tips?)
6. Materials used for substrate
(was using moss) now coconut
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.
wood hideaway, one artificial plant
8. Main food source
crickets
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
I haven't looked this far yet (Tips?)
10. Lighting
Zilla Day Blue Light Incandescent Bulb in a Zilla Reflector Dome
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
Heating mat to the side of tank
12. When is the last time he/she ate
2 days ago (going to feed today)
13. Have you found poop lately
no
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
(avatar picture) I will update the picture when i redo the tank
15. How old is the frog
(not sure) Only a baby
16. How long have you owned him/her
3 days
17. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
captive bred
18. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
First used crickets, tried mealworms (not anymore), back to crickets
19. How often the frog is handled
Not often, only when needed and stroke his back maybe once a day
20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
low traffic
21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)
I use filtered water for cleaning, misting and soaking


*If you have any tips on the water or vitamins to give him please let me know!*

[Lija]

yeah it is a good thing you came here. ok here is what needs adjusting:

1. Size of enclosure
10 gallon tank, screen top.

too big for 1"baby, some don't care, but most will freak out and refuse to eat, you said he ate for you, so hopefully he doesn't care, but you should be looking for something smaller for time being, something like plastic medium sized critter keeper.


2. # of inhabitants
1 baby pacman frog, a little bigger than an inch

would LOVE to see him

3. Humidity
62

too low, you wanna keep it at 70-80%

4. Temperature
75 degrees
too low as well, you want to have about 78 night and 82 day for a baby.

5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
filtered tap water (*tips?)

NO, you gotta get dechrinating agent asap and use it for everything, for expanding exo earth, soaking water, everything. never never plain filtered. you can use anything that would say water conditioner from a pet store, they are in fish section and reptile section, but they all teh same, i use Prime currently.
6. Materials used for substrate
(was using moss) now coconut

that is good! eco earth or plantation soil is what you want
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.
wood hideaway, one artificial plant

great!
8. Main food source
crickets

make sure they're gutloaded and I would start introducing nightcrawlers and tong feeding once he is settled down.
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
I haven't looked this far yet (Tips?)

you need ca/vit D3 powder and multivitamins, use ca dust 2xweek and multivitamins 1xweek
10. Lighting
Zilla Day Blue Light Incandescent Bulb in a Zilla Reflector Dome

ok, make sure it is dim, they don't like bright light.
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
Heating mat to the side of tank
great!

[breenaful]

Thank you so much for replying back fast! I want to try to get him everything he needs and situated and as fast as possible.
I really don't think he minds the size of the tank, at random times it seems like he will get bursts of energy and needs to jump to the other side of the cage! It's adorable. And i'm having trouble keeping the temp and humidity up (again do you have any tips?) I have read a couple things a little bit ago about the water. I have to wait until morning to get it (were having storms do to the hurricane)
BY THE WAY: I do have the calcium with vitamind3, I dusted his crickets for today and he loved them!
and I uploaded a few pictures of him to an album on here. (you cant see much of the tank)

[Lija]

you're welcome
do you have bottled spring water? u can use it too.
forgot to add, make sure you cover 3 sides of a tank, it will make your baby feel safer. will go look at the pics now
temps - your heat mat might be too small for a tank, you might need to use heat lamps, it is really the matter of figuring out what works for each particular situation.
humidity - get a fogger or spray more, cover part of a top with plastic wrap or use plexiglass, things like that.
i recommend to get a fogger plug it into zoomed hydroterm as well as your heating device and never think about humidity or temps again but these are extra expenses, not on a must have list but on very much want list. you can just mist a lot and your humidity will be just fine. keep in mind your substrate has to be wet but not mud like.
edit - you have one very adorable frog!

[breenaful]

alright thanks! just a heads up if I have questions i'll most likely ask you! lol

[Lija]

oh you WILL have questions we all do
no worries.

oh and i meant to use declor agent for a water that you will use for everything, i hope you got that right just wanted to clarify

[breenaful]

I have a pretty big problem..the thermometer/hydrometer (whatever the humidity thing is called) keeps going up and down. Im very worried, right now the temp says about 85° and the humidity is at 50!?! I had put tin foil on parts of the screen to keep the humidity in but nothing is working?! It has never been this low?!

[Lija]

don't panic

what type are your gauges? and where they're located. analog ones are known for showing whatever at any given time, digital are more accurate. sensor gotta be placed in a dead centre of a back wall about 2" above the substrate and that place should not be on or by a heat mat that you placed on a side.
usually when the substrate is moist and 2/3 of a top covered and if misting 2-3 times a day the humidity should be about right, but it depends on a room humidity too.

[breenaful]

They are analog, it is located exactly how you said it and I have tin foil over 2/3 of the screen. I have also been misting the tank. Will live plants help? I think it was the changing of the substrate that had brung the humidity down.

[Lija]

live plants would help, but they won't survive in the amount of waste these guys produce.
can u get digital sensors? they are more accurate.
u might also look into getting a fogger, you can make one or modify regular home ultrasonic. and cover some more of a top screen. or u can get zoomed fogger and hope it will work for you

[breenaful]

I'm looking at digital thermometers/hygrometers now, and how to go about making a fogger..I just want the humidity and temp to be stable so he will not get sick or go into hibernation.
another question- I just got my frog on the fourth and i've still not seen him poop. Should I be concerned about this?

[Mentat]

Hi Breena and welcome to FF! You are in good hands with Lija's advice so I'm just going to touch a couple points. Do not stress about frog, it will be fine and soon you will know as much as we do ! First thing is to go and read the Care Article at this link: Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding. There is lot's of good information in there. I visited your album and think you have a C. cranwelli. Don't worry about if male or female, your's is still a baby and too tiny to tell.

To make living space smaller can get an aquarium divider and section off like 1/3 of tank for it or a smaller critter keeper and put that inside the 10 gallon. If your Pacman is eating well and using the whole tank it might be OK.

Shredded coco (Plantation Soil or EcoEarth) is the one to use for substrate and you should use dechlorinated tap water to re-hidrate the bricks or loose form. If buying loose either brand is OK; but if bricks, I prefer Plantation Soil because the EcoEarth bricks had nasty pieces of plastic, wire and rope when I reconstituted them. Before adding to enclosure adjust the coco moisture by adding water until it starts to clump on a closed fist without dripping water. Then you keep it more or less in there by spraying (I do 2X a day).

You do not need to pre-filter the water; just get a good conditioner like Tetra's Aquatize (made for frogs) or Seachem Prime. If your tap is hard and leave water spots in glass can use distilled water to spray enclosure, but do avoid spraying frog.

A good place to locate gauges is centerline tank back wall around 2 in. above substrate. Be aware that if spray or fog condensation gets to analog gauges or digital sensors, will get you false readings. Depending on your type of light fixture can use Saran Wrap taped to screen top to help retain humidity. Suggest start covering 50% and adjust as required but do keep the Saran Wrap around 1 in. away from heat sources. For a 20H with a light dome like yours; I covered the whole screen in Saran Wrap and then laid the dome on top and using a sharpie marker drew a circle around it. Then used scissors to cut a hole 1 in. larger and it worked fine. The dome was offset to right side above area where water dish was and that helped keep humidity up while also providing a little heat gradient to left side. If temps do get higher than 82F get a lower wattage light bulb or a rheostat (manual) or thermostat (auto) for the heat mat.

Gut load your crickets with veggies or product by Repashy called "Bug Burger. Dust Calcium 2X and vitamins 1X on different days with off day in between. Night crawlers (at Walmarts sports section) make for best food. For a little guy will need to cut in pieces about distance between frog's eyes. If you cut from tail end (pointy) worms will heal and not die. Try feeding with tongues (ZooMed's makes nice yellow plastic tweezers) by approaching from side of mouth and moving food a bit. I use Repashy's products to dust; but have also read Repto-Cal is good. Feed your frog daily while it's a baby.

My Pacman will sometimes poop daily and then go on a weekly mode... no idea why. If your frog has not pooped in a week let us know and we will try a honey bath. Sometimes they bury their poop in a previous hole, I use a plastic fork to dig around previous depressions and usually find "presents."
Enjoy your frog and good luck !

[breenaful]

thanks! I'm going to do what you said, cutting a hole in saran wrap. But can I use tin foil? and I think the condensation could be messing with the gauges. It is where it is supposed to be but that is where I see must of the condensation. Is there another good place I could put the gauges?

[Lija]

I'm using foil and duck tape i like it better then plastic wrap. if you have condensation on a walls your humidity should be way over 80, the only tank that i have condensation on a walls is for my BRB, she is at 95% humidity.

as for poop to be honest with 1"babies they'd sometimes bury it and it is so small that you just can't find just watch him if he is feeling all right, eating, no hard lumps on a sides, etc.

[breenaful]

then my gauges are most likely messed up or something. I'm going to order an electronic meter off of amazon (one with good reviews) then see how it works out. As long as he isn't effected/become sick then I will feel good about this. He is looking like he is gaining weight and getting healthier I read that you should never buy a frog from Petsmart. Well that's what I did. (I just always make mistakes) haha. But I feel really good about getting him. They had him in a tiny box aquarium with hardly anything in it. I feel like i'm saving a life honestly.
PS. The little things in life are what makes me happy, this is one of those little things(:

[Lija]

PS. The little things in life are what makes me happy, this is one of those little things(:

well said! and hey a lot of people on here have a frog from petsmart

[GrifTheGreat]

Lija and Carlos have you covered. Do as they say and your frog will be healthy and happy.