Pacman Questions

[COOCOpUcHoo]

So this is my enclosure and my frog. At the moment I have had this frog for almost 2 days. I have no evidence of him/her eating. I have not seen any feces either. I do not have a picture, but it looks like the bottom of his chin (where his air sac is), seems a bit more fat than usually. At the moment I am using Eco Earth (the brick) with traces of moss (which is now unwanted). I feed him dusted crickets and maybe mealworms to come. I have a thermometer and I keep the temperature around 78-88 ^o F. I use a 13w UVB light to keep this temperature, no heat pads are used. As a wallpaper i use green and brown parchment paper.

Question Time

1. Is anything I am doing wrong?
2. My frog is about 2.5 in head to butt, what shall be fed to him?
3. Is UVB lighting bad for it?
4. Why is my Pacman frog not eating?
5. What is wrong with my frogs chin. (picture soon)
6. Is it ok to prong feed him? (I use regular tweezers)
7. Even thought he is 2 days owned, can it be forced fed? (if necessary)
8. How EXACTLY should I honey bathe my frog?

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Ok, Your baby is just getting settled into its new home.
you have to kind of think of what it would be like if you were in its place.
Your world has completely changed. A huge creature has taken you and put you
into a place you have never seen.
Would you feel like eating at the moment.
I for one would be scared out of my wits.

But you are on the right path.
how deep is your substrate? I would have at least 2.5 to 3in deep.
and loosely packed down.

when you moistened the coco fiber what water did you use.
The best is water treated with a aquarium grade water conditioner that removes chlorine and heavy metals.
even bottled water has small amounts of chlorine.

The best thing to feed this little one to start is crickets.
Now when I first got my packy it didn't want to eat right away also it took a few days.
I got a cricket keeper from the pet store and some cotton balls and flukers cricket feed with calcium,
I use the cotton balls to hold water so the crickets have a source of water. some people use water crystals.

For your baby get medium crickets. I got small crickets for mine and it completely ignored them.
Feed at night after lights out. or first thing in the morning.

Then later you will want to get night crawlers and feed cut pieces. no longer than the space in between its eyes.
you can get them either at wall mart or the pet shop or a bait shop.
just make sure they are unscented and no dyes. Carlos (Mentat) has the SKRU # for wallmart
The ones I get are canadian night crawlers and they come in a styrofoam box for a dozen worms. that will last you at least 2 weeks.
when you cut the worm cut from the anus end of the worm, it will heal up and not die.
Here is a picture of the anatomy of a earth worm to give you guide where to cut.



Also to broaden his diet I would start a Dubia roach colony. Much cleaner than crickets. and no where near the smell of crickets.
And they cant climb plastic or glass surfaces but the small nymphs can climb the silicone seals of a glass tank.
and they can't breed in temps lower than 70F and don't do well in temps below 50F so if any escape they wont survive the winter.

And so far none of my nymphs have bitten me and I haven't handled any adults yet so I cant say they wont bite.
But crickets can bite your frog.
So don't leave them in the enclosure too long. like over night.
The roaches will burrow and hide if left to their own devices.

Have you read the care sheet on packmans yet. if not Click here.

Here is my weekly regimen for my little one.
I feed by tongs (rubber coated tips, I cut grooves into the rubber to help hold the worms.)
for my baby I feed one night crawler a day and I put 3 to 5 large crickets or dubia Nymphs.
and remove any left over in 15 min.
On saturday or sunday.
I prepare a warm bath or treated water heated to 80F in a 9in by 6in plastic bin that is 5 inches tall.
I use a old bath towel to wrap around the bin and cover it after I put the frog in it and let it stay in for at least 20min.
During that time I take out the ornaments and water bowl and clean them with the hottest water my hot water heater
can muster then rinse well with treated water.
I clean the substrate like cat litter with a sifter shovel.
After 3 weeks I do a total replacement of the substrate. Now if it starts to smell a little funky I change it sooner.
Once I am finished with the cleanup of the enclosure and put everything back.
When I lift the towel 9 times out of ten I will find that my little one has left a present in the water. (poo)
If so I just make small clean bath of the same temp and put it in for 5 min to clean off the poo. Then put the frog back in
its home.

[COOCOpUcHoo]

that is a lot of helpful information, thank you. I did see that zoo med has a pacman chow. Do you think it is ok to use? This is their official instructional video. ---> Pacman Frog Food - Instructional Video - YouTube

[danfrog]

I would take the uvb out and put in a low what incandescent red bulb for night and a low watt regular light bulb for day.if you use this method for lighting and heating make sure you have plenty of shade. Not sure if you have a digital hygrometer/thermometer with a probe, but they are a must. Other than that Charles is correct on everything. I just wanted to point out that humidity and temperature can effect eating habits. I put in a pic to give you an idea of what I'm currently using.

[danfrog]

Oh and as for his chin... He is probably too young to be calling, but I've heard of a bacterial infection that can cause a saggy chin (worst case dont panic). Please post a pic asap. I'm still to new go really give you answers on that though. There are lots of experts on these forums daily that will guide you further.

[COOCOpUcHoo]

As you can see, the chin seems to be more chubby than usual.

[danfrog]

I don't know anything about that stuff.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

Well I trust live feeders more than anything.