Trouble feeding my pacman frog.

[Truffs1178]

For some reason my pacman frog has not been eating by himself for about 3 months. The only thing he will eat by himself is adult female dubias. I have to force feed him earthworms and stuff by either rubbing them against his mouth or using something to gently open his mouth. I have him living in exo terra soil and he has a big, shallow water bowl, a hide and some plants. Three sides of his tank are also covered so he should feel pretty secure.

[danfrog]

Rubbing the mouth with nightcrawlers is a perfectly acceptable way off feeding. Is he grabbing them on his own when you rub his lips?

[Truffs1178]

Rubbing the mouth with nightcrawlers is a perfectly acceptable way off feeding. Is he grabbing them on his own when you rub his lips?

Sometimes but sometimes if he won't eat I use something to open up his mouth them place food in.

[danfrog]

Hmm when he jumps the on the glass does it look like he is trying to escape? If so that might be a sign of a dirty enclosure. Female dubias are pretty big right? Have you tried uncut nightcrawlers? That's all my Mojo will eat. Anything smaller than that and he will look at me like I'm crazy. He likes big prey that is worth his time. And agian, does your frog take the nightcrawler when you rub his lips? I do that for my Mojo, its nothing to worry about. When you rub thier lips with the food its just telling them that dinner is ready.

[danfrog]

Ah sorry missed the last post you posted. How often is sometimes and how large is he?

[Truffs1178]

I couldn't tell you how often sometimes is. It's just random, sometimes he will just eat others not. He is about 3 inches long and about 9 months I think.

[Lija]

danfrog is right, sometimes the size of the prey matters, my big girl would eat something big only, so for one nightcrawler she wouldn't bother, but give her 5 hanging tightly from tongs she'd be all right, but my pixie on the other hand loves crickets, that she'd eat like 100 at a time, very funny to watch how a big frog is chasing tiny in comparison prey all over the tank, sometimes catching 5 at a time and obviously having time of her life lol

how does he looks, healthy? you do vitamins, right? i'd write down a log for him for some time, record when/what/how he eats, cleaning, bath, anything at all that you do ( or he does) over a period of time. I keep logs like that for all my pets, in emergency it is easy to pull up records, it is very useful.

[Truffs1178]

I try to dust his food 3 times a week with calcium+d3 and once a week with multivitamin but its a struggle since he barely eats. I got him to eat a Canadian night crawler last night. Do they need to be bathed? I have a big water bowl in his cage which I clean regularly. Can't he soak in that instead of being bathed?

[danfrog]

At almost three inches snout to vent, 1 canadian nightcrawler is a good sized meal. Mojo will eat three regular nightcrawlers at max in a sitting but usually just eats two (had three last night). Then he wont come up for food for about two or three days. When Mojo hit his last growth spurt he was about your frogs size. All of a sudden he wanted to eat everyday for about two weeks straight. Is your frog atleast eating a couple times a week?

[Truffs1178]

Yes he is fed 2 times at least. He usually eats 2 night crawlers as well. His largest ever meal was an adult mouse which kept him full for about a week.

[danfrog]

I don't know but it sounds to me like he is eating pretty good. An adult mouse is a HUGE meal for a frog of of that size. Might want to go with hopper or fuzzies on mouse days.

[Truffs1178]

He eats enough its that its not him wanting to as I have to open his mouth for him if he won't eat which is pretty much all the time. Last night was the first time in ages he ate anything without me having to open up his mouth for him and yes I agree it was way to big for him but he'd already ate it before I decided it was a bad idea. Never again will he have one that big.

[danfrog]

Kk I know you done the trouble in the enclosure questions before. Can you do them agian pls and post a pic of his current enclosure?

[Truffs1178]

Ok. It'll be up shortley.

[Truffs1178]

He passes stool fine and his colour are fine although he does have red this is naturally there. He is super healthy its just he doesn't eat. He sometimes gets up at night to soak and he often jumps at the glass and scratches at it and will hop into my hand if I open it. He's not your average pacman but he just never eats. Btw I have tried everything he's just not into any bugs but female roaches(I don't think he likes the wings on the males).

Do you think I could train him to eat in a separate container or is that pointless?

[Lija]

He passes stool fine and his colour are fine although he does have red this is naturally there. He is super healthy its just he doesn't eat. He sometimes gets up at night to soak and he often jumps at the glass and scratches at it and will hop into my hand if I open it. He's not your average pacman but he just never eats. Btw I have tried everything he's just not into any bugs but female roaches(I don't think he likes the wings on the males).

Do you think I could train him to eat in a separate container or is that pointless?

some of them are very stubborn LOL try to cut dubia males wings rubbing gently lips is not a force feeding, it is ok.

[Truffs1178]

I said I sometimes open his mouth with an object if he won't eat and yes some are very, very stubborn. Why couldn't he be more like my bullfrog.