Is this normal frog behavior?

[Mentat]

Substrate should be mixed with dechlorinated water until damp and clumps in fist; but does not drip water out .

[KerkeringJ]

The substrate is moister, and he's been spending his time half burrowed with his head sticking out. I bought some crickets and they seem to have disappeared, but I can't tell if he ate them or if they simply
died, it's hard to tell with the substrate. Does he look dangerously thin?

(Left, last week; Right, today)

imgur: the simple image sharer

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I don't like crickets running around loose for long periods of time in the enclosure
with the frog.

#1 The crickets can bite your frog
#2 And if the frog is not feeding and the crickets are crawling over your frog that will stress it out.
Think about it. Would you like to be sleeping in your bed and have something crawl over you?


I have heard a few Pack man frog keepers take out their frog and put it in a small bin to feed.
For 10 min or so and let it eat as many food items as it wants in that time.
These frogs will not over eat.

The other thing is to feed only at night time as these frogs are nocturnal.
2 hrs or so after lights off. Or an hour or so before lights on.
Some frogs will feed 24 hrs a day it depends on your frog, every frog is different.

But try to avoid leaving feeders in the enclosure for more than an hour or so.
Just like feeding in a separate container, feed as much as your frog wants in 10 to 15 min and remove the rest.

Another thing is to get a digital kitchen scale that measures in grams.
and weigh your frog at least once a month when you are cleaning out its enclosure.
This way you can keep tabs on it's heath better.

My frog gained around 20-30 grams a month for the first 5 months
He started at 17g and is now nearly 220g and almost a year old.

[Mentat]

I got a smaller enclosure, but the pet store was almost out of crickets due to a snow storm. I tried putting them in the tank but they all promptly drowned themselves as far as I can tell. Also, every time I mist the tank the temperatures go way down, out of acceptable range. Any way to prevent this?

Also, I can't tell if it's because of the smaller tank or ehat, but he seems to be glistening a bit. Here's a picture that I took while soaking him in hot water.

Try handling your frog as little as possible. The water in a soaking bath should be 80F which is barely warm and not hot. If crickets are drowning you need to use a bath dish with a ramp built to let crickets get out or remove bath during feeding. Temperature for baby frogs should target 82F. A way to help temps stay steady and retain humidity is to cover most of the ventilation holes with either plastic food wrap or aluminum foil .

[GrifTheGreat]

How does the frog react to your presence? Does it breath rapidly or remain calm?

A good way to offer crickets is to break the hind legs off them so that they can't jump. This makes them easier to catch. You can leave them in over night, but be sure to count how many you put in and how many are left the next morning. Always remove the uneaten feeders the following morning.

Are you dusting the crickets with a reptile/amphibian calcium powder that contains Vitamin D3 and a Multivitamin powder? If not you need to start doing so. Dust every other day with the Calcium+D3 and once per week with the Multivitamin, but don't ever dust with both on the same day.

Since you have placed the frog in the Medium Reptile Carrier have you covered 3 sides of it? If not you should. Being able to see out into the 10 gallon all around the frog is stressfull. The frog will feel it is still in the 10 gallon's large open space.

Are their any other details about your frog's behavior that you feel is off?

[KerkeringJ]

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll definitely try the smaller dish and only feeding at night. Also, he breathes fast whenever I'm around. Is that a problem?

[Orchids00001]

The first Pacman frog I purchased from PetSmart wouldn't eat from tongs. I now, take the tongs and 'herd' the crickets toward him and he catches them when they run in front of him. He doesn't seem to mind the tongs chaseing the crickets at all. It takes more time to feed him this way, but I'm sure to see that he eats. You can dust the crickets before hand too. The dust stays on them while they run around. I wait about 10 minutes after he eats a cricket before offering another. This gives him time to 'swallow' and get ready for the next cricket.

[Hypnotic]

The heavy breathing is because he's still scared of you, some learn to relax, while I have one that always does this. Waiting 10 minutes between crickets is WAY too long. I offer another prey item after I see them swallow, if the frog isn't ready, he will make it clear, and you can wait again.