New to pacmans. Could use some guidance

[Dwl022285]

Thank you so much for the great reply! So I should stay away from the heat mat and go with a ceramic heat bulb with a thermostat... That's not a problem. How do you regulate the night time temp drop-off?

[Mentat]

Hello and welcome to FF! Most full grown Pacman's will do fine in a 10G tank. Maybe a female Ornate or Aurita will require a 15G tank, but that's about it. Your 20L would be a nice home for couple toads, Tomato Frogs, or similar.

Going back to Pacmans, as previously mentioned, a baby will be fine in a smaller enclosure. I use ExoTerra's Medium Breeding Boxes inside a 10G. You can cover the whole 10G top screen in aluminum foil; then lay light dome on top in the intended position and trace outline with a sharpie. Finally use scissors to cut along line; but make the hole 1/2 in. larger. That will help keep heat and humidity in. A 60W Ceramic Heat Emitter should do; but you can go larger if dome has a dimmer like the Fluker units. Heat pads are very inefficient when used on the side as required with frogs; so if going that way, get the largest you can apply.

Do get a combo digital gauge; even if using a Hygrotherm or other controller. Need 82F and 70-80% humidity for a baby (can go to 84F for adult). Night drop can be adjusted in Hygrotherm or manually with dimmer if no Hygrotherm is used. You only need a few degrees drop (78-79F is fine).

Use treated tap (Seachem Prime) for all water needs to include mixing the shredded coco substrate. Can mist with distilled water; but avoid spraying frog.

Best food are not dyed Night Crawlers (from Walmart or local bait shop). Can cut those to mouth size for babies from pointy end. Couple in. frogs can handle pieces same as body length and 3 in. frogs can handle whole worms. Crickets should be sized same as distance between frog's eyes and gut loaded with carrots, lettuce, and crushed oats/cherios. Good luck !

[cjbage]

Thank you so much for the great reply! So I should stay away from the heat mat and go with a ceramic heat bulb with a thermostat... That's not a problem. How do you regulate the night time temp drop-off?

The nice thing about having a Zoo Med Hygrotherm controller is that you can set it up to control for daytime AND nighttime temperature and hook up a fogger unit ( either one you buy or one you jerry rigged.. there are a few posts on here about how to go about making a better humidifying unit for about the same cost ) and it pretty much handles it for you, you just need to check it with a digital therm & hygro to make sure the temps are correct. They are a bit on the expensive side but well worth it. The heat emitters work wonderful and last for much longer on average then a regular heating bulb so that helps as well.

And yeah if I had a spare 20gL I would be bugging the heck out of the Dart Frog people on info about a pair of terrestrial frogs for that one lol.

Oh and do what Mentat/ Carlos recommends you can't go wrong with following their advice

[Dwl022285]

OK so my twenty gallon is Def too big according to you guys. Maybe even too big for a full grown pacman. I have a twenty laying around but if I have to I will buy a ten gallon. I kind of had my mind at on a pacman...And I think they are fairly easy to care for compared to other options. If and when I do at this up I think I will definitely have to get the hygrotherm controller. That sounds like it makes life allot easier. If given the choice of getting a baby or a grown (maybe 4 inches) pacman what would you guys choose? Is there any benefit to either one for a beginner such as myself? Thanks for all the help guys, I really do appreciate it.

[cjbage]

not sure about the difference between the two other then feeding habits and how the person that had the older frog handled the feeding / care of it.

I have read a lot of posts on here about ones getting a slightly older frog from places and they were not fed properly, i.e only given mice when those are just for treats once a month or so for a larger frog. or not given the vits/CA w/d3 for healthy bone growth etc. I only have a baby that I got from a local pet store, the people there weren't taking all that great care with it, had it in a small container in the corner of a water dragon cage, dumped in a couple of crickets, sprayed the tank n that was pretty much it.

He/she only weighed 9g when I brought it home, now it's eating somewhere between 9-12 crickets per night, unless I feed it the PacMan food from Samurai Japan Reptiles.. he not only grabs that food off the tongs but tries to eat the tongs right along with it. but I dust using the feeding/dusting schedule I posted earlier, trying to get it more nutritious foods such as earthworms to be accepted so I can cut down on how often I feed crickets. offering a variety of foods is good no matter if it's a baby or an adult as long as the feeding size guidelines that Carlos posted are followed.

I am sure others on here can come up with more as I only have the one atm, and it will be a while before I can get another froggie.

[LJ]

I'm also new to Pacman Frogs. The best money I've spent was on a hygrotherm controller and the repti-fogger. It just makes life simple and humidity seems important for this frogs feeding habits from what I've read.

I've had mine for about 2 weeks and I can already see it getting bigger. I say go for a small one since from what I've been reading, they can grow quick.

[Dwl022285]

So if I get a ten gallon, put a baby pacman inside a critter keeper in the center of that ten gallon. Do I put the substrate in the ten gallon as well as the critter keeper to help maintain the humidity? Or do you keep the ten gallon bare and just fit out the critter keeper?