Couple of questions about my new frog.

[Bast3rd]

I have had my Pacman a week now. he finally started eating on Monday, He ate probably 4 or 5 medium size crickets in the night. Now he is only really interested in one small to med size cricket at a time. He does not like tongs. I offer him a cricket with them and he backs up and turns away. Its hard to make sure he is getting his nutrients with out using them. Any tips on getting him to eat from tongs? My other question is I have not found any poop yet after a week, but he has only really been eating 4 days. I haven't look where he burrows, I assume he would poop where he lives What should I be looking for? What does frog poop look like? Thanks for the help.

[Hypnotic]

Frog poop looks like.... well, frog poop. You'l know it when you see it, these guys poop big for their size. A brown weenie is what your looking for.
Could you post a picture of your frog? Don't give up with tongs, keep coaxing him, and eventually he will submit. It's not hard, just gently keep running his lip from side to side and you will invoke a bite response. If he turns away, follow him. Just make sure to not stress him out, I do this for a maximum of 15 minutes tops.

4 days should get you a poop, I'd say, next time after feeding, drop him in his waterdish and feel his right side, if it's not hard, you shouldn't worry. Also, while doing this, dig around in his burrow, he might have hidden it somewhere!

[Bast3rd]

Thanks Ill try that. I was planning on looking for impaction soon. This is a pic from the day I got him. I haven't taken any new ones yet. Its a samurai blue from Mike.

[WorldClassFrogCoddler]

First off, let me say your little frog looks good! I'm going to buy a blue or two from Mike as well, as soon as the government stops jerking us around on our tax return.

He's still a little guy, so 4 to 5 medium crickets seems like a very big meal. He'll probably need a couple of days to digest them.

I had trouble tong feeding at first too. Think about it. In nature the frog burrows all day, then comes out at night and hunts food. We put them in a glass tank and dangle a worm from a different continent in front of it with shiny metal tongs.... nothing about this situation is natural to the frog. But, that's the way it's gotta be. So, the only solution is to train the frog. You must make things as stress-free as possible.

What I do is a little different than most, but I put my guy in a different tub with paper towels in it so he doesn't eat substrate. I have read some damning reports of frogs dying from consuming too much substrate over a few years time.

Most people say this method stresses the frog too much. Blues can be very delicate so whether you do this or not is up to you. But the point is, there's nothing to the actual TRAINING of the frog besides patience and perseverance, as they say over at Ivory Reptiles.

You should set up somewhere comfortable, so you can outlast the frog. Be relaxed and calm. I turn the lights on brightly to see the frog well, but I make it a rule for the house to be silent during feeding time. Then, you'll want to hold the food in front of the frog so both eyes can see it, and just jiggle it and wiggle it for up to 5 or 10 minutes. Eventually, the frog will realize that the tongs are holding it's food, and will strike at it. Rubber tipped tongs are best so the frog doesn't injure itself on the metal tongs when striking.

These days I only tong feed worms though. European or Canadian nightcrawlers, depending on availability. I let the frog hunt crickets on it's own with no tongs. And the worms are perfect for tong feeding, because the worm can't bite the frog or scratch it the way a cricket or mouse might. So you can rub the end of the worm on the frog's lips. I find the corners of my frog's mouth is ticklish and gets him to bite very quickly if I keep tickling him there. Then, once the worm is on his mouth, the frog will realize he has food and slurp it down like spaghetti!

Just be patient and monitor your frog. If it seems to be getting really freaked out, turning away over and over, jumping a lot, trying to climb the side of the tank, etc, it's probably time to stop and try it again later. Don't try and force the frog unless absolutely necessary, because the stress could kill your little pet accidentally.

As for the poop, the frog will sometimes prefer to relieve itself in it's water dish, other times it will do it in it's burrow. My frog likes to burrow in one specific spot where he can see everything from, so he doesn't seem to go in his burrow. I sometimes give him a honey bath to help him pass it. I think he may be a bit impacted right now, so that's what I'm doing. It should be warm water, not hot, and shouldn't be deep. The frog should be sitting on the bottom and the water shouldn't go above it's nostrils for sure. Then add a couple drops of honey. Let it soak for 10 mins or so, then give it a second rinse-off bath. After a couple days, it will probably leave a nice gift for you in the bath.

But, saying that, your frog doesn't appear to have a lump on his right side, so he may not really be impacted.

[Hypnotic]

I always let the frog soak for 30 minutes, then give them a 10 minute regular soak to clean off the honey. Before you start doing honey baths, have you tryed a regular one? I drop my frogs into the waterdish every saturday, no matter if they pooped or not. Some exercise never killed a pacman.

[Bast3rd]

Thanks guys! I Really Appreciate the advice. I found poop the day after I posted this. He is eating well. Usually about 2 medium size crickets a day and maybe another one I leave in the cage some time in the night. While I am on here I have another question. I was cleaning the his cage today (I have him in a large critter keeper). and i looked at his legs to get a baseline of what he looks like to track his health. Does this look like red leg? I don't think it does but I just want to make sure. Since he is in a smaller area I changed the substrate after two weeks.