Same problem as everyone else, my pacman isn't eating?

[EyeGrow]

I went through and read some of the most recent (and older) posts on people having pacman frogs that won't eat. I couldn't really find anything that applied to exactly how my setup is, so I figured it'd be best to post a new thread, but I apologize for just adding to the same exact posts, lol.

I got my frog about a week ago and he's just not eating.



1. Size of enclosure
10 gallon


2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
By himself


3. Humidity
Stays right around 75%


4. Temperature
At night it's about 76-78F and the day is about 80-82F


5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
I use just distilled water for misting. I also use distilled for soaking however I use some reptisafe water conditioner in it. It says it adds essential electrolytes and salts as well as stimulates slime coat development.


6. Materials used for substrate
Damp Eco Earth


7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.
Fake plants, water dish, and a corner wood hide.
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
Fake plants-soaked in hot water
Water dish-soaked in hot water
Corner hide-rinsed, boiled, and baked


8. Main food source
I give him crickets, though I am going to try to get his some night crawlers.


9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
I coat his crickets with Repashy Calcium Plus. I've been doing it every time since he's not eating.


10. Lighting
He has a nocturnal infra red bulb over him for heating.


11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
^its hooked up to a dimmer.


12. When is the last time he/she ate
I was able to carefully open his mouth with the tongs and slide two crickets (one at a time) in his mouth tonight.


13. Have you found poop lately
Yes, some last night


14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
I don't have one of the enclosure but I do of him-hopefully it uploads.

15. Describe frog's symptoms and/or recent physical changes; to include it's ventral/belly area.
I haven't noticed physical changes, just him not eating.


16. How old is the frog
Probably a juvenile-MAYBE CLOSE to a sub-adult..he's a bit bigger than a baby though.


17. How long have you owned him/her
About a week


18. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
I'm not sure, I got him from petsmart *rolls eyes*-I don't care for them-so I'm sure he's wild caught..poor thing/:


19. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
Just crickets for now, I've been trying every night.


20. How often the frog is handled
I don't handle him


21. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
Pretty low


22. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)
I change his water everyday..sometimes every other. I mist several times a day cause of the heat lamp, and I just took his poops out for cleaning so far..

i think thats all..
i feed him at night, in his cage. The store said he was eating about 20 cricks a week. I did leave a cricket in his cage for over 24 hours and the cricket was crawling around still so I took it out..I would appreciate some help! Thank you!(:

[LilyPad]

I don't have any experience with pacmans other than what I've read on here. But, you should be using treated tap water for soaking, distilled does not have the minerals and nutrients that he needs. Most people on here use seachem prime for treating it. - Good thread regarding that - http://www.frogforum.net/vivarium-te...hing-else.html

The substrate looks a bit dry, it should be damp but not so wet that you can squeeze water out of it.

Make sure at least 3 sides of the enclosure are covered while he adjusts to his new home.

Here is a care sheet to look through - Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding

And hopefully someone with personal experience with pacs stops on soon

[EyeGrow]

Thats why I had been using the reptisafe to add some of those minerals back in the water. I noticed that the substrate looks dry in the photo too, but I assure you it is very damp. The back is covered with plants and most of the sides are too, but I may cover the sides better. Thank you for your help though!

[Lija]

Yeah water is a concern here, a huge one.

That is what you need to do. Use only tap water with reptisafe or prime or any other conditioner. Distilled water is the worst, i dont use it even for spraying.

You need to restore electrolyte balance in your frog. Get unflavoured pedialyte, and place him in a warm water bath. Water - treated tap. 1 part of pedialyte, 10 parts of water, keep a frog in there for 20 min a few days in a row.

Now substrate - you need to dry out your substrate and wet it with proper water. I suggest you use a new block of exo earth and leave that one for when you will be changing substrate.

Can you post pic of your frog? From top to evaluate his condition.

[Mentat]

Agree with previous responses and no matter what Reptisafe says; it will not make distilled water safe to frogs. No distilled, no R/O, no over filtered water too.

Grab substrate from the bottom of enclosure and check it clumps in fist without dripping water out. Sometimes it looks OK on surface; but it's drier below. If so rehydrate and increase misting.

A 10G is too large for any Pacman smaller than 3.5 to 4 in. Can get an ExoTerra Medium Breeding Box or similar critter keeper, set-it up with substrate (frog's height), water dish, and a silk plant. Then place whole thing inside the 10G until frog grows large enough .

[EyeGrow]

Can I use treated well water? That is my "tap water" since I live in the country. Okay so I'd say my guy is close to three inches..if I put him in anything smaller he will have no place to burrow. What water conditioner do you guys use? I'll be in town tomorrow so I will pick up some pedialyte. I will also put new substrate with the right water in there. Thank you.

[GrifTheGreat]

Can I use treated well water? That is my "tap water" since I live in the country. Okay so I'd say my guy is close to three inches..if I put him in anything smaller he will have no place to burrow. What water conditioner do you guys use? I'll be in town tomorrow so I will pick up some pedialyte. I will also put new substrate with the right water in there. Thank you.

You can buy actual spring water and use it. Better than using well water. Distilled is fine for misting and humidfiers, but that is it. Reptasafe adds electrolytes to water, but does not form the same mineral properties that are needed for the water to be safe for the frog to bathe in. It does not hurt them if it touches them. As was said though substrate must be dried and resaturated with correct water source or just replaced entirely which is what I would do.

[EyeGrow]

Okay I'll get some spring water and while he's soaking I'll replace his bedding. When should I try to feed him next?

[DVirginiana]

You can feed him whenever you want; since he doesn't appear to be impacted or anything, feeding won't exacerbate anything. However, if he looks really stressed or something you may want to wait a bit. Without something to compare to it's hard to tell how big he is, but a sub-adult can go awhile without eating. Just watch out for signs he may be losing weight (a week without eating is still within the timeframe of settling in for one that isn't a baby).

You don't really want to force-feed like that unless the frog is noticeably dropping weight. It's extremely stressful for them. Also, if you ever have to force-feed, nightcrawlers are better than crickets; once you get it in the mouth the frog will generally keep eating it, so they get more nutrition with just one time of you opening their mouth.

[WakaWaka]

I've had this problem not to long ago to, then I noticed he was shedding. Watch him/her for a little bit to see if she/he is shedding, he/she might not eat while shedding. Also your frog looks cross eyed in the pic very nice looking frog

[Mentat]

Can I use treated well water? That is my "tap water" since I live in the country. Okay so I'd say my guy is close to three inches..if I put him in anything smaller he will have no place to burrow. What water conditioner do you guys use? I'll be in town tomorrow so I will pick up some pedialyte. I will also put new substrate with the right water in there. Thank you.

If frog is 3 in. from snout to vent go ahead and leave in 10G. There are dechlorinators that will neutralize metals in water (Seachem Prime or ExoTerra Aquatize). Your human drinking well water should be safe after using those.

Any unflavored baby electrolyte will work; Walmart sells an off brand at lower cost. You can keep in refrigerator past expiration as long as you do not contaminate contents. Good luck !

[EyeGrow]

I used a dechlorinator in the water, replaced his bedding, soaked him in some pedialyte water, and tried night crawlers with him. He still won't eat. I haven't noticed any shedding..he still looks pretty healthy honestly. He's plump and alert. At night he undigs himself a little bit and sits there. So now what?

[DigitalPunk]

How many times have you done the Pedialyte soak and for how long?

If everything else has been followed and he looks alert and healthy I would just keep offering him food each night. He will eat when he is ready. If you notice him dropping weight that is when you need to have some internal alarms going off.

Or you dropping the food in there for him or are you tong feeding him??

[chase crandall]

it may just need a bit more time to settle into its new home. is it constantly burrowing?

[Heatheranne]

You can try adding a nice cave to make him feel safe.

Try feeding nightly. Drop a cricket in and let it run around for a bit. If he doesn't eat it within an hour or so, you can take it out.

As everyone has mentioned, get that substrate moistened up so he doesn't dehydrate.

Be sure your pedi soaks are 1 part unflavored clear Pedialyte to 10 parts dechlorinated or spring water, as mentioned above. Soak him right in his own water bowl so he's not too stressed by handling. After his 15 minute soak, rinse out the bowl and replace with dechlorinated water.

Pick up some Repcal calcium with vitamin D3 for when he eats. Dust his food every other day with calcium/D3 and one day a week with the Repashy vitamin.

Let him destress a couple more days. If he doesn't start eating on his own we can teach you how to gently manually (force) feed him. Feed at night with the lights out or very dim.

He's quite the cutie .

[EyeGrow]

I'd like to thank everyone for helping out and the compliments. Okay so I measured him today at about 2.5", so I blocked off about half of his enclosure and surrounded the inside sides, excluding the front, with plants so all the sides are covered and he's in about half the size of a 10 gallon.

Paul: I have done soaks about five times for about twenty minutes. I may have jumped into asking a little bit too soon, I guess I just worry and would like to fix the problem as soon as possible. I have tried both tong feeding him and dropping food and leaving it there for him for the night. I don't think that he has dropped weight. I will continue to offer him food every night.

Chase: For some reason I was thinking he was a baby and that he should be eating by now, but since he's not you could be right. During the day he burrows and has his eyes peeking out. When night comes around he'll uncover most of his body and sit there. So he does come "out" at night.

Heather: He does have a hide that he sometimes will urrow in. I do feed him nightly and have tried dropping a cricket in there, I have also tried night crawlers (with tongs). His substrate is very damp, but not soaking wet. I'm not sure why it looks so dried out in the picture. I had to soak him in a different taller bowl cause otherwise he'd just jump right out. He doesn't like the soaks. The Pedialyte is unflavored and I do 1 part of it to 10 parts dechlorinated water. The Repashy ICB does have calcium, vitamin D3, and vitamins..but I guess I could pick up some Repcal. Thank you, he certainly is a little sweetie(:

I'll post a couple of pics from above..I apologize if they end up doubling.

[LilyPad]

I wouldn't leave crickets wandering at night. They can bite your frog and stress him out, he could also take in a mouthful of substrate trying to eat it. I would keep offering night crawlers, that is going to be the healthiest and easiest to digest right now.

[EyeGrow]

Amy: I did not leave the cricket in there all night. Sorry, I didn't mean for it to come off that way. I have been trying to feed night crawlers each night now, I have not tried crickets in a few nights. Thanks.

[Heatheranne]

It sounds as though you've got his husbandry right. Give him some time. How many days has it been now since he's not eaten?

[EyeGrow]

Heather: That's good, I'm glad. It's been about 13 days now since he hasn't eaten. I'll give him some more time then.