Puck's terrible twos

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I have owned Puck, my pacman, for over 2 weeks. The first week he was eating 2-3 crickets every other day (from tongs). While many things I have read said to feed juveniles daily, I was happy that while adjusting to his new environment he was eating at all. However, on the second week things changed. He stopped eating anything (I've tried crickets, powdered food, and nightcrawlers). He now buries himself when you pass food in front of him or he hops away.

He has also started to hide all of the time. I know they bury themselves but the first week he would come out at night and soak or do something (though I do know that he soaks sometime in the middle of the night because there is always fresh substrate in the water dish).

I just don't know if I should worry or do something for this poor guy. He's about the size of a silver dollar. The tank is a 10 gallon long. The substrate is coconut fiber and the water is always dechlorinated. He has two plants, and big bushy one he loves next to his water dish and a smaller one next to his half log hide. Temps range from 75-78 during the day and 72-74 at night maintained by an under the tank heater placed on the side a day a light with a dimmed daytime reptile bulb 60 watt. The humidity ranges from 60 to 90 maintained by my spraying the tank. The tank is not in a high traffic area.

He definitely looks round and his color looks the same (a nice green with dark spots) so part of me thinks I should worry, but I figured I'd at least ask if someone has any idea of what's going on or if I should change something.

[Lija]

you need to raise your temps asap, keep day at 80-82 and night 76-78

can you pls post pic of a frog and a tank

[Randy]

yeah thats a bit cold see about getting a reptifogger for humidity and a good hygrometer try to keep it at 80 percent , question is he shedding?Id ask someone about the reptile bulb at 60 watts isnt that a bit much for a 10 gallon?I have a 50 gallon and my 2 bulbs are 25 watts apiece i use a uth under my tank actually 2 of them one under my pond the other under 1/4 of the tank . my tanks raised a half inch to dissipate some of the heat from the under tank heaters .along with plants .just a suggestion .

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Thank you. A lot of what I read said that you don't want a pet kept in such warm temps because they can't burrow as deep in a tank to get away from the heat. The bulb is also on a dimmer and kept a little less than half. I originally wasn't sure what bulb to get since so many things said different things. Should I switch to a red or purple nocturnal bulb? I had read a few things that said this would be better for them during the day.

Whatever bulb I get, I can adjust the brightness to keep the temps steady so that's not that hard. I'll also get a bigger under the tank heater to keep the night temps up, too. I assumed he was OK since he always soaks at night during the cooler temps, and was also told that they soak to help cool off (my logic being that if he's soaking to cool off, then the temps can't be too cool), plus he's always on the cooler side of the tank. But I appreciate the advice and will up the temps. I have a hydrometer and I'll get a reptifrogger to help with the humidity. Right now it's usually in the 70%s, but that might help it from dipping down to the 60%s. I also was considering getting (and probably will now) something to cover part of the lid to help keep moisture in.

Added the pictures. Also, he doesn't look like he's shedding.

[Lija]

Oh I just realized we didn't welcome you here yet!

welcome to the forums!

temps you need to jeep your pet need to be similar to those in a wild, in Pacman frog case it is wgat I said earlier, it can be slightly higher or lower, for babies you can go to 84 during a day, the numbers i stated earlier are happy safe medium that you should be aiming. Prolonged keeping in low temps will lead to seriuos heath problems.
60w is ok, provided you have a dimmer. I use 50-60 too.
the best is to get infrared lamp and use it with a dimmer, you can use it all day and night to keep temps where they need to.
but it would be even better if you could get hydrotherm by zoomed, plug your fogger, infrared lamp and your UTH you have. That thing will keep humidity and temp spot on day and night.
You can use ceramic heater too.


Based on your pics you need to increase your humidity, tank looks too big, but very nice! Frog is little cutie too.

Let's see how it will go after you fix humidity and temps, please update us.

[Randy]

i use 2 red bulbs( both for night and makeup heat) and my daylight bulb is a mainly uvb light and to be honest with you unless the light is rated for a dimmer id get rid of the dimmer switch and go down in your wattage . I am an licensed electrician and dimmer switches do 2 things on a bulb that's not rated for one. It can cause a fire because of low amps and it can shorten the life of your bulbs. As far as the uth goes if you sized it right for the tank raising your tank off the ground will allow for convection of the heat( most come with small silicone coasters to raise your tank up off the ground anyways ) and a good thermostat will regulate the heat as well. My trade is heating cooling plumbing electrical and refrigeration . I'm pretty good with regulating heat lol.

[Lija]

Randy, all reptile specific heat lamps are dimmer safe, provided you use proper light domes and dimmers.
UTH are designed for heating under tank with a substrate on, but for pacman frogs you can't use as they intended to. When used attached on a side they don't heat up tank much, therefore you need to use them bigger then your tank volume, very rarely that you can use only UTH for pacman frogs and have proper temp range.
people are having success combining UTH on a side with infrared lamp or ceramic heater, it is a difficult, but not impossible to achieve.

The best is to use hydrotherm controller, plug everything in it and live worry free over humidity and temps.
there are different controllers, but in substantially higher price range.

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Thank you for the advice. I'll switch out the bulb for an infrared bulb. Should I put a regular household bulb (lo wattage set a little above the tank) on the timer to provide "daylight?" I'll also get a frogger for the humidity.

Should I switch him to a smaller tank or will he be ok in this one provided I fix the heat and humidity? That first week he was pretty active and he left little burrows in various places in the tank, so to me it seemed like he liked the space.

It's a little funny because I was given a few care sheets by a friend for my pacman and that's where I got my information for the temperature and humidity I have now. However, the people at petsmart (I had to pick up a few things there) told me what you said and I was honestly a little skeptical of their advice and just went with what my care sheets said. I was also getting a little confused because care sheets I looked up online all said different things or weren't very specific. I see that you guys have a care sheet and will print that out to use (it's a lot more detailed and makes much more sense than the ones I've seen).

Again, thank you very much. I'll get everything I need after work and will let you know how things go.

Also, I just looked up that hydrotherm thing and it looks amazing. I just threw that, the frogger, and an infrared light into my amazon cart and went for the one day shipping.