New Pacman Frog buried and not moving at all.

[Lija]

Hi and welcome to the forum!


Petsmart..... Again.....

you got some great advise already. Would you please answer these questions, Along with pics of a frog and enclosure. Thank you.

“Trouble in the Frog Enclosure”
The following information will be very helpful if provided when requesting assistance with either your frog or enclosure. To help with your questions, please utilize the below list and post the information in the proper forum area to get advice from FF members that keep the same frog. This will allow for little confusion and a faster more informed response.

1. Size of enclosure
2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences
3. Humidity
4. Temperature
5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish
6. Materials used for substrate
7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.
- How were things prepared prior to being put into the viv.
8. Main food source
9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)
10. Lighting
11. What is being used to maintain the temperature of the enclosure
12. When is the last time he/she ate
13. Have you found poop lately
14. A pic would be helpful including frog and enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)
15. Describe frog's symptoms and/or recent physical changes; to include it's ventral/belly area.
16. How old is the frog
17. How long have you owned him/her
18. Is the frog wild caught or captive bred
19. Frog food- how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats
20. How often the frog is handled
21. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area
22. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc)

by Lynn(Flybyferns) and GrifTheGreat.

[bluebeetle]

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all of your advice. I have read many articles about care of Pacman before I post my thread but some said it's okay to do that or never do it. I was confused. I will cover tank with black paper now!

[bluebeetle]

Hi Lynn,

Seems Pet Smart is not a great place to get a pet frog?...

Here is my answers;

1. 10G terrarium (Zilla 10 Tropical Starter Kits)
2. 1 Pacman frog sized 1.5 inch
3. 50%-70%
4. 65F-75F
5. First we did tap water for both his pool and mist. Now 100% natural spring water
6. Eco earth
7. Artificial plant, plastic rock look like hiding and some decorative slates.
8. young crickets (small and pale color ones)
9. never
10. a day blue bulb which came with kit (Zilla 1- tropical starter kit)
11. a day blue bulb and heat mat which didn't stick on the wall so it might not have done anything.
12. possibly 2 nights ago but no one saw he actually ate. Put 4 crickets and 2 seem to be gone.
13. No
14. will try it tomorrow when I have light.
15. He buried himself completely and can't be seen at all. Also there is no sign of him having moved and changed his place to burrow.
16. We are not sure- his size is about 1.5in.
17. 4days
18. Captive bred
19. We fed him 2 nights ago for the first time at our home but not since then (there are still 2 crickets in tank that I will take out tomorrow)
20. One time when I put him into tank
21. low traffic area in sunroom
22. changing pool water everyday and mist 4-5 times a day to maintain even 50% of himidity

Thanks for your help, Lynn. I will try to post some pics of enclosure tomorrow. We really hope he is only adjusting himself to his new home, not being sick!!! Can I have advice for how to keep temperature warm enough without the useless heat pad never sticks on tank wall at night and also humidity in daytime with light on. Do I need to dump eco earth?

[Lija]

Hi Lynn, will I do instead lol

Seems Pet Smart is not a great place to get a pet frog?... we have a very long history with pet stores...

Here is my answers;

1. 10G terrarium (Zilla 10 Tropical Starter Kit
too big for a baby, you need smaller, medium sized kritter keeper for example. You can use it later too, for baths or smth.

2. 1 Pacman frog sized 1.5 inch

3. 50%-70%
you want 70-80%,

4. 65F-75F
That is dangerously too low, you want 76-78 (night) and 80-82 ( day)

5. First we did tap water for both his pool and mist. Now 100% natural spring water
you need to get a water conditioner, Prime, aquatize, anything that would work for fish tank water will do. Use it for your tap water or bottled water.


6. Eco earth
7. Artificial plant, plastic rock look like hiding and some decorative slates.
8. young crickets (small and pale color ones)
9. never
you need to get multivitamins and ca/vitd3 powder. Use ca/vitd3 2xweek and multivitamins 1xweek, but don't mix powders on a same day

10. a day blue bulb which came with kit (Zilla 1- tropical starter kit)
11. a day blue bulb and heat mat which didn't stick on the wall so it might not have done anything.
12. possibly 2 nights ago but no one saw he actually ate. Put 4 crickets and 2 seem to be gone.
13. No
14. will try it tomorrow when I have light.
15. He buried himself completely and can't be seen at all. Also there is no sign of him having moved and changed his place to burrow.
16. We are not sure- his size is about 1.5in.
17. 4days
18. Captive bred
19. We fed him 2 nights ago for the first time at our home but not since then (there are still 2 crickets in tank that I will take out tomorrow)
20. One time when I put him into tank
21. low traffic area in sunroom
22. changing pool water everyday and mist 4-5 times a day to maintain even 50% of himidity

Thanks for your help, Lynn. I will try to post some pics of enclosure tomorrow. We really hope he is only adjusting himself to his new home, not being sick!!! Can I have advice for how to keep temperature warm enough without the useless heat pad never sticks on tank wall at night and also humidity in daytime with light on. Do I need to dump eco earth?

in blue
to summarize it is not too bad. Yet. But you have to fix things asap. 65f and 50% humidity are very very dangerous.

temp - infrared heat lamp or ceramic heater, plugged into a dome with a dimmer,bigger sized heat pad attached to a side.

you can get fogger, plug it into hydrotherm along with your heat lamp and nkt to worry about humidity or temps again.

Humidity can be kept more stable if you cover 2/3 or more of a lid wirh foil or plastic wrap.

you need to get a smaller tank and cover 3 sides if it.

most importantly you need to have proper humidifier and thermometer to know correct readings, not these analog ones that come with a kit.

[bluebeetle]

in blue
to summarize it is not too bad. Yet. But you have to fix things asap. 65f and 50% humidity are very very dangerous.

temp - infrared heat lamp or ceramic heater, plugged into a dome with a dimmer,bigger sized heat pad attached to a side.

you can get fogger, plug it into hydrotherm along with your heat lamp and nkt to worry about humidity or temps again.

Humidity can be kept more stable if you cover 2/3 or more of a lid wirh foil or plastic wrap.

you need to get a smaller tank and cover 3 sides if it.

most importantly you need to have proper humidifier and thermometer to know correct readings, not these analog ones that come with a kit.

Thank you so much!!! I will get everything tomorrow. Supposed I did set up the smaller tank well, what should I do with him? Transfer? How?

[Lija]

Yes, get one of those plastic kritter keepers, medium sized or large might work too for 1.5" baby. Get more Exo earth or plantation soil that you need to expand with conditioned water. Then put some in, not a lot, no more then 2", shallow water dish with the same conditioned water, plant of sorts, to create a hide. Cover part of the top with something., cover 3 sides with anything not see through. What is home humidity? If it is bad you can wet a towel and out on top of a cage. It is really try and see. Don't overdo though, aim for 75%.

now all exo earth from tank he is in, take out and let it dry, you will use it later when you need to change the substrate, you will add dechlor water and it will be all right.

You can put plastic cage inside the big one, sometimes it helps maintaining temps and humidity.
Please when you get a chance post a pic of a frog himself. Before transfering him into his new home do a bath for him. Warm water ( same conditioned one), water level no higher then frogs chin, keep him in there for about 20 min. Warm water 80-84F. It will give you enough time to clean the tank he is in now and to set up a new one.

oh and one more thing, when touching a frog, transfering him, etc, wash your hands and use non powdered disposable gloves, or after washing hands well, rinse them with conditioned water. Oils on your skin are better be in no contact with a frog.

good luck!

[bluebeetle]

Hi! I just managed to re-equip our Pacman's enclosure following the advise. First of all, I was wrong about his size- he was bigger than I remember and was about 2.5-3in. As I couldn't find a good smaller size tank, I kept the 10G for now. I bought fogger and better thermometer. No one had hydrotherm at store today so couldn't pick up. Also bought water conditioner and infrared lamp along with a done with on/off switch. There was no dimmer with or sold separately. Got bigger heat pad and stuck on the side of the tank. Pecman was completely hiding but careful took him out with glove on and gave him a bath. He looked happier. He ate about 5 little pale crickets and now buried himself in halfway. The temp is about 80F and humidity is 75-78%. Hope he will adjust himself soon.

I cover 2 narrow sides with black paper. Should I cover the front one too?