I bought a Pacman frog about a week and some days ago (the 21st), and recently started having trouble getting her to eat and need advice; I don't really know amphibians that well.
She's in an 18x18x12 gallon tank, eco earth substrate about 2-3" deep and with the larger bits sifted out, a low-watt UVB and a 40 watt red incandescent. Daytime temps are 78-80, nighttime 74-78; I'm still working on stabilizing the humidity completely but it averages 76-80% with twice daily mistings for the substrate.
The first day I got her, she ate at the pet store several small crickets. The second day was a few large ones (she mostly had trouble catching them; I herded them her way with my hands). After that, one large cricket and 4-5 wax worms. I tried some giant mealworms too, to offer a varied diet (every other feeding or so was dusted). On Saturday the 28th she didn't seem interested and didn't eat. Sunday, she had one giant mealworm and didn't eat anything else. Monday she didn't eat; I took her to the vet (1.6 oz and seemed healthy all around). Today she finally lunged at an earthworm but didn't catch it and I guess she got discouraged because she wouldn't try again no matter how many crickets/worms I sent her way.
She's about 2" and a Cranwell's horned frog I think the name was. The vet and I both figured maybe she's just stressed from the recent move. I'm convinced that's it. I try not to handle her but I did pick her up 1) the day we got her to move her in the tank, 2) the saturday she didn't eat to move her into a small kritter keeper filled with crickets and worms to try and encourage her and 3) the day of the vet to get her in/out of the tank and by the vet herself.
She recently went to burrowing herself completely under the substrate and I stupidly dug her up out of worry (but that was before she snapped at the worm so I guess no real harm).
Anyway, I'm just worried. How long is too long for her to not eat and am I doing anything wrong? Or is there a good way to try and get her to eat?
Also at least as far as I've seen, she's not pooped since the first day to be frank, but the vet didn't see any signs of impaction.
Also, I mist and offer dechlorinated water only.
If she's 2" SNV then she should be able to eat a whole nightcrawler in my opinion.
I forget if Waxworms have a hard shell or not but the Mealworms definitely do, long term as a staple item it will cause impaction so it's best not to rely on Mealies as a staple food item.
Sometimes it can be hard to get them to eat and while you may be right that she's discouraged, she may probably still be getting used to her new environment. If you're truly concerned with getting her to eat, try tong feeding her. Grasp a nightcrawler by one end and tease the other end along her mouth and that might get her to eat.
I've gotten to the point with Keropi that she doesn't need me to do much other than drop worms in front of her face to eat (she's a agile little pac and can catch worms falling in the air).
I highly recommend tong feeding earthworms/nightcrawlers. They're the easiest in terms of preparing and cleaning after (I personally hate rounding up any uneaten crickets and am too grossed out to bring dubia roaches into the house).
Yeah, I definitely don't want to offer many mealworms but at least for the time before it seemed to spark her interest.
I've been trying since day one to tong feed her; I've wiggled fish, crickets, meal and earthworms infront of her nose for an hour every day trying to get her to eat, but she only had interest when it's on the ground.
I'll try some nightcrawlers tomorrow though, and will just try to leave her alone for a bit to settle in.
It's good that you're trying! Keropi sometimes eats two or three worms at a time but if she's busy working on one already I try to pace myself and not have too much going on around her as she's eating. Don't want to spook'em as they're eating, but on the occasion I'll leave an extra worm in front of her and she'll snatch it on her own.
She just might not be adjusted to it yet but if shes only got interest when its on the ground then you might just have to strategically place them near her or her burrow in order to get her to eat.
Good news!
After watching Tong Feeding 102 on youtube (a great video by the way) I finally got her to eat by basically bothering her with it on her nose until she took it haha, but she ate 3 inch-long chunks of nightcrawlers no issue after that, so it's a huge relief.
Great to hear! =) That's all you need to do for these little fellas. I personally have not fed anything other than nightcrawlers since they're a perfect staple food but it's good to know you're pac is eating!
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)