Pac man mommy is new to this!

[Meghan Smith]

hello all, I was just curious what to look for for impaction.... my husband seems to be worried because I havent seen poop... we have had our beloved spot for about a month...have no idea about the previous owners or how old he/she is... but he has doubled in size (head, everything) since bringing home. the one time I saw poop it was in a hole he dug for himself. he seems 100% fine... but thought Iwould check here... he eats five night crawlers every 4 days... he comes out to the window everynight and barries himself during the day... when he slows down eating I quit feeding...although he eats the fiber if we dont feed him when he demands it lol I recently began dusting his worms in calcium... but am not sure if this needs to be done every feeding etc... I have never owned a frog but have done some research much to my dissapointment because there isnt very much clear information out there on how much to feed or when... he always wants to eat and is active... he is on a 12/12 schedule with temps of 80 and humidity between 60-80 coconut fiber substrate 25 gal tank... he seems happy and healthy just wanted some feedback if I should feed less often etc... and what to look for. the photos are a growth progression over the last month or so... the last photo was taken a couple days ago.... any advice imput etc... would be greatly appreciated.

[AbranV]

Welcome!

I don't have too much to offer you at the moment. We got our pacman a week ago today, so I'm no expert. After reading your post and seeing the pics, everything looks fine.

I've seen three doodies this past week, and one was in his previous hole. Its possible that there may be more that have gotten buried by your guy digging around.

There's a few key people here that are great at answering questions.

Until then, look for this book
I read through it a couple months back while researching these frogs. I got it again just today, and reading it after having the frog makes a huge difference.

Its a great reference book, and everyone on here are good people and will chime in soon with advice

[monster]

Hi, the first thing I notice is the moss in your tank, you need to take this out because it is a huge impaction risk. Which means the intestine gets blocked and the poop cant pass. If you notice he moves from one hole to another check the previous hole, some of them poop in the hole instead of on top of the substrate and this will make them move. If you feel the right side of his body does it feel hard? If so he is impacted, and you could put about 4 drops of pure honey into some warm 80f declorinated tap water or spring water and let him soak in this for about 20 mins. After this just make a warm normal bath again with declorinator and let him soak in this for about 15-20 mins to rinse the honey off, and the water should be no higher then the chin. If he doesn't poop watch him when you put him back in his enclosure because he may wait till he is in there to go. And when you do the bath put him somewere quiet and you can put a towel or something over the container to help hold the heat in. And again if he hasnt went in awhile there is good a chance he has eaten some of that moss.

[Emily1]

Do you feed it in that cage? If you do there is a risk for impaction because they can accidentally eat the moss. If you want to keep the moss I suggest feeding in a separate cage. If you want to feed in the cage then take out the moss
It's very cute by the way.

[AbranV]

Monster and Emily1 hit the nail on the head. I should have noticed the moss, but like I said, I'm VERY new also. One thing that I do with all my frogs is hand feed them. This helps remove the risk of impaction almost to zero

[monster]

If you say he eats the substrate when he demands food I would IMO totally remove the moss.

[Meghan Smith]

first off thanks for all your comments... spot (the pacman above) I assume will be just fine... his right side is soft not hard... also let me clarify... at times eats the coconut fiber.... NOT THE MOSS!!! And yes we feed in his cage... he apparently likes where he is I wasnt super nervous of impaction was just curious of the warning signs as I am a new frog mom... also as I have seen numerous replies on other posts saying do your research before buying your pet.... this is my son's frog... he and his dad (used to keep snakes and lizards)... but is often not available for help with our pet.

[cobra1264]

Sometimes the poop will be small if their on a staple of large soft worms. I came across that when digging mine out of his burrow to clean his cage of couldn't tell feces from coconut fiber. My big guy eats up to 6 night crawlers a week and doesn't produce the large feces as when I feed him the rare treat of a thawed mouse.

[Lija]

Hi Megan, welcome to the forums!

you pac is just fine impacted frog won't eat, yours is completely the opposite. Cory gave you an excellent advise ( as always

and yes yes you are doing exactly what you should - as much as it can eat per feeding every day, he will probably slow down though soon, you'll see.

dusting schedule - ca/vitd3 every second feeding, multivitamins - once a week. It can look like that: mon/wed/fri - ca/d3, sun multi.

as it was pointed out already : moss, it has to go, even if you don't feed on it, a frog can ingest while shedding.
also light, it seems too bright, you can't use bright light or uvb for albino.