Howdy! And... trouble with new Pacman baby?

[TekNinja81]

To update on this, I moved the digital probe above-ground and directly against the rear glass, and shut off both the day + night lights overnight as an experiment. The lighting dome/hood are still on the tank, but I may remove them today/tonight to see how much that affects temperature/humidity. I will not be moving the UTH yet for the obvious reason that I don't want to destroy it unless I absolutely have to.

It's actually pretty warm in my apartment right now, and that in mind: The glass the UTH is on currently reads 84.6F, and the ambient temperature according to the analog thermometer by the front, is about 75F. I could probably drop the heat transfer from the UTH a few degrees with a simple decorative object at the back wall, if needed, and may do so anyway just to hide the ugly heat pad. Otherwise, a thermostat will be a consideration if it's actually needed. Also will try unplugging the UTH and seeing how the tank holds with no heat source, or with just the overhead lighting...

I'm actually rather surprised how *little* the ambient temperature has dropped without the lights on. Would definitely have thought they were heating the tank up a bit more than that, though again, it's warmer than it had been the previous several days.

All that said, the little bugger was actually sitting up on top of the substrate when I came home this morning. I *think* I still had a cricket or two left alive in the tank last night, and if so, I can't find them -- so he may have actually eaten something. He wouldn't accept any food when I tried offering, and eventually burrowed back down again, so I'll leave him alone again for a bit.

[TekNinja81]

Jaeger has been doing well since the last post. He still tends to ignore or hide from my attempts to tong-feed him bits of worm, but I know he's been eating (calcium-coated & gutloaded) crickets when I've put them in for him.

I noticed last night he had a bit of a lump on his right side, so we gave him a 20-minute soaking in some honey-treated water, and again in some regular treated tapwater. About another 20 minutes after that, he had a *huge* poop in his water dish. Well, at least we know he's eating now! :P

[monster]

Glad to hear your little guy is doing better. For the tong he will eventually come around, some take longer then others to figure out they mean dinner and not death. L.O.L A little trick is to rub the food under his bottom lip when tong feeding. And again glad hes doing better.

[TekNinja81]

... A little trick is to rub the food under his bottom lip when tong feeding. ...

Yeah, I've been trying that method but he usually either just sits there completely ignoring me (the butthead lol) or backs away. Hopefully he catches on eventually, but as you said, some of these guys take longer. I'm just glad he's eating at all.

[monster]

Hey one little thing noticed after looking over the thread is you may want to change that daylight bulb you have in for a red bulb, night bulb or some really low wattage leds. Even though there is no uvb the bright light can still hurt his eyes. I cant really tell how much light it gives off because the room light is on but it may be something you want to look into.

[DVirginiana]

Mine took weeks to figure out the tongs. What are you trying to tong-feed? I tried basically everything I could, and nightcrawlers were finally what got mine to take food from the tongs. Both my pac and my WTF HATE it and back away if I get a cricket too close with the tongs and the legs touch their face. The nightcrawlers don't seem to bug them (no pun intended) that much.

[jasonm96]

at first when I got my horned frog the only thing he would take would be locusts of a reasonable size, then weaned him on to other foods

[TekNinja81]

...you may want to change that daylight bulb you have in for a red bulb, night bulb or some really low wattage leds....

I had been wondering about that myself, as I know the albinos are more sensitive to UVB and harsh light. The 60W daytime bulb I have doesn't output any UVB, and is a softer light than the regular CFL-type bulbs we originally had, but I picked up an ExoTerra 50W red (infrared basking spot) bulb to replace it with tonight. It seems to be working well, though I re-covered the rear half of the top to help hold in some of the heat & humidity. Supposedly the 50W IR basking bulbs run about 15F cooler than the daytime heat lamps do. (Boxes state 73F for the IR, 88F for the daytime heat, at 12"... IR doesn't even list anything beyond that distance.) I'll see how it goes in the next few days. Another alternative is that we actually have some red lens material that could be placed under the daytime light to "imitate" a red light...

Mine took weeks to figure out the tongs. What are you trying to tong-feed? I tried basically everything I could, and nightcrawlers were finally what got mine to take food from the tongs. Both my pac and my WTF HATE it and back away if I get a cricket too close with the tongs and the legs touch their face. The nightcrawlers don't seem to bug them (no pun intended) that much.

I've tried feeding crickets, silkworms, small hornworms, and bits of nightcrawler via tongs. The first day or two he showed interest and actually did snap at the food items (though as mentioned, one time it was a superworm) but generally ignores most of anything I put in his face now. Hoping he eventually learns. I know he's eating bits and pieces now, but would feel much better if I could actually *see* it happen.

[LauraS]

Jaeger has been doing well since the last post. He still tends to ignore or hide from my attempts to tong-feed him bits of worm, but I know he's been eating (calcium-coated & gutloaded) crickets when I've put them in for him.

I noticed last night he had a bit of a lump on his right side, so we gave him a 20-minute soaking in some honey-treated water, and again in some regular treated tapwater. About another 20 minutes after that, he had a *huge* poop in his water dish. Well, at least we know he's eating now! :P

This gives me hope for my little Petsmart guy. I hope mine eats soon.