Ready to cry.....Ganesh my pacman is not eating again....

[PsykotikLovbyrd]

So I had posted a while ago that my pacman was not eating. I thought it was taken care of. He was still reluctant to eat, I have not seen any of the pacman attitude I keep hearing about. I had to put the food item (nightcrawler or dubia roach) on tongs and rub it against his lips to get him to eat. Now he resolutely closes his mouth and it takes several minutes for me to get him to eat if I can at all. A very sad and depressed part of me is saying I need to find him a new home with someone else who maybe has more of a knack with frogs. I got him because the person selling him on craigslist was giving him nothing but pinky mice, and so I researched and thought I could give him a good home. Maybe I was wrong.

He is still in his 2.5 gallon, but is still kind of smallish. I will be moving him this month to a 10 gallon since it is getting cooler and I want to get a ceramic heat emitter. Still though, my room is staying comfortably at 80 degrees or so, at night it gets cooler, around lower 70`s. He does not have supplemental heat, but again I will be getting that for him this month. His humidity is good, he gets misted about once a day. I change his water everyday. I don`t want to lose him. I am not sure how often I should attempt feeding him, I don`t want my trying to feed him to stress him out and make him not eat. He is not losing weight at all, and keeps growing even though I can hardly ever get him to eat. I am really just at a loss and seriously considering giving him to someone who maybe can help. I don`t know. I know with a snake if they don`t eat and you keep trying to feed them it will stress them out. So....I don`t know what to do. Someone help please?

[FantaTizer]

Hello,

I have 3 pacman frogs and all of them are very different characters. One eats everything I give him, the other two prefer food left in with them.

Have you tried offering him different types of food, what is it you are currently feeding him? Also perhaps try leaving a few bits of food in there for him to get himself.

Another thing that might work if it is has a plant or hide that he can bury himself in or under, one of my pacmans was the same but now he feels secure in a hide and eats a lot better.

You have done a great thing by giving him a better home, pacmans can just be temperamental!

Hope this helps and good luck

from Hannah

[PsykotikLovbyrd]

So far I have tried crickets, dubia (which I breed), and nightcrawlers. He will eat the night crawlers with some coaxing, but I ran out of those late in October and honestly I have been strapped for cash so could not get more. If I put the dubia in they will burrow and he won`t be able to eat them so I usually put them on the tongs and then near his face and sometimes he eats sometimes he doesn`t. The crickets seem to be a bit too jumpy for him, he is kind of lazy. He doesn`t have a hide, but he does have plants. He prefers to burrow out in the open it seems. I am just so afraid of him starving to death. I don`t know how often I should attempt feeding him or anything. All of my reptiles and tarantulas and my VERY spoiled beta fish are doing wonderfully, he is just not and it makes me really sad.

[FantaTizer]

Hmm tricky, perhaps try him on morio worms and see if he will take these? The more movement the better as it entices them!

In all honesty it sounds as though your set up is fine, although I would recommend leaving perhaps 2/3 crickets in, although they're jumpy at first they do settle and my pacmans eat them this way very happily!

Pacmans are quite hardy frogs so as long as he is still eating something then that's good, are you mist spraying his tank?

from Hannah

[PsykotikLovbyrd]

Yes he gets sprayed anywhere between everyday to every other day. I live in Colorado so humidity here can be rough. But he stays humid. I was thinking of getting him a pinky mouse, just to see if that would make him eat, but I know those are not good for him. According to his previous owner though he ate those every week without issue.

[FantaTizer]

That might be where your issue is encouraging him to eat other things, Pacman frogs should not live on pinkies so I would persist in the other live food until he gets into an eating pattern.

from Hannah

[PsykotikLovbyrd]

I was thinking of trying to feed him mealworms since I breed those too. How often should I try to feed him though? I have been trying every two to three days.

[FantaTizer]

That's another thing you could try too, I think every few days is absolutely fine

from Hannah

[jasonm96]

Horned frogs can go ages without eating. He may be attempting to estivate, check humidity aim for 60-80%. Get the 10 gallon quick, that's too small and use a heat mat or red bulb controlled by thermostat. Pink mice if he's big enough will be greatly appreciated but make sure not too feed these too often. Make sure to feed at night when the frog is active

[monster]

Hey hows it going, obviously not good. What exactly is the temperature in the enclosure? I just noticed you haven't bought heating for him yet and you have had him since around September 18th, that's when you did your first post. Even though they burrow to get out of the heat and direct sunlight the ground is still somewhat warmed up from the sun, or in this case the heating source being used. Even though the air may seem fine without any extra heating that substrate may be to cold and he isn't digesting fast enough making his appetite slow down. The other thing im thinking is if you got him from craigslist im wondering if the previous owner was having the same problems and that's why he was getting rid of it. Another thing is do you know were the previous owner bought the frog, if he was running into problems right away and didn't have any test done you never know your frog may have some kind of parasite or worms which would really cause him to act off and stop eating. I know you said earlier in the post that your low on funds but a vet visit may be a good idea or even if you know of a good reptile amphibian store near by you may be able to call them and they give him a look over and may be able to notice something else that your missing. Just because that guy said he was eating for him you never know he may have been barely eating at all. Either then that I cant really think of anything else at the moment if everything else husbandry wise is ok.

[PsykotikLovbyrd]

According to the person I got him from he got him from a pet store as a impulse buy and then just thought he was boring. The pet store owner had him on sopping wet substrate and was only giving him mice, no crickets or anything else. The guy I got him from had him on a mixture of vermiculite and I think eco earth or some other coco fiber. I am going to get him a ten gallon this weekend with heating. Now I did leave a maimed roach in his tank last night and I can`t seem to find it this morning. He may have eaten it or it may have burrowed, I don`t know. I was planning to last month but I run a small business and had a lot of cancellations so I was barely scraping by and am still behind on rent as it is. He is almost completely burrowed this morning, and he is moving around because every morning when I change his water it looks like he has been soaking in it. I have a space heater in my room that runs pretty constantly. I am just getting heartbroken over this.

[jasonm96]

Bit ignorant of him, unless you have a general knowledge of an animal you should never impulse buy. I just read that your house temps are at 80, this should be fine although a small heat mat on thermostat could be used if it ever drops lower. All you really need is a ten gallon for an adult male or juvenile female, thick substrate and a water dish in your case, you're lucky you don't need to bother with heating, that just makes things so much more easier. I feel for you in your situation, if you can't afford a ten gallon you can get a plastic rub and drill holes in it. I think the thing is you're over thinking it, as long as the frog does not lose weight he should be fine. He's probably trying to aestivate or just needing time to adjust. If you can a night light or even if you have to put a dim light on in the room at some point during the night and see if he's out then