Pacman Trouble

[bman0761]

Short Version first:

i bought my son a pacman for christmas. i assume the majority of care since it can be difficult for him alone. the set up is simple, ecoearth, aa small waater dish, moss, and a half log. i live in pa so i have heater on the bottom of the tank which takes up approx. 1/3 of the spacee plus a 40w bulb for additional heat. temp stays around 80 throughout the day and we try to keep the humidity around 60.
at first the frog seemed healthy and ate every day or every other day. we clean the tank every saturday, a 10g tank. thr trouble staretd after the 2ndd cleaning. we use hot water only and dry thouroughly before we put the frog back in. once placed back in the tank the frog never moved. for 2 days it sat on top of the soil until one morning we found him dead. we noticed prior to cleaning he sat for long periods of time in his water dish so i assumed it may have over hydrated and became ill. so i took him back to the pet store and they gave me another.
This frog was much smaller but far more aactive and ate more regularly. after 2 weeks same thing. today we cleaned the tank and put the frog back in and he began to bury, nothing seemed out of the norm. we went to dinner and came back to find him stiff and sticking straight out of the ecoearth. i tried to spray him to see if he would move with no luck. after 15 minutes of watching and trying to verify any sign of life we were sure he was dead. my son and i are very upset. the little guys are so cute and for the life of me i cant figure out what we are doing wrong. i am going to return the frog tomorrow but refrain from getting another until i can find out what is wrong.
any advice or ideas on what is going on? both times they frog died within a day of cleaning out the tank.

[jasonm96]

Sad to hear. Are you de-chlorinating the tap water? Have a look at the pet store and check their set ups, maybe they're not keeping them right.

[bman0761]

Sad to hear. Are you de-chlorinating the tap water? Have a look at the pet store and check their set ups, maybe they're not keeping them right.

Yes i should have mentioned that as well. i use bottled or drops when i use tap water.

[jasonm96]

Were they collected from the store or shipped to you? Horned frogs are so hardy that it's odd that you're having this problem and I really would consider going elsewhere for your frogs

[bman0761]

Were they collected from the store or shipped to you? Horned frogs are so hardy that it's odd that you're having this problem and I really would consider going elsewhere for your frogs

both where purchased from the same petco store. i also find it hard to believe. after the first one died i became neurotic about how perfect the enviroment was during the 2nd, temp, humidity, water cleanliness, feeding, everything. we also do not handle the frogs unless we move them to clean the tank so they are basically left alone aside from being looked at.

[jasonm96]

I've heard bad stuff about petco, although I can't confirm myself, as I live in Scotland. The thing is, even in incorrect conditions, they would still survive for quite a long time before showing signs of bad health. I cannot emphasize enough how hardy these frogs are in captivity and it comes from the fact they endure harsh conditions in the wild. So what I think has happened is that you got unhealthy frogs and from bringing them home stressed them out enough to tip them over the edge but if they were healthy frogs they would have been fine. The best thing to do is buy them from a breeder or a reputable pet store that specializes in amphibians but don't allow this experience to put you off them.