pacman frog trouble please help

[Cory pacman]

Hi I got a baby albino pacman in may its had some problems going poop , every two weeks if it hasnt gone poop ill put it in warm water with tiny bit of honey mixed in(today.I just used warm water and it worked.just the same) but today I noticed for the second time that the poop had like a pale colored skin around it. . the first time I seen this was two weeks after I gave the frog its first small pinky . . .also ive.noticed that on the sides at the bottom.of the frog is looking a pale colour does anybody know whats causing this or
should I be alarmed by this?
For some reason I cant upload pics

I use brick substrate and I don't.use moss and a heat mat on the bottom of the tank last time I used a probe the temp.was around 82 so.I don't think thats the problem
Crickets have been its staple diet but I am in the.process of ordering earthworms and dubias

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[monster]

It sounds if he isn't warm enough and is having a hardtime digesting food. I would take the matt of the bottom and get some over head heating, they want to bury to cool off not to get warm. And if the substrate is 82 over the matt it will be abit cooler away from it, and when he comes up at night all the warmth is in the substrate and not in the air. The digestion is just as important at night as it is in the day, and white stuff on the stool is probably stuff hes having a hard time to digest. Yes I know some books say to put it on the bottom but if you were to ask some of these experienced keepers they would say its more of a last resort if you cant achieve the temps from above for some reason because its just so unnatural for them.. I don't think there is anything really wrong with him hes just having a hard time to digest properly. I would get the overhead heating and see how it goes and if still no better and would take a stool sample to your herp vet.

[Cory pacman]

Thanks for the quick reply its appreciated , i have been thinking that having the mat on the bottom was a bad idea but my enclosure has a couple mm of space on the bottom so the mat isnt directly touching the glass thats why i put it there and not on the side incase the glass cracked from the heat. . what could i get for over head heating? and im in ireland id very much doubt any vet here would have a clue about frogs ha when i started worrying about temps few months back a worker at petco told me if the temps werent correct the frog would stop eating and because lucille eats like a horse i assumed everything was okay

[monster]

Ya putting it on the side doesn't work the greatest, I use them on the side but it took a lot of playing around to figure it out. I have said now for along time that once my matts are no more good and need replaceing that I'm going overhead heating. Yes you are right that if its to cold they will stop eating but these guys are eating machines and the temp needs to be really low imo to make them not eat. And being warm enough to eat doesn't always mean that they are warm enough to digest. For the overhead heat you could use a red bulb or a ceramic heat emitter hooked up to dimmer or a thermostat. Place it to one side of the tank so the opposite end is a couple degrees cooler this way he can thermos regulate his body temps if need be.

[Cory pacman]

might be a few weeks till i get overhead heating for now im just gonna try cover up around 3/4 of the top of the enclosure with aluminum foil to try keep some heat in, i had only got half covered before and ill see if misting with warm water makes any difference i noticed today that the water ive been using is cold . .

thanks for the sound advice

[jasonm96]

What works well is to use a heat bulb during the day, which will provide viewing light and heat in a natural way, and then use a thermostat controlled heat mat on the bottom at night if temps drop below the 70s F, which would micmick heat retained from during the day and offer a place to warm up if too cool. This is how I keep my bullfrog and so far so well. I'm not keen on red bulbs, as now it's thought that the animals can see the light and in my experience I would say this is true because for every animal I've used with would freeze and be more active when it was switched off. Ceramics are good for large tanks, but drying and also very hot so moving the fixtures for access into the tank can be risky, so unless you have one with front access or a way of suspending the heater, it's a pain. I would not cover more than half of the screen top or ventilation will be poor and could cause infections since pacmans produce a lot of waste.