My Carnwell pacman wont eat please help me!!!

[Sajuuk Khar]

I have had my frog for about 8 months now, got him when he was a tiny baby. He is now a little over 3 inches long.

Over the past several months he has been eating less and less. He used to love crickets then stopped eating them so I switched to Night crawlers. He loved these and gobbled them up. He started snapping at these less and less, and now I am at a point where he wont snap at anything. He last ate 1 week ago, and before that was another week before he had another meal. He simply will not snap at anything.

I dont understand whats wrong with him. He has been in the same enclosure all his life, the temps and humidity have not changed since I have had him. The temps are 80 - 81 in the day and 75 - 76 at night. Humidity is between 60 to 80 percent.

He is in a 10 - 15 Gallon tank. 3 sides are covered by forest scenery paper. He has fake plants to hide under and a water dish that he never uses.

I measure the temperature and humidity about 2 inches above the substrate. He is in coco fiber and has been going poop so I am sure he is not impacted.

I have tried bumping up the temp to 84 and it didn't make a difference. I dont know why he wont eat???

When he was younger he used to sometimes walk the perimeter of his cage trying to get out and never really buried himself. Now he wants to bury himself most of the time, and usually comes out at night trying to walk the perimeter of the cage trying to jump out and escape. He has been doing this a lot and I dont know why.

I really dont know what more to do, I know all his husbandry is right, so why wont he eat!!!

The only thing I can think of is I use the Zoomed Repti fogger and it uses distilled water. Could the distilled water used for misting be hurting him?? Is it poisoning him over time???

[Lija]

Sorry nobody replied sooner, how are things right now?

[Sajuuk Khar]

Sorry nobody replied sooner, how are things right now?

Still not eating. He still hides most of the day and comes out at night to walk around the edge of the cage then hides again by morning.

I have had to force feed him night crawlers the past 2 weeks (once a week) as I dont want him to lose weight.

I dont understand the change and what to do. I do notice on this board there are many many threads of pacmans that stopped eating. usually they are younger ones but there are some older ones too. Seems to be a common thing?

Right now I am trying to wait 2 weeks before force feeding him (its been 1 weeks so far). I even bought him a small mouse to see if maybe he needs more larger prey to trigger a feeding response.

Its really frustrating because he used to be such a good eater, and would lunge at my hand/tongs when trying to feed him.

When I look at him he looks nice and healthy, although he/she is only 3 inches so he is not the largest and has stopped growing.

How long should I ideally wait before fore feeding? I really would like him to try and eat on his own.

[jasonm96]

Keep in mind when pacmans grow older they only eat less frequently and need time to digest larger meals. Crickets are only really good for small frogs, and adults or frogs near adult size will be looking for something a bit larger. Roaches, pink mice and nightcrawlers are best, but just nightcrawlers might be a bit boring to your frog and could eventually lead to difecencies as although they are good, they are not complete. Fish could also be offered but there's risk of disease. Superworms are another thing you can feed but not too often and be sure to gutload and supplement them as they have a bad Ca:P ratio.

Place the thermometer right at the floor to get a good reading and go for the digital type. Even with the proper temps and humidity the frog may still sense the change in seasons. For an example, even though my bearded dragon is kept at the same temps and photoperiod he has became less active and hiding most of the time, animals just seem to know. Be sure to maintain the proper photoperiod of 12:12 with a fluorescent bulb if you're not using a daylight heat lamp.

hope that helps

[Sajuuk Khar]

Keep in mind when pacmans grow older they only eat less frequently and need time to digest larger meals. Crickets are only really good for small frogs, and adults or frogs near adult size will be looking for something a bit larger. Roaches, pink mice and nightcrawlers are best, but just nightcrawlers might be a bit boring to your frog and could eventually lead to difecencies as although they are good, they are not complete. Fish could also be offered but there's risk of disease. Superworms are another thing you can feed but not too often and be sure to gutload and supplement them as they have a bad Ca:P ratio.

Place the thermometer right at the floor to get a good reading and go for the digital type. Even with the proper temps and humidity the frog may still sense the change in seasons. For an example, even though my bearded dragon is kept at the same temps and photoperiod he has became less active and hiding most of the time, animals just seem to know. Be sure to maintain the proper photoperiod of 12:12 with a fluorescent bulb if you're not using a daylight heat lamp.

hope that helps

Thanks for the reply. I know they do eat less as they age, but he has not eaten in over a week. I dont know but I dont think this is normal? His staple for a long time was night cralwers (dusted with calcium and vitamins) and the odd horned worm every 2 weeks or so. I do have a Thermometer and Hydrometer about an inch off the substrate floor and I keep him on a 12/12 night /day cycle. Like I said i have not changed anything in how I keep him since he was a baby frog and he has grown up nicely with this setup.

How long should I wait before force feeding him again? I was doing it once a week but I would like to stop that. I am trying to wait 2 weeks this time to see if he will eat. I have bought a mouse for him and so far he has refused it. Its like he doesn't even see it, no reaction at all. I hope in another week (it would have been 2 weeks by then) he would eat the mouse.

[Lija]

Based in what you are saying it seems you are doing everything right, I would love to see pic to confirm he is fine though.

but what you are saying is very normal, they feel weather changes outside and slow down substantially on eating. I think the longest mine were off food is 4 weeks, they are not actually brumating, but false brumating, just resting, sleeping. You need to watch if they are ok though and offer food once in a while, but don't stress out too much. What can help us if you do a warm bath for a frog ( water level no higher then frog's chin). It usually wakes them up, they poop and then ready to eat.
All of that is applicable only to adult frogs.

force feeding is very stressful and should be used as a last resort when there are no other choice.