Pacman looking very round.

[Ferretdragon]

Unfortunately it seems that at some point during the day today he passed away. I've been keeping everything up, heatmat was added to up night temps, he was peeing and was not as bloated as he'd started, he was still bright eyed and had been moving around the tank. I check on him nightly and in the morning and this afternoon whilst tidying my sons room we noticed that his eyes were flat and shrivelled, his sides are completely sucked in bar whatever he was blocked up with, he's entirely hard now with no softness left to him. We tried getting him wet (He gets misted daily anyway) and no response. We tried turning him over etc and he is just stiff and unresponsive. Very upset. My son is going to be absolutely heartbroken. I do want to get another frog but now I'm really worried that even if I buy a better setup etc this can happen all over again

[jasonm96]

so sorry to hear

but

are you sure it's dead? as the temps were cool it could have decided to go into aestivation and they do look innamate ??

[Ferretdragon]

I'd improved the temperatures by adding a heat mat - he'd already done the whole crispy thing on me once before when we first got him, spraying him etc brought him out of it and he ate his skin and started being active again but this is different, Currently got him sat on moist tissue just in case but he's discoloured, his bloating has vanished entirely but you can still see he was full of whatever it was - I'm assuming it was the morios and his sides are now hard and mishapen, eyes are flat, sunken and mishapen, which I know happens when they do go dormant but the rest of him doesn't look right at all - he was fine in the early hours of this morning, as in 3-4am.
I've googled pics of pacmans doing it but they're still round, he's really not anymore

[jasonm96]

Heat mats are not the best. Heat lamps are better as they give you some ambient heat.

Again, sorry for your loss. Don't let it put you off, though. Honestly, if you get the kit I posted above and read a good book like horned frogs by ray huzniker then you should be good!

[Ferretdragon]

Yeah it was just to tide over until we got the new setup, I think it must have been a combination of cooler temps and morios that did it in the end. Doesn't help that other places I went to get help either made keeping them sound horrendously complicated - I had read up on keeping them before going to get one but apparently not enough! Or they'd just say "Pacmans are meant to look round"
I've found somewhere I can order lobworms from - would they be a good food for pacmans if I try again?

[monster]

So sorry to hear about your loss, it may have been something prior to you purchaseing him and the stress of the move just made the problem kick in to overdrive. And as jason said dont let this discourage you from getting another, lots of people have lost frogs there first time around.

[jasonm96]

Cooler temps definitely, it can cause improper digestion so the food basically rots inside. But morios are not bad in moderation. It's best to feed a varied diet to large frogs anyway. Their just high in fat and have a bad Ca:P ratio but it can be corrected by gutloading and supplementation. Lob worms or nightcrawlers, have a better Ca:P ratio and are healthy, so you can feed these more. You don't need to supplement the lob worms but other food such as crickets, roaches and pink mice should also be used to make sure the frog is getting all the nutrition it needs.

Frogs are complicated to care for, not saying they're hard to care for but they have many needs that have to be met. A good pet shop will tell you so, rather than making them sound as easy as throwing a few crickets in now and then, change the water dish, etc. as so many wrongly do. The good thing is that the information to successfully keep them is out there and it's easy enough to care for most frogs when you have a good few books on them.

[Ferretdragon]

What I got told when I got him was that room temperature was fine - I went back several times to voice my concerns over the temps his tank was at and was told he was fine as he keeps loads of frogs. I was told to dust everything with calcium supplement, change the water in the bowl daily with treated water, spray him daily with treated water to keep him moist - change the soil every few weeks and not mix it up.