Help my new African Bulfrog wont eat!

[John Frogman]

Hey Everyone first off thanks for all the help did a lot of research on these forums and i think if got eveything coverd ife got a african Bulfrog hes name is Frogman he is 3 inches i jut got him he lives in a 20 golon terrarium half water half land coco substrate a log and a feeding bowl a heat matt on the side of the teraruim temps are stable between 75-80f the heat matt is only switched on at night ife been misting 3 times a day ive had him for 4 days now and ive been offering him everything mealworms hornworms krickets earthworms beetles locust small lizard nothing he is very shy and scared when im aroud ive been leaving him alone to get use to his new home do i need to worry or will he eventualy start eating ive been leaving some krickets and beetles and eartworms in his terraruim in the hope that he will eat them when im not aroud but i cant tel if they have just got out of the feeding bolw and diged into the substrate or he ate them can someone please advise me on how to approach this ive never had a amphibian before this is a firt and ive wanted one for so long! Thanks!

sorry and here is some behavior ife noticed burrows during the day hottest part of the day hes in his pool
when the lights go out he gets realy active burrowing jumping in and out of hes pool but i havent seen him eat a thing!

[jasonm96]

Hi , sorry but the heat mat on the wall is useless. A lot of caresheets do recommend this but mats provide heat by touch or heating of the substrate, but do not warm the air significantly or as safely as a radiant heater would. Temps of 80f or above are best by day and a nocturnal or ceramic lamp can be used at night if it drops too cool. It's best to feed by tongs or leave insects in a dish. Don't allow insects such as locust, roaches, crickets to free roam as these will stress the frog. If it's big enough you could try to get feeding a pink mouse dipped in calcium to get it started, but it might just need a few days to settle in. Just make sure conditions are right and it should do well eventually

If you go on Amazon kindle you'll find an African bullfrog book by Philippe de vosjoli and Robert mailloux, i really recommend this book

[John Frogman]

Hey Jason thanks for the advise i removed the heat matt ive been trying to feed with tongs but he wont take thats why ive been leaving to crickets and locusts and worms in his cage ive removed them aswel now my question is do i just keep overing him food daily until he takes the food if he doesn't take he doesn't eat and when he is hungry enough he will eventialy take from the tongs? Thanks again.

and il definitely take a look at that book!

[jasonm96]

As long as they're hiding enough moisture, heat and shelters, it will eventually feed and these guys just love to eat! It's best to keep temps in the low 80s during the day as most literature supports this but cool temps below might cause a lack of appetite. But it's also common that herps will go off feeding until they've settled into a new tank. At night it's good that temps drop slightly. I would just keep offering once a day, ideally at night when the frog comes out of the burrow. I wouldn't stress over it, you'd be surprised how long herps can go without or with little food. Only if it's a long time and there's weight loss would I be concerned