Concerned about my baby Pacman

[ksta]

Hello,

I've had my baby green Cranwelli for two weeks at this point. He's not super tiny but is still small, about the size of a US halfdollar.

I couldn't get him to eat crickets his first day so I tried a wax worm his second day and he ate four. He completely buried himself and for a few days I was bringing him up to offer food (dubias or nightcrawlers) every night. On one occasion, I got him to eat a couple chunks of nightcrawler. It seemed really stressful to him to be digging him up every night so I have left him alone. He came up on his own one night so I gave him a small hornworm, which he took, but then I didn't see him for 5 days. Worried, I dug him up 2 days ago and he was fine it seems. Still a fat little dude so he's not losing weight but I was reading that babies should eat almost eveyday.

He's in a 10 gallon tank with 3 inches of eco earth, a water bowl with dechlorinated water, and a nice broad fake plant for cover. The humidity in my house is 40-45% (AZ) so I keep a glass lid on him, otherwise his sub dries out completely very fast. It makes his humidity 70-80%. When it gets up to 80, I crack it open for 20 mins or so until it drops. Finally, I have a ceramic heat emitter that keeps him around 80 F.

Is he still getting used to being at my house? Is there something wrong with my husbandry? Am I worrying for nothing?

Thank you for your help!

[ksta]

Update: He has come up so that he's still buried but his eyes and mouth are out tonight! He did not, however, eat the hornworm or nightcrawler offered to him.

[alane]

"Pacman frog babies can eat every day".

LOL.

I've never had a baby pacman either apparently. just a small one. it sure did not eat every day. i'm figuring that a freshly emerged tadpole might do this.

they seem to have a super slow metabolism and they simply don't need much food. when they do eat they can eat a lot at one sitting, and they can "go up a notch" in size. it'll be a while before they want to eat again.

[monster]

As a baby he should be eating at least every second day, at this stage of his life it is important for him to be eating a healthy diet and getting his vitamins. And yes I would try and offer food every day as a baby even if he doesn't take it, but also remember that he will need a day or 2 off to digest. I have a couple that would eat every day and couple others that would eat every second day but the ones that did eat every day like I mentioned I would give them a couple days off a week to digest and so they didn't explode from over eating. So if they ate Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday I wouldn't feed Thursday and then feed Friday Saturday and not feed Sunday. It all depends on the frog. Instead of totally unburying him try to just uncover his head and this will be less stress full for him. He may be having a hard time settling from the interaction but by the sounds of it he is eating abit so this good. Have you covered 3 sides of the enclosure and have you found any poop since you have had him? If you haven't found poop he may need to take a big poop. Also you cant cover the whole top with a glass lid, they need ventilation. I would replace the lid with the screen one and cover half of it or a little more with foil, this will help with humidity and will reflect the heat that rises back down into the enclosure. Another thing if he's just a little a guy you don't need so much substrate, I would only use an inch to a inch and half this way its easier to monitor him. The deeper the substrate the cooler it will be by the bottom, and heat helps them digest. It may be a little to cool for his little body which is slowing his digestion down making him not as hungry. All in all if he's eating something and doesn't look to be losing weight I wouldn't worry to much yet, he may just be a little shy still. If you fix the couple things mentioned it may help, I wouldn't start to really worry to much until he stops eating all together. If he hasn't pooped give a nice warm bath at around 80f with the water no higher then his chin or bottom lip for about 20 minutes and this might get him to poo.