Pacman frog not eating??

[Deku]

@ goreptiles: I don't want to risk any accidents, I will just let the feeding be done in the tank since I will replace the substrate once a month...

@ Deku: Thx! So you would recommend me to just leave it alone and not feed it? Will the pacman give out any hint that hes hungry and ready to eat?

Thank you for your input! Like I said before, this is the first frog that my gf and I own and I just want this experience to be in a positive note... more input is appreciated~

Yes and no. Yes you should leave it alone for a while. But no you shouldnt worry about it eating. NORMALLY frogs can stop eating without care. But I think pacman frogs are an exception; they will hold off eating for a while but it eventually will eat unless its seriously sick or it has an impacted stomach(gravel, sand, etc).
What I recommend you do is simply buy some tongs(ball pointed ones because the other ones pose a health hazard to them when they lounge) and offer it a live earthworm depending on the size of the frog. You can even offer it a roach or a favorite food of a pacman. Just avoid mice or any mammals at all cost. Offer the prey item twice a day every two days. Meaning every two days you offer the food twice UNTILL it starts to eat. Just make sure you stick to a routine schedule as to frogs follow that. Try getting the prey item to wriggle as much as possible. You can also shine a lamp onto the insect it may appeal to the frog(worth a try). What I do with my frogs and toad is I directly mist them before I feed them for 5mins. This will open up their appetite. Make sure you dont "squirt" it but more like mist it. Afterwards offer the item and it SHOULD eat it. If not give it more time itll come around. Aslong as the frog/toad isnt skinny then you're in business. Pacmans should NEVER be skinny. If so they are malnourished , ill and or dying. If you have a malnourished frog give it items that are higher in fat. I was told wax worms have a higher fat content. So that may work as well.

[Deku]

Also read a post up above yours it said plants eat waste of the frogs product. Here are some clarifications of that. It takes 2-3 days for the waste to be broken down into harmless soil by the plants. So if you have a lean mean pooping machine you may want to get more plants. As well as if your frog doesnt poop much you might want to have less plants or feed your plants on some other way. Remember not to use chemicals or pesticides though.

Also if your frog/toad is a burrower remember to keep the plants potted and in place with rocks to prevent any digging and demolition of your plants. Also if you go for plants you need to get a plant light. If not just buy a uvb/uva light that has a low wattage(40-50watts) it depends on the height by the way. Just make sure its not going to bother the frog/toad. Keep the light on for a photo period of 12 hours or so a day. This will stimulate the frogs behaviour and all. They sell light timers at some petstoresand hardware stores. Make it so the light turns on around 7 or 8am and turns offf around at most 9pm.

[braaandooon]

thats cool, i know how you feel, you get this new cool frog and you want everything to just work out and hope you have a healthy frog, im going through it myself right now just got my amazon horned frog yesterday and i too am hoping the best, id really like to go and observe my frog and spend time showing her off to my friends and my children, but i also know what is in the best interest of my frog, and dont want to cause anymore due stress, but atleast i have pics to look at, and will be giving my frog a peak before bed and when i wake up in the mornings to make sure she is doing well, my plan for now is to offer earthworms every other morning, and if worst comes to worst and my frog doesnt take to feeding ill head to the local pet store to buy one of the many cheap aquatic frogs they have as wild suriname frogs prefer other frogs, i would advise to offer your frog a small dwarf aquatic frog, but this may lead to your frog becoming picky before getting it started on a good staple food like worms, crickets, roaches etc

[braaandooon]

my enclosures sit in front of windows and get natural lighting, i was using fluorescent lighting (18 ich t8 6700k ) but my plants and moss burned from using it, i did away with the lighting and really only use it for some night viewing, not saying dont use lighting just research your plants before you put them into your enclosure, make sure they safe and make sure you can meet there lighting requirements, both my plants i use(scotish moss and spiderplant) are from temperate climates and prefer shaded light and mine do alot better better by the window, some people may use palms or bromeliad type tropical plants that require full sun light and uv lighting would definatly be required, either way in using any plant wash them thoroughly(i rinse mine periodically over a course of two days) because like deku said pesticides are bad, and if keeping enclosures by a window, make sure your window is properly sealed during winter months because a drafty window in my neck of the woods can easily reduce terrarium temps and humidity

[gtr319]

Hey guys!! I did a little modding to my tank by removing the moss while hes burrowed deep under, and I purchased 10 small crickets from petsmart and dumped them all in (in case Pacatron changed his mind in regards to eating...) and loox like i have no way to know how wet the substrate and how warm the substrate really is w/o the one u insert in the substrate ( +2 items from my gf to buy), as of now he is burrowing, the earthworm scared him a bit (he eats crickets at the pet store where I got him from), I hope i can find the crickets disappear sooner than I expected... here are a few shots of my tank now (without the moss of course), and how should I keep the crickets alive longer in the tank?

[Deku]

Here is my own personal method for checking for species who love moisture. If you put your palm on the soil and take it back up and it feels moist that should be good. If its sopping wet it might be too much. If its dripping a bit then thats okay.

[gtr319]

I finally dropped in 10 small crickets last nite... and when i check this morning, one of them is missing.... but I still cannot confirm whether Pacatron ate it or it disappeared... neways, the tiny crickets aren't the correct size because... they are tiny, I will swing by another location and get the medium ones.... I really hope Pacatron would eat at least 1 or two... and roughly how long will the crickets survive in the tank... given that they are not food by then? And what should I do to keep them longer?

[John911]

I finally dropped in 10 small crickets last nite... and when i check this morning, one of them is missing.... but I still cannot confirm whether Pacatron ate it or it disappeared... neways, the tiny crickets aren't the correct size because... they are tiny, I will swing by another location and get the medium ones.... I really hope Pacatron would eat at least 1 or two... and roughly how long will the crickets survive in the tank... given that they are not food by then? And what should I do to keep them longer?

I keep mine in a plastic cricket keeper with the tubes the crickets crawl inside. And if you give them some food and that water gel stuff they should live their lifespan of several weeks i guess.
I only give mine 2 or 3 crickets every night. Hes about the size of a silver dollar, so i hope thats enough food. He has grown. I'm always hesitant to leave crickets in the tank with our frogs/lizard because they can bite. I dont know how often that happens though.

[gtr319]

I keep mine in a plastic cricket keeper with the tubes the crickets crawl inside. And if you give them some food and that water gel stuff they should live their lifespan of several weeks i guess.
I only give mine 2 or 3 crickets every night. Hes about the size of a silver dollar, so i hope thats enough food. He has grown. I'm always hesitant to leave crickets in the tank with our frogs/lizard because they can bite. I dont know how often that happens though.

o no... but those lil fella seem harmless... but as long as provide food in the tank for them, they won't attack my pac or am I wrong?

[Deku]

o no... but those lil fella seem harmless... but as long as provide food in the tank for them, they won't attack my pac or am I wrong?

Honestly crickets can be alittle bit nasty. Ived seen ones try to take a bite at my frog a long time ago. Though I didnt leave any food for the crickets.
At the same time Iam currently keeping PINHEAD crickets in a small terrarium with two 1 inch toads and I left some food for the crickets. The only thing they do is just crawl over the toads. But that may be bad? There wasnt alot so it may have been that. I only poured in 2 dozen of them. Half of which got eaten quickly. The rest are gone now and tommorrow Iam due for some crickets.

I have read reports here about how crickets bit their frogs. So I personally dont know about that. I think that the pinheads are less offensive than the adults though. In any case Id just make sure you give the crickets some places to hide, food, and water. Food for crickets can be powdered reptile foods mixed with fish flakes(tropical), and some veggies and oats. As for moisture you could leave pieces of cotton on a small cap and pour water on it. Theyd drink moisture from that. YOu could also use sponges if you have some. Just like a hermit crab in the sense they sometimes drink from a sponge.

I may be wrong so Id wait for others replies.

[braaandooon]

yah crickets can be nasty little bugs, there was a time when i first bought my cranwelli and i assumed he was eating the few meal worms id place in his terrarium, after further observation, i realized the few crickets i kept in the enclosure were going through two meal worms a night

[John911]

A couple days after I got my pacman i left a bigger cricket in there overnight that he didnt eat. In the am he had a little redish spot behind his eye. I touched it lightly with the tip of a piece of paper towel and it def was liquid/blood. He seemed to heal overnight and hes been fine since but I'm going to assume that he got bit.

[gtr319]

Honestly crickets can be alittle bit nasty. Ived seen ones try to take a bite at my frog a long time ago. Though I didnt leave any food for the crickets.
At the same time Iam currently keeping PINHEAD crickets in a small terrarium with two 1 inch toads and I left some food for the crickets. The only thing they do is just crawl over the toads. But that may be bad? There wasnt alot so it may have been that. I only poured in 2 dozen of them. Half of which got eaten quickly. The rest are gone now and tommorrow Iam due for some crickets.

I have read reports here about how crickets bit their frogs. So I personally dont know about that. I think that the pinheads are less offensive than the adults though. In any case Id just make sure you give the crickets some places to hide, food, and water. Food for crickets can be powdered reptile foods mixed with fish flakes(tropical), and some veggies and oats. As for moisture you could leave pieces of cotton on a small cap and pour water on it. Theyd drink moisture from that. YOu could also use sponges if you have some. Just like a hermit crab in the sense they sometimes drink from a sponge.

I may be wrong so Id wait for others replies.

I got them from petsmart, I hope its the pinhead that you are mentioning...

[gtr319]

A couple days after I got my pacman i left a bigger cricket in there overnight that he didnt eat. In the am he had a little redish spot behind his eye. I touched it lightly with the tip of a piece of paper towel and it def was liquid/blood. He seemed to heal overnight and hes been fine since but I'm going to assume that he got bit.

I just did a head count on the crickets, only 5 left... but once again, they are tiny lil boggers... there maybe some thats hiding, but i'm not sure.... but I can visually see 5 left after 3 sprays of water...

I guess I will let this batch slide since its size small, but I will get cricket food when I go purchase the next batch of food....

BTW, how often do you feed your pacman frog? Say after this 10 tiny cricket is gone, how long should I hold out until I get the next batch?

[John911]

I just did a head count on the crickets, only 5 left... but once again, they are tiny lil boggers... there maybe some thats hiding, but i'm not sure.... but I can visually see 5 left after 3 sprays of water...

I guess I will let this batch slide since its size small, but I will get cricket food when I go purchase the next batch of food....

BTW, how often do you feed your pacman frog? Say after this 10 tiny cricket is gone, how long should I hold out until I get the next batch?

I'm not sure. I think alot of people feed them whatever they can get in 15 minutes. I just give mine 3 crickets every night.

[gtr319]

I'm not sure. I think alot of people feed them whatever they can get in 15 minutes. I just give mine 3 crickets every night.

What I am planning to do is this... when he is done with this batch, I will just swing by the reptile store and get 10 more... given that I will swing by there once or twice a week... or is it too much food for the Pacman frog?

[John911]

What I am planning to do is this... when he is done with this batch, I will just swing by the reptile store and get 10 more... given that I will swing by there once or twice a week... or is it too much food for the Pacman frog?

not sure. i usually have a few hundred crickets all the time cause i have a bearded dragon that eats like a moose. im trying to breed them with no success yet.

[John911]

i think juveniles should be fed every day, and adults about 3 times a week. could be wrong.

[gtr319]

u

i think juveniles should be fed every day, and adults about 3 times a week. could be wrong.

Then my plan would work… for now…

[braaandooon]

glad to hear your frog is eating thats always good news, just went and bought a few larger crickets myself and my cranwelli had 5 of them down by the time i got done introducing a few into my cornuta enclosure, it should be pretty much smooth sailing for you here on out now that your frog is eating