Took my pacman to the Vet today, now comes the question...

[gtr319]

Hi guys,

Last week I opened a new topic in regards to my albino who flipped over in the middle of the night. When I took him to the vet this morning, the first thing that the vet said when he saw Pacatron was: "you kept him in these kind of substrate?" I was shocked to hear from him because most of the owners I know use coco husk or sth in that nature. And further more, he told me that Pacatron may be having a little constipation, and it has something to do with the diet that I am feeding him. He recommend me to feed gold fish or meal worms because he said the crickets have hard exo-skeleton, and he also mention that keep the younger crickets are softer.

As far as set up goes, he recommend me to have the following set up: half water and half aquarium sponge. I've seen other frog owners do this in Hong Kong and it works perfectly fine. I am wondering what do you guys think? Anything that will help my frog thrive, orthodox or not.

Thank you for the time and comment and or advice^

[onedge30]

Ok, first, what was the vet's thoughts on the flipping over?

Second, there are many ways to do the same thing. Keeping pacman frogs. Vets, even those that specialize in exotics, can't know everything about every animal. So, they do there best.

Yes, most keepers use coco fiber. And have learned that it is one of the most 'passable' substrates. Meaning it goes in and comes out when they per chance eat some. Yes, there are keeper who use just aquarium sponge. Half sponge, half water area. Sure, there are more digestible food and food that are harder. There are many, many options. I would disagree with the goldfish due to parasites and all the possible bad bacteria they could have. If you can get some that are free of these issues, then great. You want soft, how about night crawlers? They are very good. I really like them. Frogs love them.

Hope this helps. Cheers,

[gtr319]

they are scared of the earthworms...

[MeTree]

I am sorry, I know this thread is 4 days old (since last post), but did you say that your vet recomended mealworms? I keep hearing conflicting reports on that. Just another tally on the paper for pacmans and mealworms.

Was your vet recomending soft food, or hard food? I couldn't tell.

I am sorry for all the questions. I just think it is really neat that some people live near exotics vets.

[gtr319]

Well... I didn't really took his advice as to feeding him mealworms... I've switched both my albino and my green phrase pacman frog into half aquarium sponge and half water (I will try to post pictures tonight), so far both behaved well... but just that my I have to make the slope a little finer for my albino...

[Wormwood]

If you use feeders that can be placed in a shallow, smooth dish I find this limits the substrate any frog/toad ingests - which can limit blockages. Even crickets have a hard time climbing out of a inch high, smooth, glazed dish. Otherwise coco-coco fiber is a great substrate. I'm not sure I agree with the sponge thing, pac-mans like to dig and burrow - it makes them feel safe and comfortable. Unless you have some good hides I wouldn't totally flip over to sponge.

My only other suggestion though is to not over feed him. It's often attractive to over feed a frog or toad to grow him/her larger quicker, but this often leads to blockages and plain old obesity.

And the Vet. suggesting mealworms as a "soft" food option is totally bunk... I find more meal worm shells then crickets remains in the waste then anything. The younger crickets was a good suggestion though. Wax worms might even be a good choice for a while.

[Whistly]

Well I don't own pacmans but my frogs poo only has like 1 cricket wing case and a bit of leg. So I don't see the problem with crickets unless frogs have different strength stomach acid which is possible.

[gtr319]

ever since the doc visit, I've placed them both in a new set up consist of a aquarium sponge that made into a slope and a water spot... so far so good I'd say... at least the albino isn't flipping over anymore...

[onedge30]

I have a green pacman that was acting weird when I got him. After care and proper feeding, he is fine.