Pacman Frog Too Fat?

[MeTree]

Update today. Malcolm ate nothing today. He was exercised for about 5-10 minutes today, and he also took a warm bath for about 20-30 minutes today. He looks abit thinner, and isn't nearly as flabby, tighter skin. Less fat, more muscle I think. He was pretty stressed out today. I feel bad. He faded to a pale green at one point when I think I might have let him got too dry (I always lose the mister). It was too cold at the begining of the day on the cool side (though he didn't spend much time there). The thermometer on the warm side is inaccurate, so I don't know what is was there. Right now he burrowed because it is abit warm for his liking.

Tomorrow, unless the Phoenix worms come in (about a 50/50 chance), I am going to ignore him other than routine misting. I may continue this pattern the next day (assuming the Phoenix worms haven't arrived, as USPS does not deliver on Sunday). I don't want Malcolm to be so stressed, so I am going to be much more careful about how much I handle him.

Any tips on calming a Pacman Frog other than not handling them in the first place?

[frogmike]

If you want to see Malcom become a man, he needs to eat a mouse. You have him used to insects, so you will need to let him get hungry for a week or so. then you will need to purchase a mouse tha is the same length or smaller than Malcom. My frog Cadilac took down his first mouse when he was just under an inch long. The baby mouse had just gotten its eyes open. every care sheet I have ever read says not feed your pacman frog a mouse more than once every 14 days. My frogs would eat ME if I did that. Try like 1 to 3 mice a week with calcium covered bugs between meals.

[Heythatsmychair]

Is your frog still sick?

[DVirginiana]

Umm... In response to the above comment, if you are worried about your frog's weight, the worst thing you could do for it is begin feeding it mice twice a week. Mice (and some types of fish) are very high in fat content and only need to be given once or twice a month. Also, once your frog is large enough to begin eating mice, you no longer need to dust the crickets/worms you use as between-meal snacks, as your frog should be getting all the calcium it needs from the bones of these animals.

Also, I don't know of a way to calm the frog other than just not handling it. You could try misting it regularly if you really want to do something (mine always seems more alert after misting).

[artes]

Do you actually need to feed them mice at all? I was under the impression you didn't have to.

[DVirginiana]

Nah, they can go their whole life eating just crickets and nightcrawlers if you don't want to feed them mice. The only issues with this are that they need to be calcium dusted if your frog isn't eating anything with bones, and when they get big they'll be eating ALOT of bugs if that's all they're eating, so lots of people supplement with pinkies or fish.

[artes]

Ok. I could handle fish, but I've owned way too many pet rodents in my lifetime to ever see them as yums. Although if Toadstool absolutely needed them, I'd suck it up.