Temporary paralysis or impending death?

[masonbuckyall]

So I'm pretty new to pacman frogs. Like April new. This guy has been giving me a little trouble lately. He hasn't been eating, which I understand they often do. He was eating a steady diet of crickets until last week when I ran out and fed him mealworms until I get paid. He has been eating them until monday or so when he stopped. Today I find him sprawled out and twitching. He wouldn't move when I touched him so I picked him up (still no movement). I put him back in the cage, presumably to die. When I go back an hour later and touch him he hops away. Another hour and we're back to paralysis. This has been the cycle all day. He also seems to have what looks like a ring of blood around his back. Let me know what you guys think or if you need anymore info.

[MeTree]

That sounds awful. I am sorry that you are dealing with this issue.

I can't tell you how to cure the issue (because I don't know), or for sure how he got it. I just wanted to address one issue. You said that you ran out of crickets are started feeding him mealworms? I would assume that this has a major part to play in his recient illness.

Mealworms are fine to be fed to Pacman Frogs on the occasion, but I certainly wouldn't recomend more than 3 a week. Mealworms have a very tough exo-skeleton. If Pacman Frogs are fed too many Mealworms, it can cause impaction. Hopefully yours isn't in a serious condition.

You can pick up the Pacman Frog (I'd use gloves at this point), and gently feel his belly for lumps. If it is impacted, you may feel a hard lump. That is the mealworms your Pacman Frog can't digest.

If you find that it is impacted, you should stop feeding him for abit. Food at this point is just going to get clogged, lengthening the time of impaction, and increasing the chance of death. Just let him be.

If he has a condition that is treatable, that a reputable person recomends (weather it be a frog forum member or an exotic vet clinic), then please, by all means, carefully treat it. If they want you to feed your Pacman Frog something, go ahead.

This is just what I'd do if my Pacman Frog was impacted if I wasn't treating for anything else. Hope this helps!

[masonbuckyall]

Thanks for responding. I'm at work now and will have to check for lumps when I get home. Hopefully this is the only issue and hopefully it's a reversible one. I suppose all I can do is wait and take your advice about mealworms to heart in the future. I'm glad to have that knowledge as most sources I read never mentioned the frequency with which they can be fed, just that they are acceptable.

Any ideas about the ring on the back? It looked like blood to me, but I don't know what it would be from. I suppose it could be some kind of deposit. Perhaps the paralysis and blood aren't even linked. I wish I could do more, but the nearest vet qualified to handle amphibians is about two hours away.

[Whistly]

Also another problem with meal worms is that hey are so high in fat so your frog can become obese when fed too many.

[DVirginiana]

As MeTree said, mealworms definitely aren't a good staple, but the paralysis and stuff doesn't sound like impaction.. Definitely still check for it and probably a good idea to not feed it any more for right now, but I've never heard of an impacted frog acting quite like yours.

I can't really see from the picture, but is the ring of blood above or below the skin? If it's above, then is there any way it could be old shed skin that for whatever reason your frog wasn't able to get off all the way? If it's been having problems with paralysis then it might not have been able to get all the shed off and it could've dried on there.

I really have no clue what's causing that though. Try looking around on youtube. I've seen people post videos of pacman frogs doing the same thing. Maybe someone somewhere had a good solution to it? Hope your frog improves.

[MeTree]

Oh yeah, that is a good point, DVirginiana. Perhaps it was related to shedding. I have heard some awful stories...

What is your humidity at? If the humidity is too low (below 60%), then your Pacman Frog could have been injured while shedding. I have heard stories (plural) of frogs loosing limbs during shedding, usually because the humidity was too low. It makes a big difference to Pacman Frogs.