I'm being told to not worry about it but I am...

[LizardMama]

I'm running out of things to think of to do to entice him to eat. I did a thorough cleaning on his cage today, moistened 1 end right well and threw in 2 right big crickets (thinking he might go after the bigger ones). He's not acting like he was 2-3 days ago (shriveled up, eyes closed) but he is still not eating. I do remember earlier this month I had found him on his back twice, but since the 2 times he hasn't flipped over again. He eyes are clear, can't see anything wrong with them. He's 2 inches long and just over 1.5 inches in width. Got him last month on the 1st. So far he's settled near his water dish, all 4 crickets in his cage have gone past him, he's not snapping at them. Tried a Wax Worm and he just stared at it then hopped away (from what I can see he has a healthy hop to him).

Do you guys think he'll just eat when he gets hungry or if I should take him to a vet? I haven't seen anything to warrant a visit to the vet, no red leg or anything bodily that looks like a vet needs to look into.

[GrifTheGreat]

First, let me say that I am by no means an expert. But other than the flipping problem, it sounds alot like what we went through with our pacman Grif. For the first couple months that we had him he had a huge appetite, although the only thing he would eat were crickets. He never went more than one day without eating and would usually eat one to four crickets a night. Then pretty much overnight he stopped eating. For the first two or three days he still bit at the crickets and he seemed to still be hopping and moving around fine, but his attempts were more and more half-hearted. Then he stopped trying completely. At first I though his appetite was just decreasing a little because he was mostly done growing, but as the days went by he made no attempts to eat no matter what food we tempted him with and he became increasing lethargic and weak. He wasn't trying to estivate because they get that film around them. He had no other symptoms to suggest anything like chitrid or redlegs. We ended up taking him to a vet (although it took me a couple days to find one that would even treat amphibians). By that point it had been ten days since he had eaten.

The vet could not find any specific reason why he stopped eating. He said Grif was anoxeic though and dangerously underweight. Grif was given antibiotics and a dewormer just in case and a shot that was supposed to stimulate his appetite (although I don't think it worked too well). We were also given some soft canned cat food (I know that sounds weird) made for malnourised animals and a syringe (the tube kind not the needle kind). We had to force Grif's mouth open and squirt a little of the canned food into his mouth every night. It seemed to really help. He still isn't eating on his own, but his appetite has increased alot and he is gaining weight back. He also no longer tries to spit the food out either. Once you get the food in his mouth he gobbles in right down. I have heard other people on here having similar problems with their pacmans not eating. Unfortunately, they are so sensitive to changes in their environment that it can easily effect whether they eat or not.

Anyway, sorry for the long responce. It is your call of course, whether or not to take him to the vet, but it is better safe than sorry. I wish you the best of luck! I hope Octavian gets better soon.

[LizardMama]

I'm not sure but the day after I cleaned Octavian's cage I did notice how 2 crickets were missing, not sure if they were eaten by him or if I had removed 1 that had died or if the thing I had found was another cricket or not. I noticed today that he was more active, we had an Earthquake yesterday and he did act a bit more active afterwards (moved from the south corner of his cage to his water dish then to the north corner for about 20 minutes then moved back. Today he did the same but this time he went to the center of his cage, I grabbed 2 Meal Worms hoping he'd eat and he just kicked one away, tried feeding him again this time with tweezers and he still wouldn't eat. I hope and pray that he will eat again soon.

[GrifTheGreat]

You may have to force feed him. Atleast then you can feel a little ease knowing that he won't starve and hell be getting his vitamins if you dust the food you force feed him. It will help him rather than just hoping and waiting for him to do it on his own.

[BG]

As you all know munchy was affected by the ac and stopped eating and in a matter of days he was skin and bones. One day i was listening to Johns saying "They just fade away" made me think. of the idea to force feed him and of curse keep him warm did the trick .Now as you all know munchy is a fat old boy snapping at everything.

[GrifTheGreat]

Always good to hear. I'm still nursing Grif back to health. I keep him at 85 during the day and 76 to 78 at night. He will snap at crickets but still is catching them so I still force feed him to make sure he gets food and vitamins. Do you keep Munchy in the 80s even at night BG?

[LizardMama]

BG, I have been wondering if it was the AC (as much as I hate the fact that there's 2 in my home and my father won't turn them off and that not only is there a frog that is not eating but both my Bearded Dragons are looking a bit lethargic). I'll move my frog to the kitchen (and get ready for a fight with my father, when it comes to moving things around he just won't hear of it even if it's for the well being of a pet).