Picky little froglette?

[imyourscar]

Hi guys,

So I acquired Pork, my little "apricot albino" pacman, July 21st and (s)he has never really been into frequent feedings. I can successfully feed him/her about twice a week (I was trying to track my feedings in iHerp but I inevitably failed to keep a very consistent log), but I understand it should be closer to 3 or 4 times a week, giving them a day off between feedings. He/she just doesn't come out of his/her burrow that often! It is liable I am missing him (yeah, I'm tired of saying both now) come out in the middle of the night, as I sleep like an old woman (bed at 9, up at 5!), but I don't see him out in the early morning either. Should I be pushing my baby for more frequent feedings? Everything else seems normal, but I'll fill out a problem sheet anyway:

1. Size of enclosure

5.5 gallons

2. # of inhabitants - specifically other frogs and size differences

One, all by himself

3. Humidity

According to two different hygrometers, the average readings are ~75 and 81%; the lower reading is where the heat pad is and where it dries out the fastest

4. Temperature

82ºF by the heatpad, room temperature everywhere else (ranges from 70-78 in the room throughout the day)

5. Water - type - for both misting and soaking dish

Misting water: R/O
Soaking water: treater well tap

6. Materials used for substrate

Eco earth

7. Enclosure set up i.e. plants (live or artificial), wood, bark and other materials.

One large fake plastic "fern" plant that takes up the left/cool side and the majority of the middle, as well as over the water bowl and a snippet over the heat pad, one soaking dish in the middle front of the tank, one cork bark "hut" right in front of the heat pad on the right side (long enough to get closer and farther from the heat pad but still be covered). Unknown how habitat was set up before purchase; I bought at an expo and he was in a deli cup

8. Main food source

So far it's 5 plain dubia nymphs once a week and 5 dusted dubia nymphs once a week

9. Vitamins and calcium? (how often)

I dust one feeding a week with either reptivite or rep-cal, varies every other week

10. Lighting?

Natural

11. What is being used to maintain the temperature in the enclosure?

Small 4x4 heating pad stuck on the back right side of the tank (he spends 75% of his time in this area, 25% in his dish)

12. When is the last time he/she ate?

Last night

13. Have you found poop lately?

Yes, two days ago in his water dish

14. A pic would be helpful including frog and the enclosure (any including cell phone pic is fine)

Hmm, no recent enclosure pics, but here is the little sucker. I'll get an enclosure picture this afternoon.

15. How old is the frog?

No clue. He was ~13/14 grams when I purchased him and ~20 grams now

16. How long have you owned him/her?

Purchased from East Bay Vivarium at San Jose Reptile Expo July 21st

17. Is the frog wild caught of captive bred?

Captive bred

18. Frog food - how often and if it is diverse, what other feeders are used as treats?

Just dubia and dusted dubia I shall enrich his life soon (expo this weekend)

19. How often is the frog being handled?

Only when being fed (I feed in a separate container for fear of him ingesting substrate)

20. Is the enclosure kept in a high or low traffic area?

Eh, low- to medium-traffic area, but he never seems skittish when we walk by

21. Describe enclosure maintenance (water changes, cleaning, etc.)

Change water every evening
Mist every evening
Spot clean every time there is a poop (since I change water every day, it never sits around for more than a day)
Replace substrate every two weeks and I clean the tank with chlorhexidine solution

I'll gladly accept any advice on this sucker, even if it's not a question I asked. I'll be attending a reptile expo this weekend and I'll have the means of picking up anything he needs there.

Cheers!

[mikesfrogs]

Strawberry albino. Apricots are orange in color

Hi guys,

So I acquired Pork, my little "apricot albino" pacman, July 21st and (s)he has never really been into frequent feedings. I can successfully feed him/her about twice a week (I was trying to track my feedings in iHerp but I inevitably failed to keep a very consistent log), but I understand it should be closer to 3 or 4 times a week, giving them a day off between feedings. He/she just doesn't come out of his/her burrow that often! It is liable I am missing him (yeah, I'm tired of saying both now) come out in the middle of the night, as I sleep like an old woman (bed at 9, up at 5!), but I don't see him out in the early morning either. Should I be pushing my baby for more frequent feedings? Everything else seems normal, but I'll fill out a problem sheet anyway:


5.5 gallons

One, all by himself

According to two different hygrometers, the average readings are ~75 and 81%; the lower reading is where the heat pad is and where it dries out the fastest

82ºF by the heatpad, room temperature everywhere else (ranges from 70-78 in the room throughout the day)

Misting water: R/O
Soaking water: treater well tap

Eco earth

One large fake plastic "fern" plant that takes up the left/cool side and the majority of the middle, as well as over the water bowl and a snippet over the heat pad, one soaking dish in the middle front of the tank, one cork bark "hut" right in front of the heat pad on the right side (long enough to get closer and farther from the heat pad but still be covered). Unknown how habitat was set up before purchase; I bought at an expo and he was in a deli cup

So far it's 5 plain dubia nymphs once a week and 5 dusted dubia nymphs once a week

I dust one feeding a week with either reptivite or rep-cal, varies every other week

Natural

Small 4x4 heating pad stuck on the back right side of the tank (he spends 75% of his time in this area, 25% in his dish)

Last night

Yes, two days ago in his water dish

Hmm, no recent enclosure pics, but here is the little sucker. I'll get an enclosure picture this afternoon.


No clue. He was ~13/14 grams when I purchased him and ~20 grams now

Purchased from East Bay Vivarium at San Jose Reptile Expo July 21st

Captive bred

Just dubia and dusted dubia I shall enrich his life soon (expo this weekend)

Only when being fed (I feed in a separate container for fear of him ingesting substrate)

Eh, low- to medium-traffic area, but he never seems skittish when we walk by

Change water every evening
Mist every evening
Spot clean every time there is a poop (since I change water every day, it never sits around for more than a day)
Replace substrate every two weeks and I clean the tank with chlorhexidine solution

I'll gladly accept any advice on this sucker, even if it's not a question I asked. I'll be attending a reptile expo this weekend and I'll have the means of picking up anything he needs there.

Cheers!

[imyourscar]

Strawberry albino. Apricots are orange in color

Interesting! Yeah, I put the colors in quotes because that's what he was sold to me as, but I wasn't sure if that was correct or not.

Do you have any feeding advice?

[mikesfrogs]

I would feed earthworms and if you can get some pacman food they do really well with that. If you feed the pacman food you won't have to use vitamins.

Sent from my LG-C800 using Tapatalk 2

[IvoryReptiles]

Get rid of the RO water and use the treated tap water instead.
Try offering some nightcrawler pieces. At that size, we offer food nightly. Try offering food in a separate container, they can learn a schedule and get "Trained" to tong feeding & the change in location for feedings. The enclosure may also be a factor.......the smaller frogs need a smaller area and can be intimidated by large open spaces. If you do try the worms, make sure the pieces are no bigger them the length of the frog itself. You can take a look at our videos for tips on feeding if you'd like, we made them specifically to help others with tong feeding.
Ivory Reptiles - YouTube

Best of Luck!!

[imyourscar]

Get rid of the RO water and use the treated tap water instead.
Try offering some nightcrawler pieces. At that size, we offer food nightly. Try offering food in a separate container, they can learn a schedule and get "Trained" to tong feeding & the change in location for feedings. The enclosure may also be a factor.......the smaller frogs need a smaller area and can be intimidated by large open spaces. If you do try the worms, make sure the pieces are no bigger them the length of the frog itself. You can take a look at our videos for tips on feeding if you'd like, we made them specifically to help others with tong feeding.
Ivory Reptiles - YouTube

Best of Luck!!

So it's okay if I pull him out of his burrow? I haven't been offering food every day because he's been hiding and I was thinking that if he wasn't out and about, I shouldn't be messing with him; but if you recommend just scooping him out, I will! Hopefully I can find some nightcrawlers as the expo so I don't have to order online

Oh, and do you recommend moving him from the 5.5 gal to a large KK?

[GrifTheGreat]

So it's okay if I pull him out of his burrow? I haven't been offering food every day because he's been hiding and I was thinking that if he wasn't out and about, I shouldn't be messing with him; but if you recommend just scooping him out, I will! Hopefully I can find some nightcrawlers as the expo so I don't have to order online

Oh, and do you recommend moving him from the 5.5 gal to a large KK?

You dont necessarily have to remove your frog from its enclosure above if the frog gets stressed too much from handling. All you need to do is uncover the frog's head si that he/she can see that their is food present. This should be enough to help keep up with feeding. Keeping a good routine is also a good idea. At the same time every night uncover just the frog's head and it will begin to awaken at this time to feed each night.

You have been given great advice from Mike and Jess.
.

[imyourscar]

You dont necessarily have to remove your frog from its enclosure above if the frog gets stressed too much from handling. All you need to do is uncover the frog's head si that he/she can see that their is food present. This should be enough to help keep up with feeding. Keeping a good routine is also a good idea. At the same time every night uncover just the frog's head and it will begin to awaken at this time to feed each night.

You have been given great advice from Mike and Jess.
.

Excellent. I shall begin the tong training! And my shopping list includes another misting bottle for tap water, night crawlers, and possibly another KK for Mr. Porkypants.

Any other food recommendations, or will night crawlers and dubia suffice?

[GrifTheGreat]

Excellent. I shall begin the tong training! And my shopping list includes another misting bottle for tap water, night crawlers, and possibly another KK for Mr. Porkypants.

Any other food recommendations, or will night crawlers and dubia suffice?

The tap water must be treated with a de-chlorinating agent like Prime or Zoo Med ReptiSafe.

[imyourscar]

The tap water must be treated with a de-chlorinating agent like Prime or Zoo Med ReptiSafe.

We don't add chlorine to our well water, but I still treat with reptisafe to cover my ***

[GrifTheGreat]

We don't add chlorine to our well water, but I still treat with reptisafe to cover my ***

Yes you'd better. Well water is still not safe and many have lost frogs to assuming that just because its chlorine free that its ok not to treat it when in fact well water still contains heavy metal among other deposites that can eventually build up in the frog's system. You can use natural spring water if you want, but it must come from a real spring. It can't just be bottled water that is only purified because most of those still contain chlorine.

[DVirginiana]

I've had fish die from being in even treated well water. I guess it depends on the content of your water, but I was too paranoid to ever use it for my frog. Just bought several gallons of spring water at a time.