Concern or 2 of my Pacman Frog

Hello, I'm totally new to this community, so bear with me if I show a lack of comprehension of its functioning.

I have a pacman frog named Masterblaster. I bought em a while back, around march I beleive. I forget what they said his age was at the time, but I think it was 9 weeks they said, he was a pretty small guy.

Anyhow, I've found theres actually a very limited amount of information out there, most sites are nothing but the exact same tidbit of info copied from another site, but with a different silly exaggerated style to compliment it. My questions are quite simple though, but I have a feeling I could find something useful here.

My first and largest concern comes from the other day, I just got back from work. I turned on the light in my room and saw my frog floating upside down in his water dish. Immediatley I thought it was dead and I paniced and grabbed him. The second I grabbed him, he began to flail around and I quickly saw he was quite far from dead. However I had to explanation as to why he was laying upside down in his water like that and showing absolutely no signs of struggling to get out. I also noticed when his back was soaking wet, it looked very similar to how it always looks every night after I get home from work. Each night I see his back look very deep in color, much deeper then normal, and very slick and somewhat slimey to the touch. So, I wondered, is this perhaps a behaviour he performs each night to wet himself all over and I simply never noticed before because I was at work or sleeping? Or should I be concerned?

Also, in general, I've noticed his behaviour is always changing. Sometimes he'll stop eating for a few days, sometimes a week or more. Other times he has a ravenous appetite. Also, latley he's been burrowing very deep into the substate, sometimes covering himself 100%. However he doesn't remain like this for long, usually unburrowing that night as a sleep and digging a new ditch, leaving a massive crater in the spot he was in. (quite funny really, seeing huge holes all over his tank... ) I'm just curious if this is normal pacman behaviour, being rather picky at times and always acting different.

Also, a final question, is on water. I've seen in numerous places, people say to use dechlorinated water. Some said its not a big deal, others say its a total must. I myself have not dechlorinated my water. However I looked into more sites and many say to, so I've ordered a dechlorination treatment that is on its way. I've noticed no ill effects thus far, but what do any of you say? What are the dangers and what chances are there of such?

And if curious on the stats, I keep him in a 10 gallon tank with Bed-a-beast substrate. I have an aquarium hood on it, I've found it to keep the humidty very well, and I have a light on for only a few hours in the middle of the day. There is a plastic plant I have that hangs overhead for shade and a tank heater attached to the side. I was going to put it on the bottom, but I read more recommendations for the side to make a heat gradient for the frog. Any takes on this? I keep it well misted as well. Temp. I'm not too sure on, I have a very poor thermometer in there, it more of reads the glass then the air itself, but I'm sure it stays within the 70-80 range.

Thank you for any advice you may give!

Pac-Mans are natural burrowers, don't worry about it he is acting normally. Pac-Mans are also ravenous eaters, eating everything they can fit into their mouths. Try some variety like adult crickets, earthworms, pinkie mice (dead).

As for the lying upside down....I have no idea, sounds odd. Especially cause he was face down, I have seen other aquatic frogs/toads being completely submerged but Face Up!
Make sure his bowl/water source is not too steep for him to get in & out. Oddly some frogs have drown due to owners not taking care into this important aspect. Dechlorinated water is a must with any amphibian!
Clean fresh water is a must for any amphibian to have a long and healthy life. Whenever you run out of your dechlorination treatment, don't order it again. Pick it up at any fish store. The treatments are made by lots of companies, they all do the same thing remove Chlorine and Chlorine out of your tap water to make it neutral for safe use with fish or in your case frogs.
You should also look into some thermometers you can stick on the back wall of your terrarium. I use them on the front pane (outside) and the inside backwall for easy reference. A Hygrometer is also useful tool, it measures you humidity in %, they should be located where your thermometers are sold. Lastly, I use heaters on the bottom of the tank, it will still create a temperature gradient on the bottom. Not to mention your frog could come in contact with it somewhat when it is installed on the side?
Extreme Heat is not good for any frog!

Good Luck, Red-Eye

When I said chlorine and chlorine (LOL) I meant chlorine and chloramine!
They are in your local tapwater to help kill bacteria and keep it clean for safe drinking. The dechlorination treatments are usually referred as to water treatments, in case you don't know what to ask for. I would suggest to buy any of these products at a local reptile store, you could probably find all of these products under one roof.

Again Good Luck, Red-Eye

Don't forget though that every household will have different levels of chlorine and chloramine (C&C) in their tap water. Frogs, like any animal, will adapt to their surroundings if needed to be for their survival and I think your frog is used to your household C&C levels. It could be that the C&C levels are very low in your tap water which is a sigh of relief, however other households should be wary. I'm not sure on the C&C levels that a frog can withstand, but it's better safe than sorry.

Well, I got the dechlorinator, treated a bunch of the water, and setup his tank with a new batch of substrate. He's been quite happy since.

However disturbingly, he almost drowned today. He once again did the thing I mentioned above, laying flipped over in his water dish. I decided to check on him and it's just by luck I looked in when I did. He was sprawled out and very bloated. I picked him up and set em out of the dish and he began breathing very rapidly. His entire body was extremely pale and it sounded like he was trying to get a lot of water out of his nasil passages. After about 20 minutes he deflated a bit and his color returns, he looks ok now. But this has convinced my that the water dish I had is unsafe. I took it out for now and am going to buy a new one later today.

Water Dish

I think thats a wise choice. I mentioned before how other keepers have had amphibs die in their own water bowl because the bowl was too steep for the frog to get in and out easily.Its easily overlooked but is very important for a frog that is as large as any horned frog species.

Red-Eye

Ya. The water itself is actually fairly shallow, but the edges are rough and steep. I was slightly concerned when I first got it to begin with. So I guess he just tripped when he went to climb in and flipped over. Oh well. He's ok and thankfully I now know its a bad dish.

K, I just got back from where I was and looked into a good water bowl. However, I couldn't find a suitable replacement. I did however get an ultrasonic fog machine while I was there. I've heard about em before as being pretty handy, so I decided to pick one up.

Now, somethin that I thought about. Would you feel the water dish is even totally needed? I keep my substrate damp and spray often to keep it nice and moist. However with a fog machine, I could keep it quite humid all the time, very easily. And with the dish in there, I honestly don't see the frog go into there on purpose very often. Infact, I could probably count the times on one hand. And I can count the amount of times its gone in there without me seeing on my other hand. (I can tell because it would kick in some substrate) Obviously its getting water, else I'd expect it to be dead, and it always seems healthy to me. So would I purhaps be able to get away without a water dish, or at least, for a while until I found a good replacement? Thanks.

Water

All species of frog should have access to a clean water source at all times. It doesn't matter if it's a small bowl or a completely dedicated reservoir, they should have access. Your frog probably could get away without a water source but I wouldn't take the chance. As for the fogger, mine requires a water source for operation so I dont understand how your setup will work. I have the "exo-terra" Ult. sonic fogger and it needs water to work. If yours is different and it doesn't need a bowl then try it out. In the end I wouldn't take the risk of depending on the fogger to get you by.

Red-Eye

That's actually the same fogger I have.. heh. Although I didn't want to sort of bother anything in the setup, such as the frog itself, and its such a small item anyhow, I got a small seperate container thats much too steep for the frog to climb into. Tried it out, works way better than I expected! I thought it would be a slow trickle of fog.

But ya, I certainly don't plan to rely on this as an end solution. I'm just wondering if you think he'll make do for a couple days on this setup.

Oh, and if I may ask, since you happen to have the same unit, what time intervals do you use it on? It certainly seems too much to leave running, so how often do you have it operate through the day?

Foggers

I used to use mine with a timer. I would leave it going for an hour then it would shut off, then later that day on for an hour then the timer kicks in and it shuts off. You can get an appliance timer at most hardware stores around ($5-15). The foggers work well at first and then the diaphram that creates the fog dies out and it needs replacing ($5-10). I find the foggers evapourate a lot of water by creating the fog, so i use mine sparingly. I used mine in my Fire-belly toad tank, but now I plan just to use it for breeding various treefrogs in rain chambers. I still think you should have a separate water bowl for your frog, foggers wear out quickly with extended use.

Red-Eye

Out of curiosity

What brand/type was the waterbowl. If you had a problem with it I am sure others have too.

I can't remember the brand, however it appeared to be made of a sort of rock, or at least, something that looks like rock. It was very rough-cut and semi-round and fairly shallow, but with steep somewhat jagged edges.

Tragic news. MasterBlaster is dead..

He was getting a bit lathargic, not eating much.. Then he just sort of stop showing interest altogether. I began to get worried as he moved less and less. Then today he was making sort of convulsions and I get really really concerned. He stopped not too long later and his legs sort of sprawled out and he quit moving entirley, cept maybe a twitch. I could tell he was goin out, so I left him be. I checked back a few minutes later and the crickets I had for him to eat had begun to move in to eat at his body. I knew right then he was dead, so I moved em off and checked his body out for any odd signs.

Afterwards, I had a really good feeling it was Red Leg. He had all the symptoms of it, and it was a very rapid onset of them. And there were small red blotches on his legs, however those didn't show up until near the end. There were more on the underside, but I only saw those after he died. I didn't want to disturb him in his final moments when I knew I couldn't help it anyhow.

It's quite sad.. this is the first pet I fully owned on my own, and he dies quite quickly. The only thing that makes me feel even a little better is hearing that red leg is quite common. I'm not sure what may have caused it, however I read temperature can cause it, which may be the case, as temperature fluxations where one thing I was never able to perfectly manage. But I kept his tank nice and clean, so I don't think there was a significant presence of bacteria.

I just finally got my lisence today, so things were lookin pretty good. But now this. Talk about a day-killer..