My Pacman Frog...

[Weena]

OK....I got this Pacman frog. It's been a week and I haven't seen the frog at all. Its been buried for all this time...Is it OK?
I have been having problems keeping the humidity up. I have part of the top covered with wax paper. the light on the other side. I have to dim the light so that the humidity goes up and unfortunately the temp goes down when I do this. Any suggestions on how I could fix this. Or a different way I could set up the light.
I have a digital therm and humidity gage. There is four inches of moist coconut fiber in the bottom and a small UTH. A large, shallow, saucer of water with a plant. Does anyone know whats going on with the frog? I know they take an adjustment period after you put them in a new enviroment but how long is that? Will it starve itself? Hasn't eaten. Any sugestions would help ease my worries.Here's a picture, except there is the digital thermometer in it now.

 

[stevep]

Nice enclosure

By no means am I an expert ... but. The horned frogs in my past would eat anything, anytime. I also think your tank looks great but may be too big for the frog to find the food. They are ambush predators and hide & grab. But I'm sure you know all this. If the substrate is damp, that is good. I would not worry too much about the humidity as long as the frog is in damp (not wet) substrate. Keeps the temps up and mist him/her a few times a day. The meter may be reading wrong ... I would try moving him/her to a smaller tank to feed. A small tuperware type container works great for this. After s/he gets going, then move s/he into the larger tank.
Like I said, I'm no expert. But I think this will help.
Steve

 

[Weena]

This morning I checked in on him and his eyes are showing. I know this is a good sign. Does it mean he's waiting to eat?
Do you really think its to big? Most of the care sheets I have read, said that a ten gallon was fine. I do have a critter keeper I could feed him in. Would it stress him out to much if I unburied and moved him to feed?

 

[SoulSmilen]

Are the eyes open or closed? How big is it? What are you trying to feed it?

Judging from the lights on the tank AND a UTH, that's a lot of heat for a 10g tank. What are the temps you are aiming for?

A couple of questions on the UTH; is there anything regulating the heat from it? You don't want the frog to be able to burrow and sit on the glass directly over the UTH - it will get burned, badly.

As for moving him each time to feed, generally I would say no, but if it is only an inch or two big, then that lends to a whole different set of possible answers.

 

[Weena]

I believe the eyes are open. He(?) is about 3.5 inches across his back. The person that had him before me said that he ate one fuzzy a week.

I am using a hermit crab UTH and have the probe of the digital therm on top of the UTH under the substrate. It only runs at about 88 degrees. Is this to hot? I have changed the lights also. I now have a tube light because I broke the Day Glo light I had. I have noticed that the temp stays at about 76 degrees with this different light. I plan on buying a Repti Glo 2.0, but I am not even sure if that is the right kind? What kind of lights do you suggest?
If he is ready to eat should I use the tongs or just put the fuzzy in there?

I feel kind of ignorant on this subject. I researched for info on how to care for this little guy and was very disappointed with the limited amount that I found. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

 

[SoulSmilen]

To begin with, the 10g is fine for that size frog, so no worries there!

88 right on the glass is a tad too hot, so if you can rig a rheostat to the pad that would help a great deal. If you can't do that, place a piece of thick, non adhesive shelf liner directly over the UTH inside the tank to cut down on some of the excess heat; make sure it lies flat so none of the substrate gets under it. That should both disperse the heat and keep the sensitive skin off the direct heat. Shoot for low 80's as a high and it will do fine.

As for overall heat and lighting, a regular fluorescent light is preferred so it doesn't dry out the skin, and you don't need UVB. Try a ceramic heat emitter in place of an incandescent light (on the opposite side of the tank, maybe 1/2 way over the water) and with the heat from the UTH, you should end up fine on your temps. Hate to say keep playing with it until you get it right, but that's about the size of it as room temperature has a lot to do with individual setups and the temperatures at which they stabilize.

Diet - a fuzzy every once in a while, like once a month (or even less by some peoples' standards) is plenty for the frog. A diet too heavy in rodents will result in an obese frog with liver and/or kidney problems leading to a shorter life span. The key to a proper diet is variety and you'll want to provide other means of protein as staples - go for crickets, roaches, earthworms. Fish is also a good choice for variety, but unless you breed your own as feeders or know a big aquarium hobbiest that trusts a store's feeders, it's pretty tough to find good fish.

For a frog that size, I'd feed the insects every other day for the next few months, only using a fuzzy every 6 weeks or so. After a few months, re-evaluate and depending on its size, adjust the feedings if necessary. Also, don't forget to use a calcium and vitamin supplement to dust feeders, as well. 2 feedings a week should be plenty on the dusting for right now.

Don't fret; you're doing good by asking questions along with your researching. Keep in mind that while basic care should remain the same from person to person, methods and approaches will vary quite a bit so if you see differing information or advice, don't hesitate to clarify.

Good luck on your new lump of lard and welcome to the world of frogs!

 

[nothing furry]

this a care sheet I wrote a while back. I have two, soon three.
frogs are easiely stressed so ifyou do have to move, give it some 'alone' time
to recouperate.

PAC-MAN FROG CARE SHEET
(ceratophrys ornata)

INTRODUCTION
There are several speceis of horned frogs in south america, i'll talking about the argentinian.It was given the name Pac-man frog becouse it's basicly a walking mouth. these are large frogs with a stout body, males being smaller than females.these frogs are very easy to care for.

HOUSEING
A pac-man frog can live a long happy life in a ten gallon aquarium tank, because for the most part, move only to deficate, and find a more comfortable spot to hide. they will normally sit in one spot and wait for food to be delivered to their door.Houseing two frogs together(for other than breeding) is a bad idea as the bigger one will canabilise the other(s).

LIGHTING/HEATING
Becouse these frogs live in heavy under growth, they dont need any special lighting, your light in your room will be enough.They will also need an under tank heater to keep the heat at 75-85'F. I advise against a heat lamp as it can dry out the air, and the frogs skin.**For most of the year your house temp. will be enough for it to live comfortably,. during the colder months use a supplemental heat source**

HUMIDITY
Pac-man frogs live in a tropic location. They will need 65%-75% relitive humidity. You can spray your inclosure a few times a day to keep the humidity up.
Or you can utilize a large shallow water dish,your frog will sit in it to stay moist, plus it will keep your humidity up.

SUBSTRATE
There are a couple of ways to set up your new habitat:
1.semi aquatic. Place some aquerium gravel on one side of your habitat to have, half water, half land. with this set up it is IMPORTANT to change the water on a regular basis especialy every time your frog "poops".place enough water to cover half the frogs body. place plant( I prefer fake) in the enclosure to give your a more realistic look and to provide hideing places for your animal.

2.terestrial. For this set up you can cover the botom(about 1 and a half times the hight of your animal) of the enclosure with sterilized potting soil, or you can use ECO EARTH by ZOOMED, wich is a compressed cocnut fiber that expands when placed in water(This is what I use with great results).place plants in the enclosure to give the animal places to hide.

DIET
It is a good idea to give your frog a viriety of choices,
crickets, mealworms, wax worms,phoenix worms(wich are soldier fly larvea and are very high in calcium),roaches, feeder fish all appropriately sized.Dust EVERY meal with a vitamin D3/calcium suppliment, this is very important for young frogs as they grow very fast.
You can also provide an appropriate size pinky, or fuzzy mouse for your juvinile or sub adult frog. dont feed mice too often as they are very high in fat, makeing your frog obese and stunting your animals life dramaticly.(I give mine a mouse fuzzy once every 14 days)

SIZE AND GROWTH
Like any other frog, Pac-man's grow in stages:Egg, tadpole, frogs.Females can grow to sizes of 6 or 7 inches males being smaller, and almost as wide as they are long.These frogs can live up to 10-12 years of age 15 being very possible, But because of bad husbandry and poor diet,captive frogs are dieing much too young.

TEMPERMENT
pac man frogs are not mean nor are they vicious creatures as some would say, they are solitary animals that are usualy hideing and when you stick your hand into the enclosures, they will lunge, thinking its something to eat. They can bite preety hard, but will let go just as fast.

SEXING/BREEDING
It is a little difficult to sex a pac-man,other than a females being bigger than males. Although males have dark colored patches on the inside of their hands by their thumbs and loose skin on their throughts, wich will fill up with air to vocalize.
I dont advise you to breed your frog as they are known to become verry stressed to the piont of death, its been known that frogs go to the point of drowning them selves, either by filling them selves up with water or by sitting under the water surface,
either way dieing.So either way I wont be going into this subject.
If your still interested in breeding your frog, I suggest asking a reptile vet or do AS MUCH REASERCH as you can.

Good luck.

 

[Weena]

Thank you, for all the great advise!! I am now feeling a little more confident.
I have a few more questions though......
When I feed crickets, mealworms roaches and feeder fish, I am assuming the large variety's of these feeders are fine, should I use tongs or just toss the dusted feeders in there?
I am wondering about impaction. Is there a worry of that with these guys? Wax worms are really high in fat. Isn't that a risk?
Fuzzys are an occasional need? Like once a month?
When I feed with tongs, I read that I should never pull the tongs out, I should just wait for him to let go?

I want to make sure I do this right. This frog has been through a lot already. I am his third owner in three months. Sad..but hes here to stay!

 

[Weena]

I forgot to post the pic of him I took this morning. Here he is....Artimus Frog.

 

[nothing furry]

I am hsappy to hear that your feeling more confident. These guys are preety easy to care for, as long as you accomodate to their needs.
depending the size of your frog, your meals should be more or less the size of your frogs mouth.. and for the tongs; you dont need them for crickets. but use them for the fish and the 'occasional' roddent, and yes wax worms are high in fat, so just give them as treats.
For the impaction thing...im not to sure about it, but I think its not an issue.
they'll poop it out. Keep the substrate moist, and mist your frog constantly.
keep posting your progress.

 

[SoulSmilen]

A note on calcium and D3 supplements that some may not be aware of.

Although we hear "supplement, supplement, supplement" on care sheets, over supplementing can be just as dangerous as not enough, and amphibians don't have quite the same needs as the reptiles we keep that need calcium and D3. I wouldn't advise dusting with calcium every feeding; just dust crickets every other feeding, and there's no reason to dust rodents if you choose to feed them occasionally. Rodents are a good source of calcium by themselves - there's no need to add more. Same goes for phoenix worms and silkworms, if used.. and any other invert that is high in calcium.

D3 is very easy to overdose as well; many frog keepers don't use it at all. IMO, once or twice a week is plenty for D3 if you do choose to use it.

Ideally, it should take at least a year for a pacman frog to reach adult size; combined with a varied diet, the slower growth allows for better developed bones and healthier kidneys (with less fatty deposits and/or calcification from calcium overdose). We see faster growth in captive frogs because eating is what they're known for and people think it's ok to just keep on and on feeding. This is another reason I caution against feeding rodents more than once every 4-6 weeks.

As for feeding crickets, large crickets are ok for that size frog. Put a few in the tank close to him and determine how interested he is by his reaction. From the looks in the picture, he is waiting to ambush. If that's the case, keep them coming and feed what he'll eat in a 10 minute timeframe (assuming he's pretty good at catching them). You'll soon learn how to judge when to stop.

On a side note, I use rubber coated 8" tweezers for anything I feed that can't go straight on the substrate or in a bowl. They're great because once the feeder is grabbed by the frog, the feeder will usually slip easily out of the tweezers without any worry of the frog hurting its mouth.

 

[nothing furry]

.

 

[Weena]

Oh my gosh...these frogs are so cool!!! After reading all the great responses yesterday, I decided to try and feed him. So here I am dangling a mealworm in front of him, he lunges out a grabs the worm, scared the crap out of me! There little mouthes and tongues are really strong. My kid thought it was the coolest thing ever.(he's five) I think this frog will be a great addition to our family.

As for dusting, lets see if I got this right. Dusting with Calcium every feeding and D3 once a week. No dust on rodents.
This frog might be an adult. After he uncovered himself, I think he is bigger than I thought. Here is a picture of him all uncovered. Sorry the pic is so blury.

 

[chokinghazard]

hey your pacman is fine! i have had pacmans for 5 years now! its normal for a pacman to hide for a week at a time! also they may go without eating up to and over a month! so your guy is fine. if he isnt eating the fuzzies try goldfish. but otherwise you should be fine!