Some Pacman frog questions

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Jul 7, 2019
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25
So yesterday I got my first pacman. With it, I got the peregrine horned frog kit, which included pretty much everything needed. A heat mat, which sadly didn’t fit on the side so I had to use it on the bottom. A microclimate ministat thermostat which turns off at about 28.1 C and turns on when it’s 26.5 C. He has a shallow water dish and the substrate is misted 1-2 times. Humidity ranges from 65 to 80. I did not use the moss that was included as I know they can swallow it and get impacted.
The first day I got him, he wondered around and burrowed straight down the bottom. I figured he was hungry after the journey so I offered an adult cricket with no supplements (not dusted) to see what he would do. I saw him hopping in front of the cricket but then when the cricket went away he started burrowing again. I placed the cricket near him but he just burrowed even deeper. I carefully moved him with sterile gloves out of his cave (he was literally covered, nothing could be seen), and placed him near the cricket again. He ate it after a few attempts. But only seemed to pay attention to it when he’s farther from the cricket. Most frogs I’ve seen gobble the food up in an instant when it’s near them. Why is he like that?
Today was similar too. I found several holes, meaning he moved, he soaked in the water dish and seemed to be one with the dirt lol.
Had to dig him up again and tried giving him a dusted adult cricket with vit d3. Didn’t take it straight away. Had to place the frog on top of the substrate and leave but it alone with the cricket for like 10 minutes. I always had to lead the cricket near my pacman and somehow he got it. This happened in the morning. I tried the same at 11pm and with the same struggle I managed to make him eat an adult dusted cricket. He’s now back again completely submerged and I cannot see him. Is he stressing out or is there something wrong with him? Not sure how old he is. He’s about the width of an adult cricket. Best picture I have for now attached. Cricket in the right
E481BB09-9FC2-4204-9DB9-881CB598BB23.jpeg 1242223B-B7F1-4083-96EF-5F4BBB701B52.jpeg
 
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Liquifin

Arachnoking
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First is that the pacman frog is still new so it needs a little but of time to adapt to its home before feeding. Second is how large or small is this frog? Small pacmans that don't eat have a hard time adapting to eating things from my past experience with them. Also they're ambush predators, so they're not the frog that hunts like the pixie frog. They will instead sit and wait until a prey comes by to attempt to catch it. Lastly is this pacman frog tong trained??
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Jul 7, 2019
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He’s 6 cm long and 5 cm wide. Certainly not an adult.
I don’t actually know what he was fed. I will ask.
As I tried, he is not tong trained. Tried rubbing against his lips, wiggling, not working.
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Jul 7, 2019
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Thing is, he does not catch the prey as it comes near. He only hops to the prey and gets it like that
 

ArthurJS

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He’s in complete dark now and I hear him hopping into the walls of the terrarium. Is this normal?
 

Liquifin

Arachnoking
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He’s 6 cm long and 5 cm wide. Certainly not an adult.
I don’t actually know what he was fed. I will ask.
As I tried, he is not tong trained. Tried rubbing against his lips, wiggling, not working.
The good news is that the smaller the pacman frog the easier it is to tong feed train them growing up. Pacman frogs are highly debatable on care from each individual keeper. I would strongly recommend rehousing him to something smaller. To tong train a pacman frog just grab a cricket with tongs and rub it on his lips for a start like how you did it. For starters, try once every other day so it doesn't stress him out. Also if he buries himself it's either too cold which will trigger estivation or either because he's stressed. So I would leave him alone.

Thing is, he does not catch the prey as it comes near. He only hops to the prey and gets it like that
Sounds like the person who previously had him kept him on a 16oz container with wet paper towels. Which it's a normal thing for breeders to do.

He’s in complete dark now and I hear him hopping into the walls of the terrarium. Is this normal?
It's either very scared and is trying to get away from something or either just very stressed. But they are nocturnal so that would explain why.

Look you have a lot of questions so I'll just wrap this in one comment on care. Note that my care may be different since the pacman frog hobby is very debatable from each person.

1. I keep any new froglets (1''-1.75'' inches) pacman frogs in 16oz containers. That is small space for sure but it allows them catch prey much easier since the space is smaller. Also I recommend pulling off 4 legs of each cricket so that it becomes very slow and easier for any young pacman to catch them. And as it gets bigger you can pull less legs off until it's good enough to hunt and catch crickets whole and easily. I would try to tong feed once every now and then to start tong training them when young as well.

2. Once the pacman is close to 2'' inches or 5 cm then I would house it in a bit larger container to grow and just work from there on as it grows. Once it reaches 3.5 inches or 8.75 cm I would then house it into it's permanent home. Since males are around 10cm max size and females are bigger.

Pacman frogs are very easy to keep but are hard to get eating and trained when younger. So I would focus on making sure it eats properly and also make sure it gets tong trained and kept warm.
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Thank you very much for this info! Ill try to house him in something smaller.
I figured he actually wanted to get to his water dish for a soak. He’s back inside the eco earth now.
I am now thinking maybe I should get a ceramic heat lamp instead of the heat mat. As I read they like to burry themselves to cool down. But the top of the earth is a little cold as it’s damp. Most of the warmth is in the very bottom where the heating mat is.
I’m going to try to get him some earthworms after asking what he was fed.
And I will do everything to tong train him. I also have the nature’s grub Pac-Man food which is in a powered form and you mix it with water to form a dough like consistency and feed it to the frog. Once he’s tong trained I’ll try to offer that too.
Several more questions: how frequently do frogs this size poop? And how much do I actually feed? One adult cricket doesn’t really look enough.
By the way, I use bottled water, which I’m pretty sure does not contain any of the bad chemicals as in tap water.
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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I also read that covering the walls with something would help relieve the stress. Is this true?
 

Liquifin

Arachnoking
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how frequently do frogs this size poop?
It's highly dependent on how much you feed them and how warm you keep them. Most of the time pacman frogs use their water dish to help defecate (poop) much easier and they'll use it a lot. So expect to clean and chanf it's water dish quite frequently.
And how much do I actually feed? One adult cricket doesn’t really look enough.
Small pacmans will be fed chopped earth worms and small crickets that are tong fed or had have most of their legs remove to help stimulate natural hunting. Feeding schedule is preference honestly, so if it looks kind of slim I would feed a little more and if it's bigger I feed less until he poops to prevent impaction of overeating. A healthy pacman should be as wide as their bodies. As any pacman becomes older, make sure it knows how to hunt (ambush prey) and not have to rely on tong feeding completely. Because I've seen some pacmans that only know how to eat with tongs and not by ambushing and hunting prey.
I also read that covering the walls with something would help relieve the stress. Is this true?
This is mostly true. Pacmans don't like feeling too exposed so some sort of coverage will help. When I had mines I kept mine in a dim place that was mostly covered and it helped. Sadly, I gave up on the frog hobby. And sold all my frogs off because it was too much to feed all of them.

Here's my frog Muddy when I still had him. An adult 10cm male:
View media item 48441
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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How pretty!
I will try out what you recommended and see how the frog feels. It’s my first time keeping an amphibian and I want everything to go well. It may as well be that the crickets are too big for him. Though he takes them! But needs several good chomps to swallow it down.
Already ordered the earthworms :)
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Jul 7, 2019
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Contacted the shop where I got my frog from, they claim that he was fed medium sized crickets, medium sized locusts, earthworms and occasionally meal worms
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Jul 7, 2019
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Just managed to feed him 2 dusted crickets with my Tongs. Though it was quite a battle. He ran from the touch of the cricket on his lips. I chased him around with it and he didn’t like it. I pressed it onto his lips and he took it. Though part of me believes it was a defensive bite, though he ate it. I tried the same with the second. Took some tries with chasing but he eventually took it. Didn’t take a third
 

ArthurJS

Arachnopeon
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Jul 7, 2019
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Well he took the third just now with enough annoying but he also bit my finger once and held onto it. Didn’t break skin or anything but I definitely felt the little teeth. He’s calm right now which is relieving. I also saw him pee which I assume is a good thing. Didn’t see any poo yet so I’m going to observe and make sure he poops before giving him food again
 
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