Horned Frog (Pacman) issues with eating substrate

[Gail]

So I've had my fair share of these lovely frogs over the years and I have never had one that ended up eating so much of the substrate. She has never been impacted thankfully. I use coir that is free of long strands and is basically crumbles, but she is so aggressive in her feeding that she always gets a mouthful of dirt along with her food. She is, in fact, the single most aggressive C. cranwelli that I have ever had. She has leapt skyward to grab at my hand - rams the side of the cage when she knows food is coming - does a crazy dance and wiggle and will run (well the fat frog equivalent of run) back and forth glaring at me as I get food ready to feed her. I don't think she knows she is supposed to be a sit and wait predator.

Though she has always passed the coir, I really want to find a way to stop her from ingesting it as I feel like I am playing Russian Roulette and eventually she will get a blockage. She is so aggressive and becomes so agitated that moving her to a feeding cage with a bare bottom is really not an option. She has grown rapidly and what started out as a tiny little yellow and orange blob is now a hand sized monster glaring at me from her burrow and demanding "Feed me Seymour" like little shop of horrors.

Has anyone tried keeping C. cranwelli on damp reptile carpet with a hide?

Does anyone have advice, tips or tricks to get her to stop eating so much dirt with each gulp? Note that I have tamped the damp coir down to try to keep it from being as easily grabbed up, but this does not seem to help.

 

[Poonjab]

Maybe try different sub. I’m not sure tbh

 

[Malum Argenteum]

I don't keep these frogs, but many snakes I offer food on a plastic plate (deli cup lid) so they don't ingest substrate. Others are fed from tongs. Some I simply push all the substrate to the back of the enclosure and feed in the front on the bare plastic bottom. Maybe one of these ideas will fit your situation.

 

[Gail]

Some I simply push all the substrate to the back of the enclosure and feed in the front on the bare plastic bottom

Thank you! I think this will be my next thing to try. Tongs didn't work as she will leap and grab the entire tong tips along with any food lol. I've tried the plastic plate and she always seems to be more interested in the fingers holding the plate... she is... greedy. Fingers apparently look larger and yummier than anything on the plate

 

[Malum Argenteum]

Yeah, with many of my snakes I use the tongs to place the plate into the enclosure. Fingers are yummy.

More random suggestions:

Not sure what you're feeding, but loading it in the tongs so that the tongs can be held vertically, at a right angle to the frog's mouth, may help, as the frog won't be able to get the tongs in its mouth. Using large tongs helps with this (I use something like these).

Feed with tongs, but visually block the frog from seeing the food item by holding an opaque sheet (plastic?) in front of the frog, then move the sheet away slowly to reveal the food item near its face -- this might prevent 'launching'.

Depending on the viv, you might be able to install some sort of (raised) platform that you keep clean of substrate at all times and train the frog to look there for food. Then you could just drop the food item on to the platform.

Anyway, report back on what works -- I'm sure someone in the future will be searching for a solution to the same issue.