I really want a pacman frog!

[bugs4life]

Are pacman frogs easy to find? About how much do they cost and what care is required? See, I really don't know much about them, they're just too cool

 

[Leiurus87]

Older thread yes, but they are failr common in petshops and a 2 inch wide one will run about 25-30 dollars.

 

[Leiurus87]

Care is relatively easy, 10-20 gallon tank, high humidity, pool of water in non-spill container, use purified water, dont handle without gloves, feed adults large insects and OCCASIONAL mouse. full size is around 5-8 inches i hear.

 

[Spiderface]

get the albino pac. not much difference in price and they look so cool. they grow fast. easy to take care of. hard to kill in my experience. they will bite you when they get some size on em.

 

[dirtborder4life]

Pac-Man

Well,Leiurus pretty much hit the nail on the head.Room temp is fine if you have a warm...ish house.75-85 is preferable.I use very moist peat or sphagnum moss for substrate and a wide water dish that is about shoulder depth on them.Other that that,try to keep up with their appetites! Really though,dont over feed,as obesity is a common prob. with these frogs. Good luck,
Josh.

 

[TarantuChimp]

i got mine at 30 degrees with 2 heat mats I feed barry 3 to 5 crickets a day this might seem like over feeding but he keeps up with it and has a weekly pinky hes not at the biting stage yet but he had a bit of a nip the other day ha ha.

 

[jwasted]

Is their bite painful? I am curious about these also.

 

[Natco]

Not too bad.

Is their bite painful? I am curious about these also.

Mine has only nailed me once, and he did manage to break the skin, although I understand that this is very rare. There is a lot of pressure also, but I would not imagine it would be that bad compared to many of the animals discussed on this site. I would far rather get it from a packy, than some of those wicked scary centipedes I see on here. You also have to watch out for the tongue. It does not hurt, but it can result in damage to your frog if you involuntarily jerk away. Mine is about five inches, and I feed him once a week.

 

[OldHag]

Can you feed them Frozen Thawed mice?? In addition to the insects and such?

 

[Jimmy James]

Pacman frogs will eat anything they can get their mouths on (even other Pacman frogs bigger than they are). Pacman frogs will even choke to death trying to swallow things bigger than they are.

Be prepared to feed a giant mouth with legs.

 

[dirtborder4life]

Mice

OldHag:Yes,they will eat f/t,you just have to wiggle them infront of the frog with hemostats.Usually,if it moves,they will try to eat it.

 

[ShadowSpectrum]

Can you feed them Frozen Thawed mice?? In addition to the insects and such?

I've read (but could very well be untrue) that pacman frogs are one of the few animals that will eat themselves to death given the chance.

 

[TarantuChimp]

Barry eats like a pig 3 - 5 circkets per day and then a mouse once a week to fatten him up hes not obese hes tagged me once even tho he is small like a pin prick never bled or anything tho.

 

[Stylopidae]

I've had one for a year and it's still going strong. Here's my caresheet:

10 gallon tank is fine, maybe even oversized...my ex has hers in a 5 gallon tank and it's doing just fine. 20 gallon is way too big, as they rarely move. Full grown size is between 5 and 7 inches for Cranwelli and Ornata. Aurita is larger, but harder to get ahold of. If you happen to stumble across an Aurita (assuming you don't sell it to me), you'd most likely need a 20 gallon tank.

I feed mine a mouse every one to two months. I have to feed it live because mine ignores prekilled and F/T. Don't feed them vertebrates too often, or else they will get fat deposits on their corneas. Fat deposits on the corneas in the worst case scenario means blindness. They hunt by sight, so blindness is bad. Very bad. Mine seems to ignore crickets for some reason. Some people, including me, feed their pacmans fish. Don't feed them exclusively or else they will end up with a severe vitamin B deficiency which can lead to neurological damage.

I change substrate every three months, more often is preferred. Mine never uses it's waterbowl, so I'm debating taking it out ATM.

I keep mine on soaking wet substrate with a 50 watt (I think) uva/uvb light.

I'd reccomend starting a roach colony for your new pet. Cheap, efficient and better for your animals.

If it mistakes your hand for food, it will usually let go within 20 minutes. Don't pull it out or otherwise try to get it out, you will damage the frog. You can try soaking your hand in vinegar before doing cage maintenance and see if that works.

Mine eventually learned that I wasn't on the menu. When they bight, it's usually no worse than taking a fish hook out of a large bass (you know, those skin deep scratches you get from holding it by the lip? No? Okay, then you need to fish more. Or just use better bait.). They don't hurt when they bite, it's more like a bullhead clamping down on your finger.

 

[Shelob]

Is their bite painful? I am curious about these also.

I was bitten by my 4.5 inch albino and it was the most painful bite I have sustained in my life. I had blood literally flowing down my arm, she got my pinky, ring finger and middle finger in her mouth all at once and wouldn't let go even after I fully dunked her in water.

My male on the other hand is extremely docile and hasn't tried to bite me since he was the size of a 1/2 dollar, I can hold him all I want and he never bites. I love both my lil guys but don't expect to see them all the time and remember they are basically pet rocks and activity is not on the menu.

 

[Natco]

Can you feed them Frozen Thawed mice?? In addition to the insects and such?

Many people do feed mice, but I read somewhere recently that feeding mice to your frog can make it go blind. I dont have time to search for the source, but Im pretty sure it was a book. I cant remember the resons they gave off hand. If I think of it later I will try to dig it up, and post it here.

I also read a very good suggestion for keeping horned frogs. They are notorious for getting intestinal blockages from ingesting substrate. I read about this (and once again can not remember where, sorry) and it has worked beutifully for me.

Get a ten gallon tank, nad put one of those reptile turf mats in the bottom. Put a heating pad under one end, and prop that end up an inch or two off the ground. Fill the tank with water so the water comes to just below the frogs nostrills. With the tank tilted like this there will be a wet side, and a dry side.

I know it sounds funny, but as I said it has worked very well, and I have been using it for quite some time.

 

[TarantuChimp]

they go blind because apprently fat can build up in the corniea of the frogs eye.

did i see that here or did i make that up.

 

[Shelob]

they go blind because apprently fat can build up in the corniea of the frogs eye.

did i see that here or did i make that up.

There was much debate on this in the frog forum on kingsnake.com, with EdK being the opposition to the idea. Ed is extremely intelligent and can reference many scientific articles to support his many cases, it was Ed who, in the long run, was able to convince me some years back that feeding mice does not cause blindness because of excess fatty deposits.....not sure if he still posts but if he does seek him for more info.

 

[Hoosier]

Just as a warning.. pacman frogs are not for EVERYONE. I got soooooo bored of mine all it did was crap...eat crickets...and sit in the dirt...and of course ate my ca$h!!

 

[Fini]

Just as a warning.. pacman frogs are not for EVERYONE. I got soooooo bored of mine all it did was crap...eat crickets...and sit in the dirt...and of course ate my ca$h!!

Yeah. That sounds about right. Our Helga (Oblongs) eats mostly goldfish and the occasional pre-killed mouse. This seems to work pretty well. She doesn't have the over-fat look like I've seen in some. The tilted enclosure works really well but you can just as easily use a big ceramic bowl for the water. It is important that they have a dry side. They can develop some nasty bacterial infections if their substrate is wet all the time. Most of the time we don't even see her as she likes to bury herself in the coconut peat.