# Help my pacman frog is not eating and maybe sick



## Sajuuk khar (Aug 19, 2015)

Hi my pacman frog was doing great for several months I have had him, about 5 or so and has grown to be maybe 3 inches across or a little more. When he was young he was very active chasing his food and would eat crickets and pacman frog food from tongs no problem.

Now he is older and bigger, I noticed over the past few weeks he was not eating as much and would stay buried 95% of the time. When he comes out he will walk around the edges of the tank trying to escape then would hide again not be seen for another week or so.

He has also been eating less crickets during these times. He was no longer taking the pacman frog food from tongs as he would when he was younger.

He now doesnt even snap at it any prey food as it comes to his mouth.

His last poop about a week ago looked a little runny compared to his other poops so I think he maybe sick??

But I dont know how he got sick the tank is spotless, I have been feeding him the same types of food from the same places I always get them.

What can I do to help him?? How long should I wait before It force feeding him? Its been almost a week and half since he ate anything.


Nothing in his environment has changed, the temps are constant 80 -81 during the day and 70 - 75 at night, humidity always around 70 - 80 percent.


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## jasonm96 (Aug 30, 2015)

Hi

Make sure the room it's in is kept quiet or it may get stressed, provide a fake plant or cork bark piece for it to burrow under. You can also cover the sides of the tank with paper, it will make it feel safe.

I think they only poop every few days to a week, so I wouldn't worry about how long it's taking for the frog to poo but the fact the faeces are runny doesn't sound good. Usually it would be an indication of parasites but since the frog is most likely captive bred, I don't know but keep an eye on that, if it consists you might need to take a trip to the vet.

Older frogs don't require food as much as froglets, so you can cut the feedings down to once or twice per week depending on size. I wouldn't force feed unless the frog starts to lose weight.

Although the temperatures and humidity are the same it may still sense the seasonal changes in the air, so could slow down its metabolic rate and spend the majority of the winter burrowed. What are you using for heating?

Jason


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## Sajuuk khar (Aug 19, 2015)

jasonm96 said:


> Hi
> 
> Make sure the room it's in is kept quiet or it may get stressed, provide a fake plant or cork bark piece for it to burrow under. You can also cover the sides of the tank with paper, it will make it feel safe.
> 
> ...



The room is quite and the temps and humidty are all good. All 3 sides of the tank (2 sides and back) are covered with woodland picture sticker. He has fake plants and stuff to dig under. I think he is sick and that is why he is not eating. All he wants to do is stay underground. I think if I don't dig him up he would stay under indefinitely. I was at first digging him up once a week to try and feed him, he would not snap at any kind of food I give him. Then one time he tried to snap at a cricket twice then he gave up again and buried himself.

I undug him last Saturday, as it has been 2 weeks since he last ate. He didn't look like he lost weight yet, but I didnt want to wait as he still would not eat anything. I finally gently opened his mouth and put in a big horned worm and he ate it, so he will be good for another 2 weeks probably.

However he pooped again a small poop and half of it was ok and the other half runny, so he is still dealing with that, which could be why he is not eating.

I am taking the sample poop to the vet today to have it analyzed, and go from there.


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## jasonm96 (Aug 30, 2015)

I wonder how are you providing heat? Some keepers put the heat mats on the wall but the problem is this heat source does not warm the overall ambient air temperature and only creates a hot spot in which the frog would have to be above substrate to use, so is only really best for night time heating when the frog is out. I'd recommend a heat lamp for daytime if you aren't using one already. Remember they will spend the majority of their time in the ground, they come out at night and you can use blue/red leds or low wattage heat lamp to view and feed then.


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## Sajuuk khar (Aug 19, 2015)

jasonm96 said:


> I wonder how are you providing heat? Some keepers put the heat mats on the wall but the problem is this heat source does not warm the overall ambient air temperature and only creates a hot spot in which the frog would have to be above substrate to use, so is only really best for night time heating when the frog is out. I'd recommend a heat lamp for daytime if you aren't using one already. Remember they will spend the majority of their time in the ground, they come out at night and you can use blue/red leds or low wattage heat lamp to view and feed then.


I have heat mat under the tank and 2 over head leamps, one red and one blue. I dont use the lamps at the moment because I am heating my whole room, the temps in his cage 1 inch above the substrate in the day is 80 and at night about 72. i dont think heating is the issue he has been fine with this setup since being a froglet.


I got the stool sample analzyed and they said he has a very high amount of parasites. They told me its normal to have some but his levels are too high. They gave me some medication to give him once a day for 5 days to help kill some of them. His stools are still very runny. I am hoping after this it will help with the stools, then he may get back to his normal self. I hate having to force feed him.


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## Sajuuk khar (Aug 19, 2015)

I did what the vet said and gave him medication to kill the parasites for 5 days. He has yet to poop so I dont know if its still runny or not.

I think he is starting to feel a bit better, last night i saw his eyes pop out of the ground on his own. I tossed in some crickets and went to bed. I heard him snap at one but I dont know if he ate it or not. I woke up with 2 crickets of the 4 missing but they could have escaped.

Will try to feed him some worms this weekend hopefully he eats on his own.

Any idea how he could have such a high parasite count from eating crickets and horned worms bought from pet store? Thats really all he ate as he was growing up (plus pacman frog food) and his stools have been fine up untill now.

Are horned worms known to carry lots of parasites?


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## jasonm96 (Aug 30, 2015)

When treating the frog, make sure to keep it on paper towels and change it daily, along with washing the tank out with a reptile-safe disinfected, so the frog doesn't get re-infected. Provide a hide and a water dish but keep it simple. You'll also be able to know if he's eating the crickets when using this set up. 

I'm not sure on hornworms, I've never found them available in my area. Horned frogs or any other captive bred amphibians aren't loaded with parasites like wild caughts. Perhaps your frog might have got infected whilst in the pet shop or wholesalers from contamination with a wild caught animal. Also, keep crickets clean, feed them well and make sure they're not overcrowded , so not to feed your frog diseased and unhealthy food.

When using a heat mat under the tank, take the temperature reading from a digital thermometer with the probe under the substrate directly on top of the mat, where the frog will be when it burrows. You run the risk of burning the frog when you take the readings on top of the substrate. The thermostat probe should also be under the substrate. If you're using heat lamps then you measure on top of substrate.


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## Matt2015 (Oct 29, 2015)

My Pacman hasn't eaten for a few weeks, I'm not too worried he tends to go through stages of eating like a horse then starving himself.

I would recommend keeping a record of his weight, as long as he doesn't start losing a lot of weight I wouldn't worry.


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