Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I want to get 1 small Pacman Frog. I saw them at the store, and they are about an inch long. Is it ok if i buy:

-Peat Moss for the substraight
-A small water dish
-A 10 gallon tank
-Cickets
-The calcium dust
-A heat lamp

Do i need anything else?

your list looks good with exception of the peat moss. true organic peat moss, like what you would use in a outdoor garden or for potting plants as a high acidity level that can cause complications with frogs, espically when moisture is introduced. If you are looking for a substrate for a burrowing species, i recommend either T-rex forest bed or bed-a-beast bricks. they are both composed of compressed cocnut fibers and i use forest bed for all of my tanks with no problems, it holds moisture well, is easy to burrow through and is porous enough to allow for water drainage if you provide a "false bottom" stlye setup. if you decide to use a heat light then i would not recomend using a buld greater then 25 watts for a 10 gal aquarium. pacmans are tropical, but can tolerate lower temps in the 70's without any problems (at least as my experience has shown, i have an adult pacman now in a 15 gal aquarium with a reti-glo 2.0 flourscent light and a 15 watt blue dayglo blub for some extra heat, his tank stays about 72-76 degrees and he seems to have no problem with it) how often you dust your crickets is up to you, but i do it once every two weeks, when necessary, he usually gets adult mice and i don't dust them. hope this helps you out

2.0.0 whites treefrogs
0.1.0 mexican leaf frog (P. dacnicolor)
1.0.0 golden treefrog
0.0.1 green treefrog
1.0.0 southern leapord frog
2.0.0 green frogs
0.0.1 bullfrog
1.0.1 smokey jungle frogs
2.0.0 pixie frogs
1.0.0 pac-man frog
3.0.2 fire-belly toads
0.0.1 yellow-belly toad
1.0.1 fire-belly newts
1.0.0 blue-spotted salamander
0.1.0 yellow spotted salamander
1.0.0 barred tiger salamander
1.1.0 blotched tiger salamander
1.0.0 eastern tiger salamander
1.0.0 gray tiger salamander
0.0.4 koi
0.0.1 fantail comet
0.1.0 green iguana
1.0.0 german shepard
1.0.0 quaker parrolette

If you feed mice to the frog, you need to dust them as commercially produced feeder rodents tend to have a high vitamin A to D3 ratio and this can disrupt the calcium metabolism.

In addition, when feeding rodents, the frequency of feeding needs to be reduced.

Ed

I was unaware of the necessity to dust rodents, I thought that they had a better nutritional value to the frogs and did not require supplementation. I do still dust crickets when I give them, but he eats 6-10 large crickets at a time and I only dust about half per feeding, nightcrawlers are another part of his diet, I don't dust them though. as for the mice, they are the primary portion of his diet, but he only gets feed one adult mouse every 2-3 weeks, if he is awake. crickets and worms are feed no sooner than 2 weeks after consumption of a mouse, and are fed every 3-4 days for about two weeks, then I wait 1 week before offering another mouse. I know that aperances are not everything, but this seems to have worked as i have had him for just over eight years know, and he was already around year old when i got him. Not saying I don't do anything wrong, example- not knowing the need for dusting mice, but so far things have been good.
thanks for the advice, i do appericate it, and it goes to show that you still learn something new everyday.

Depending on the temperature of the enclosure, offering an adult mouse can supply the caloric needs of an adult Ceratophrys for as much as a month.
I too have kept Ceratophrys for more than 8 years and offering them a diet consisting mainly of rodents but there are some issues that need to be monitored to prevent issues. You can have low level hypoviaminosis and as a result not have any overt symptoms but is something happens to disrupt the balance then the condition rapidly develops as the frog doesn't have any resources to deal with the problem.

FYI as mentioned elsewhere, earthworms that are not kept in calcium rich soils are nutrient poor.

Ed

Ed,
Saw your post about hypovitaminosis and Horned frogs. I spoke to an animal nutritionist who told me that crawlers and hoppers were much better to give than adult mice because they were not weaned yet and were still consuming mothers milk which is high in calcium.
Yet, a veterinarian I spoke to says that adults are better food items because crawlers and hoppers have immature bones that contain little calcium.
This kind of confusion has me wondering how to get to the bottom of this debate. Any thoughts?

snip "Saw your post about hypovitaminosis and Horned frogs. I spoke to an animal nutritionist who told me that crawlers and hoppers were much better to give than adult mice because they were not weaned yet and were still consuming mothers milk which is high in calcium."

Yet, a veterinarian I spoke to says that adults are better food items because crawlers and hoppers have immature bones that contain little calcium.
This kind of confusion has me wondering how to get to the bottom of this debate. Any thoughts?" endsnip

The level of calcium is irrelevant in this discussion as the levels of vitamin A prevent the uptake of sufficient levels of vitamin D3 (causing the hypovitaminosis of D3) which then prevents the frog from uptaking and metabolizing the calcium.

As to the better source of calcium, I would have to look at the figures to give you a better answer.

Ed

Thank you for your comments. It is interesting to note that the same vet prescribed straight liquid calcium for one of my frogs that came to me suffering from MBD. The vet indicated at that time that the liquid calcium would be readily absorbed without any additional D3. Nonetheless, I always use the calcium with the D3 for dusting insects.
I'm not sure I understand the whole relationship between calcium, vitamin A and D3 in frogs. Has there been much research in this area?

The relation ship between A3 and E has been well known for over 50 years and is well documented in both the medical and veterinary literature.

Ed

OK. So... If I plan to get a cover for the tank, how should I place the heat lamp? I have to get a cover for maintaining high humidity and to keep the crickes from jumping out.

Can i just place the bulb over the wire cover (outside of the cage)?

Pictures would help...

Sorry I also forgot some other questions....

-How should I dust the crickets? (put them in a bag and put the supplement in the bag too and then shake?)
-How should i give hime the crickets? (by hand, or should i drop them in there with him?)
-Are small fake plants (like from the 99 cent store) ok?
-Is drinking bottled water ok for the frog?

Thanks!!!

snip "-How should I dust the crickets? (put them in a bag and put the supplement in the bag too and then shake?)"

This works well.

snip "-How should i give hime the crickets? (by hand, or should i drop them in there with him?)end snip

I suggest hand feeding as this prevents the risk of impaction by swallowing substrate along with the food item. When it comes to the crickets, this also helps keep crickets from being left in the cage which if they get hungry will chew on the frog.

snip "-Are small fake plants (like from the 99 cent store) ok?"

The dirt in these pots often contain fertilizer or pesticide residue so the dirt has to be totally washed off before the plant is used.

snip -Is drinking bottled water ok for the frog? endsnip

Yes but it usually not necessary.

Ed