Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello,
I have had a ton of experience with amphibians. Currently, I have 4 terrariums. Today I got a new pacman. He is about the size of a nickle or a milk cap. Do I need a heat lamp for him? Also, any pointers I should know about that is pacman specific? Currently, he has a little hiding area, the dirt that expands when put in H2O for substrate, and a very shallow bowl. I have small crickets for him to eat as well. Thanks.
-Christine

generally heat lamps are better for these frogs than heat mats as they heat them from above as the sun does in their natural habitat and they burrow down into the substrate to escape heat, you may not need any additional heating at all depending on where you live and otherwise your set-up sounds fine. you could vary his diet a bit with waxworms etc. but the most important thing is to dust his crickets sometimes as he requires alot of calcium for his rapidly growing bone structure.

You have an albino pacman, that needs to be heated to about 82 degrees while he is a juvenile, once he gets older you can lower the temperature a bit. Lamps or undertank heat is ok, just make sure that the substrate is moist. Mist it to keep it from drying out. This little fellow needs alot of calcium at the beginning, so make sure you dust the crickets once a week. Vary the diet with waxworms, earthworms, silkworms, pink mice and minnows that have been frozen (to kill parasites) and defrosted. Try to train him to eat from tongs as it will be much easier to keep him from injesting the substrate, and you can feed dead things which are safer to feed than live things. Handle him while he is young, and he will not get nasty. These frogs can and will bite you, so make sure you always pick them up from the rear. They do tame down if they are taught when young not to eat fingers. Good Luck!