Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello

I bought my first pacman on Sunday, March 12th, 2006 and since then he has been eating a mouse every 10-11 day
Taken em at once they have enterd the terraria

but now he just sits there and dosent care about the mouse not even when its sitting on his head.

its 18 days since he ate.

The tempeture is 29C in the warm part and about 24 in the "cold" part

anyone know how i can trigger it to eat or how long i can/should wait before i should get worried about it?

ideas and hint are most welcome

Cheers!

A mouse every 10-11 days? Ummm.... heh.

While mice are good treats for a pacman, it should NOT be its staple diet. You should only be feeding it a mouse really, once a month. The rest of the time you should be feeding it worms, dusted crickets, or goodfish.

He most likely has gotten tired of just eating mice. It's really fatty food for them, and hard on the digestion if thats all they are eating.

Good luck

Hello

I have tested crickets and worms to same reaction ;/

Something from the archives I wrote awhile ago regarding the fat content in mice...

snip Actually house crickets contain 54% fat/kcal*, while commercial crickets contain 44% fat/kcal*, compared to 60% fat/kcal* for mealworms. Compared to a 1.5 gram pink which is 40% fat/kcal and an adult mouse (27 gram) which is 47% fat/kcal. Pinks do not take a jump in fat content until they are larger than 4 grams at which time they hit 60% fat/kcal which is no higher than mealworms.

The only low fat invertebrate that is commercially available are earthworms but a diet os solely earthworms has been linked to muscle diseases in anurans (see Modzelewski, E.H.; Culley, D.D. Jr.; 1974, Growth responses of the bull frog, Rana catesbiana, fed various live foods; Herpetologica, 30(4): 396-405)

* Donoghue, Susan; Langenberg, Julie, 1996, Nutrition, In Reptile Medicine and Surgery, edited by Mader, Douglas R., W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia "endsnip

I'm no expert in this area really, but try feeding him at different times of the day, ex: night or day. Also just let a few crickets go in the terrarium and sooner or later he should pick up on them. When was the last time the frog deficated? I usually gauge that a large meal should take about a week or so to pass through the frog depending on how warm it is in the terrarium. And so, in this case I usually go by feeding my pyxie frog a "mouse-sized" meal every week. If the frog hasn't deficated yet, then maybe he's still finishing off the last mouse.

Also, are you feeding the frog its calcium and multivitamin suppliments? If not, then that could lead to the frog not being able to take full advantage over digesting the mouse. If you're really worried that the frog hasn't eaten yet, then I guess you can take it to a proper vet. However, there are many sources on the internet and books at herp selling pet stores that may help you. Not only that, but there's also some emergency aid care for reptiles and amphibians. I saw one at Petsmart by Fluker's which could be used for amphibians and it basically is a nutritional formula that can be used to help your frog recouperate in stressful times when the frog has refused to eat.

Anyway, be sure to note your frog's behaviour so that it will help you understand it better.