Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am looking into getting another Pacman frog. I had one when I was 10 years old and I loved him. He was really cool and I don't know that it was a he I just call him that. Anyway...after having the frog for several years I went away on a vacation and my mom had to take care of him for 15 days. Apparently this was too much for her to handle and she gave him away without telling me. Needless to say I was upset, I put so much time and effort into him and then one day I come home and he's gone. So coming to my point is that I want to get another one. I know I must have been doing some things wrong because I did not feed mine anything other than crickets and I also did not have heat or light on it. Before you all freak out keep in mind I was very young and I only knew what the pet store told me. So I have several 10 gallon tanks that are of no use at the moment. I want to get another one and I will probably get one from a reptile and amphibian speciality pet store, since that is where I get my snakes from. What does everyone use to heat their tanks? I have UTH's and I have ceramic heat emitters and heat bulbs. What is the best method to take with heating a Pacman frog environment? What should I do with the lighting? Should I use full spectrum lighting or should I just sit it closer to a window so that it gets its light from the outside. I know how to gut load crickets and all that and I know that they eat tiny feeder fish in the beginning, but when do you start feeding pinky mice and how often? Do you also feed crickets and mealworms when you are not feeding mice? Say I feed a mice on Tuesday can I put a couple crickets or worms in on Thursday or would that be overkill? Sorry about the huge post, but my rosys have the best and I only want this frog to have the best as well. Oh, also when I use paper towels how many should I put in there and how should I layer it so that the frog can burrow? Thanks again.
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Vicky Lord
1.0 boyfriends (Jeremy)
1.1 cats (Oscar, Angel)
1.1 dogs (Toto, Jesse)
1.0 San Felipe Rosy Boa (Herman)
1.0 Catavina Rosy Boa (George)

Sigh... normaly I would refer to a care sheet, which contains all the answers you need. But today I will tell you all that I know.

Items needed:
-Pacman Frog
-10G tank
-Bed a Beast, Eco-Earth, or any other coconut fiber substrate
-fake or real plants
-a shallow water dish
-a 5 or 10 gallon under tank heater
-calcium powder for the drix
-crix
-tweezers, tongs, etc. for hand feeding
-spray bottle for misting
-a good lid for your tank

Humidity: keep it always above 70%. Do this by misting twice a day, or when neccessary. Real plants will help keep it up.
Lighting: NO LIGHTING REQUIRED. If you use light for heating you will cook your frog. Since forgs hang out on the forest floor, they get little to no sunlight, so you do NOT need a special bulb for your forg.
Heat: Keep the ambient (air temp) in the tank between 76-83 during the day and between 70-75 during the night. Extreme temps cause the frog to go into a hibernation state. Read more about this down below.
Food: For a young Pac, feed it 1-3 small crix once every day. Make sure that they are gut loaded and calcium dusted. As your frog grows, you will be able to feed pinkies and small frozen mice. Make sure that the length of the mouse is shorter than the length of the frogs mouth. You can also feed your frogs worms (meal, wax, super, earth), soft boned fish (no goldfish), and other insects. I do not feed my frog these so I can't tell you about them.
Hibernation: When temps are extreme (too cold or too warm) the frog will burrow itself and incase itself in a thick skin like coat. This is to retain moisture. When it goes into this state it will not eat or move, so do not bother it. Instead work hard to return humidity and temp levels to an ideal state so the frog will come out of hibernation.
Impaction: Imapction is when the frog eats too much or eats something the it cannot digest. When this happens. The food or substrate the it consumed blocks the digestive tract, making the frog not eat for several weeks. If your frog has impaction than it probably does not eat, poo, and probably has a hard lump in his tummy (feel around for it). If this happens put your frog in a warm bath (I said warm not hot)twice a day to encourge pooping. If this does not help go to a vet.

Hope this helps. There are other matters that I did not mention, and you may want to research some more before getting your frog.