Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I purchased a young pacman frog about 2 months ago. I have yet to se it eat since I came from the store. It only buries itself. While I know this will happen with pacmans, I think it is truly strange. This is my first frog. I also live in Cleveland. Any sugestions?

Yup it is in peril alright! I imagine it is super skinny. If you don't force feed it, it will die. The good thing is that after several force feedings, and after it has gained some strength back they usually start feeding on their own, and then they feed voraciously. I have been through this several times, and if you choose not to force feed they will just waste away.

Wow, terrible advice! I would never recommend force feeding unless it was the only option. The original poster never mentioned the conditions the frog was being kept in. It could be that the temps or humidity is too low. The frog could be suffering from impaction or a bacterial infection. In any of these cases, force feeding would not help at all and would just cause the frog unnecessary stress.

They said they have had the frog for 2 months and it hasnt eaten a thing. They also said it is a juvenile. Obviously you have had zero experience with this or you would know that force feeding is the only option!

snip "They said they have had the frog for 2 months and it hasnt eaten a thing. They also said it is a juvenile. Obviously you have had zero experience with this or you would know that force feeding is the only option!"endsnip

This is not necessarily the only option... For example, if the frog was kept cool enough it may not have even lost a significant amount of body weight.

And if there is a gastrional impaction, force feeding the frog could very well be one of the worst possible options as increasing the mass in the digestive tract can cause significant damage to the digestive tract... This can result in death of the frog.

The frog should be examined by a vet to determine if there is an impaction or other problem.

In addition if the frog has lost significant amounts of weight, force feeding has to be dealt with very carefully as a significantly large meal can cause death through refeeding syndrome. The meal should consist of no more than 50% of the kcals the frog needs to sustain basal metabolic rate..

If you do have to force feed I would suggest tube feeding the frog with feline clinicare (obtainable from your vet).

Ed

Quit "snipping". That is gay!

Unfortuately, too late. Thank you for the inout though. I now have a stone frog. I am taking it back to the pet store to see what can be done.
Thanks,
Chris