Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my pacman frog Walter is comatose. my girlfriend came home and thought he was dead. But it's been 3 days and no Rigor mortis has set in. is he hibernating. his eyes are sunken in too, but he's not stiff. i need help! i don't know anything about these frogs.

my pacman frog Walter is comatose. my girlfriend came home and thought he was dead. But it's been 3 days and no Rigor mortis has set in. is he hibernating. his eyes are sunken in too, but he's not stiff. i need help! i don't know anything about these frogs.

First of all don't panic. He's most likely hibernating (brumating - don't know if I spelled that right though). When it gets colder pac mans tend to hibernate. When they do this they develop a skin over their bodies and try to dig down into the substrate. They will respond if you pick them up, but will not be nearly as active as they usually would be. Their eyes will shut and seal off as well. What are the temperatures in your tank? If they're even in around 70 he's probably hibernating. Two of my three pac mans are in hibernation right now and the third isn't because he's right next to a tank with a ceramic heater on 24/7 and gets some of that heat. That one does go into partial hibernation though. My pac mans won't come out until probably March or April. Last year Gordito, one of our girls, didn't eat/hibernated from early December to late April. It's not bad, just natural. You can keep your frog from hibernating but I don't see why you would need to. If nothing else it cuts down on food costs. I posted a pic below of my littlest guy, Diablo, who is in full hibernation. If the substrate were deeper he would be all the way buried. Hope this helps!

~Katie

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2.0.1 Cornsnakes
0.3 Leopard Geckos (Cutie, Lily, and ?)
0.0.1 Savannah Monitor (Sam)
0.2.1 Pac Man Frogs(Gordito, Spud, and Diablo)
0.0.1 Giant Millipede (Mega)
lots of snails and fish...

Brumating doesn't always have something to do with temperature. Sometimes it is humidity/moisture, and sometimes the frog just randomly does it for no reason when conditions remain constant.
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Andy Maddox
AIM: thekingofproduct
MSN: Poloboy32486@hotmail.com
Yahoo:surfandskimtx04
Houston Herp Key
The Reptizone

"Some things will never change. They just stand there looking backwards. Half-unconsious from the pain. They may seem rearranged. In the backwater swirling. There is something that'll never change-The Meat Puppets"

My pacman,Clover, has been "sleeping" now for three weeks after I moved her cage where she doesn't get as much natural filtered sun light. She has an undercage heater on half her cage and she is buried just on the fringe of the heater.Must be nice and cozy for her. I check on her occasionally and she gives me a faint croak. She looks just like the picture on the previous entry.