Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have owned a larger pacman frog for a while now that I bought at about the size of a silver dollar, its now about the size of a baseball and doing great. I decided I wanted another one I so bought a small one last week from PetCo which had a fifteen day gaurantee. Well, it wasn't eating very good and it was acting funny to begin with but to make a long story short, I had it in my hand while I was refilling its water bowl to soak him in fresh water because he was just acting really wierd, it jumped off my hand and landed on my kithcen counter which was about at the most two inches below my hand. All of a sudden, it looked like it was having a siezure, its arms and legs extended and got very tight and then they just relaxed and he was dead. I took it back to see about returning it and the guy said they wouldnt take it back because it was my fault because I dropped him and thats what killed him. He said it was actually very common for pacmans to die from falling from that distance and I thought "2 inches???". Are smaller pacmans really this fragile or are they just trying not to fullfill my guarantee? Any replies would be appreciated. thanks in advance... J. Runde

Actually, I had my frog jump of at about 5 inch and it was still going strong...eating well.

Thats crap. The first day I got my baby, it bit me and i got so surprised, I flung it! (oops) It smacked the wall and fell to the ground, and he was fine, eats well, big now! They are not that delicate. Petco is known for low quality animals and crappy values.

has anybody ever had theirs die from a such a small fall? I am trying to find out whether or not it is worth going in there and arguing for. He said it was real common but I cant figure how? I can see maybe dropping him from like five feet or so but not having him jump off your hand and him land 2-3 inches below. He said that it ruptured his insides but I didnt see any evidence of such.

One of the worker at Petco was showing the albino to me and he drop it from 4-5 feet a frog a little larger than a silver dollar and he was OK. I think you've been had.

Speak to the manager (if you haven't) and tell them that it wasn't your fault and if they can't prove it's common, it's up to them to follow through with their contract and refund your money. Threaten to contact the Better Business Bureau or other adequate organization, and do it if they don't listen to you.

By the way, check the back of the receipt to see if it says anything like that. If it doesn't say anything about not refunding the price of something if it is or isn't your fault, then complain that they're breaching a contract and remind them that you can do plenty about that. Good luck! Uggh, I'm sleeepy.

That guy is lying to you, my horned frogs have fell from at least 2 feet. They never had any problems. They are not fragile at all. And you shouldn't have told him that it fell, just tell him it died all of a sudden. Be vague when dealing with pet shops, or they will try to rip you off. Most of them anyways, there are a few good ones, but those are few and far between. Take him back and talk to a different person and tell them "My frog just died." and if they ask you why, tell them "you got it and it was sick from the pet shop." that shoudl get you a refund or store credit or whatever.

The animal was probably already sick when you got it. That is exactly why you shouldn't buy animals from petstores, they care the least about the animal's health.
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*Humans aren't the only species on earth... we just act like it.

".the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without
spoiling it."
Aldo Leopold (1938)

You people get too down on pet shops, I know most of them have no idea what they are doing, that's why you need to know how to distinguish a healthy animal from a sick animal. Try to educate the people in the pet shops, and maybe you can make some changes happen. It won't be some great big overnight change, just a gradual change.

Well, this guy acted like he knew what he was talking about but I thought it was bs. He said hes seen or heard of many cases, especially in the wild where a pacman frog will jump from something and kill itself because its so big and its bone structure is so small. He said the smaller ones are very fragile.
Hey, if they dont know, they dont know. Fine. I cant expect them to know every little thing about an animal. Hell,I used to work in the fish dept at Walmart and I didnt know everything there was to know about the fish we carried. Im just pissed that he accused me of killing the frog like I didnt know what I was doing. Im no expert but I seem to be doing real well with my first one.

still curious, has anybody's pacman died from such a short fall? If so, let me know. I just want to know if its possible I mean, c'mon, 2-3 inches, that seems unrealistic. That is unless it has happened to someone else.

I've had one horned frog die of dehydration, and one die of over feeding, I've had about 12 of them. The rest my dad made me get rid of when I lived with him. So no I have never heard of one dying from a fall. And these frogs have huge bone structures.

If Horned Frogs could die from having a 2" inch fall, then they'd be an exticnt family of frogs. It was more than likely sick to begin with(as previously stated). The person is feeding you a whole load of bs. Now to another matter. You all need to stop condemning pet shops right now. Not every pet shop is an animal death trap. The excellent ones are far and few between, but they are around. If someone sees a pet shop that clearly mistreats their animals, they can alert the proper authorities to the issue and have them shut down. No more condemnation, you need to stop! You can flame and dissagree with me all you want, but you need to stop acting like a child. If a pet store is very poor, you need to tell someone. Don't take it out on the good ones. My two cents.

laters,
Bill

Well, after hearing all this. I dedided to go to petco.com and find some way to complain. I first left an email but then I thought about it and realized that it would prob. either take forever to get a response or I just wouldnt get one back. So then I decided to call their hotline and I explained my situation to a man on the line. He said that the deal didnt sound right because they were real hardy frogs and that short of a fall wouldnt kill him. He took my name and number and called the petco that I purchasd it from. Well, he called me back rather promptly and asked me to clarify the situation because they were claiming that it was originally from a higher distance than I was stating now and thats why they didnt give me another frog. So either the manager just wasnt told the whole truth and thats why he didnt approve of me receiving another frog, or they were just trying to get over on me and once they realized I wasnt going to settle for it, they tried to cover their but and claim ignorance. The man said that he would give all the info to their GM and he would be giving me a call here sometime soon, how long I dont know. Now that Im done babbling, I just wanted to thank you guys for your info and hopefully I will be getting another pacman like I should have in the first place. thanks