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sick pacman frog?

powerofvoodoo Sep 06, 2007 10:08 AM

bought an albino pacman frog last November. She's about 2" long and 1 1/2" wide and I don't know the sex yet but because I named her Bitsy, I refer to her as a female.

In the past few months, I've noticed an extreme drop in her eating habits--she hasn't been eating much and she's been moving around less than usual. Starting about a month ago, there have been times where I would check on her or pick her up and her legs would be sticking straight out behind her and she wouldn't move. Her body would get hard and I figured she learned a new defensive move. Last night I fed her for the first time in almost 2 weeks (she hasn't been eating much anyway and it's really hard for me to get crickets right now) and I gave her 6 small mealworms. She only ate 3 in the couple of hours I had her in a seperate cage (her travel cage) with the mealworms.
This morning, she was laying in her water dish with her legs sticking straight out but when I picked her up, she moved her legs back and started moving around more. Tonight, she was again in her water dish with her legs sticking straight out and when I picked her up, she was completely limp. While I can move her body myself, I was unable to make her move. Now, she could be dead for all I know because I also couldn't tell if she was breathing or not, but she did close her eyes when I layed her down on her back on my desk.
When I flipped her over, I realized that her body looked even more transparant than usual I can see a red vein running down the middle of her body which I never noticed before.
She has been on a strict diet of crickets and mealworms (more crickets than mealworms) since I got her but I did give her a feeder fish that my friend bought for her pacman back in January.
About a month ago I went to the petstore and asked about her, one of the workers suggested to me that maybe she is hybernating but her tank has always been about 78 degrees F. The only change that she's experienced is when I went home for the summer, she went from the large critter keeper to a 10 gallon aquarium (I go to school and keep her "illegally" in my dorm so I am putting off buying her a larger cage for school until she is fully grown)
She also has only burrowed under the dirt once or twice in the past 3 or 4 months and she used to burrow completely under to the point where I wouldn't be able to find her.
I had always kind of chalked up her weird behavior to the fact that she wasn't used to her 10 gallon tank, but even now, in her familiar home, she's acting the same way.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with her before I try to find and take her to an exotic vet? (I'd rather not do that unless I have to because of my lack of transportation and lack of money, but I will if people advise me to do so)
Also, can anyone tell me if she should be bigger than this by now? I thought that she should be fully grown by now but I try to always keep a couple of crickets running around her cage because she's never been the type to eat because the food was available. I always gutload the crickets but the calcium powder usually rubs off before she eats the crickets.

Replies (3)

AndrewFromSoCal Sep 06, 2007 06:03 PM

Don't take my word for slick scientific fact, but I will try to reply with some of the knowledge I have acquired from taking care of other animals, and doing research on Pacmans, since my girlfriend is getting one on Saturday.

From what i've read, Mealworms are a big no-no for toothed frogs. From what I understand, they can basically eat their way out of their stomachs, which obviously isn't a good thing.

There are some questions that you need to answer before anyone can give you a viable answer on your problem, and they are as follows:

1. What kind of substrate are you using, and how is the cage set up?

2. Is impaction a possibility?

3. How is the humidity in her cage?

4. How often do you handle the animal?

Reply ASAP, if possible, so the boarders can assess the problem.

powerofvoodoo Sep 06, 2007 07:14 PM

From what I've read, a lot of people do feed their pacmans mealworms, it's just not as nutrious for them.
She lived in bed-a-beast and I misted her cage daily. Because I used bed-a-beast, I doubt impactation was a possibility. The cage was set up with a water dish in one corner with dirt all around it that I keep moist. I also had a plant in one corner, kept in the plastic container that I bought it in to prevent it from being uprooted, and on the other side of the container, I had a log for her to hide in. I don't know how to measure the humidity of the cage.
She actually died while I was away from my room today but I would like to know what I did wrong with her because I would like to get another one soon.
Thanks for the reply!

azfrog Apr 16, 2009 09:49 PM

my frog just did this exact same thing. He died this morning
I have no idea why. Nothing changed. Anyone have any insight to this?

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