Pacman Frog Care Sheet

Pacman Frogs are an interesting amphibian, very sedentary. These typically colourful frogs will spend most of their time in one place waiting for food to come their way, which they then eat as much as possible with a big, wide mouth, which makes them look like the video game character Pac-Man.

Pacman frogs do well with a glass terrarium as their enclosure. This is because glass is great at allowing heat to escape ensuring that the enclosure stays cool enough. Other enclosures such as wooden vivariums are far too efficient at retaining heat.

The pacman frog's vivarium should be at least 600mm in length and 300mm in height. The pacman frog is going to grow to around 4-7" so they need a space large enough for them to move around in.

Pacman frogs require a near constant air temperature of 75°F. This is best achieved by sticking a heatmat on one side of the glass enclosure. This heatmat is regulated using a thermostat to make sure the temperature stays constant.

As the glass is only being heated on one side this also creates a small temperature gradient within the enclosure allowing the frog to warm itself up or move away to cool down.

If the enclosure is not able to get up to temperature with the heat mat alone a small basking bulb may be implemented in the canopy as long as the temperatures do not exceed 75-80oF.

Pacman Frogs are from South America. Animals that inhabit jungle regions do have some natural cover but still receive a fair amount of UV. Their UVB source should reflect this. In this kind of enclosure lights are generally held in a canopy above the mesh ceiling. In this canopy you can either implement a 5-6% UV tube or the equivalent compact light.

Gray tree frogs require UVB in order to synthesise vitamin D3 inside their skin. The vitamin D3 helps the frog to absorb calcium which crucial for bone structure and growth. This is why reptiles can suffer from metabolic bone disease (MBD) when not provided with adequate UVB.

It is recommended that t5 tubes are replaced every 9 months and compact lamps are replaced every 6 months.

Pacman frogs are terrestrial frogs but still need to be kept moist. The best way of doing this is by lining the floor with a mixture of bark chips and damp moss, the substrate can be taken out and resoaked or replaced as necessary.

The frogs vivarium can be decorated with artificial plants for a more natural look. Natural wood ornaments look very effective and also provide further perches for the frogs. Trailing plants are very good at disguising electrical wires and equipment, as well as providing cover for young amphibians.

Pacman frogs are carnivorous and have a diet consisting mainly of live foods. The core of the livefood diet should be high in protien and relatively easy to digest. We have found that brown crickets are the most readily accepted, but you can also use black crickets or locusts (hoppers). On occasion, for variation you can offer other bugs such as mealworms, waxworms or calciworms.

Pacman frogs can also be fed small 'pinky' mice or earthworms once a week to add a bit more protein to their diet.

To provide the pacman frog with optimal nutrition and to keep them in the best of health, they will require dietary supplementation in the form of calcium, vitamins and minerals. These are most commonly available as powders

Any livefood for the frog should be 'gut-loaded' with an insect food. This basically involves feeding the livefood a nutrient rich diet before they are fed to the pacman frog. Our livefood is delivered to you already gut-loaded but this should be continued at home.

If you keep a male and female together, they may breed. You do not need to do anything to encourage this. As long as they are healthy and the conditions are good, it will happen naturally. You need to consider whether you want this to happen before introducing the pair. What will you do with the babies if you incubate the eggs?

A gravid female should have access to a nesting box to lay her eggs. The box should be large enough that she can fully turn around inside it. Inside the nesting box we use a soil mix that is kept humid enough to hold its shape but not so wet that it will saturate any eggs. We have found that ProRep spider life is perfect for this.

Pac-Man frogs, as with most pets, require a clean environment to thrive. We recommend a spot clean as often as possible (every day) and a full clean every 4 weeks or so. If you are keeping the chameleon in a bio-active enclosure you can spot clean and monitor the enclosure. It may still be a good item to change out the bedding a few times per year.

When cleaning the enclosure you should remove your animal, all decorations and all of the bedding. Once the enclosure is clear you can spray it all over with a reptile friendly disinfectant. These usually work very quickly and only need to be left for around 30 seconds, instructions can normally be found on the disinfectants packaging. Once the disinfectant has done its work it can be wiped away from the surfaces with a paper towel. In some cases you might want to repeat this process a second time to ensure that the enclosure is thoroughly cleaned.

Your decorations can be cleaned in a similar method, simply spray them down with the disinfectant and rinse thoroughly with water before drying them off and putting them back into the enclosure. We recommend this process is done during the day time to make sure that the Frog will be going back to a warm vivarium for at least an hour before the basking lamps are turned off for the night.