# And so now I own an ornate horned frog (Pac man)



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Boy that was quick. I'd thought about one of these guys many many months ago but decided against setting another tank up. My 10 gallon recently freed up (thanks to a cheap heater I bought, but that's something else entirely) on Monday, and by friday I've gotten into the world of amphibian keeping.










I'm happy with him, and he's currently sitting on a bed of coconut fiber, has a water dish and... well that's about it. The setup isn't pretty at all at the moment, but next week I'm going to spruce it up a bit with some air plants and rocks along the back wall leaving him plenty of room to burrow. At that time I'll have some setup pictures, until then just trust me when I saw it's crappy looking









It is however, set up so that he'll be healthy. Water dish not deep enough to drown in, easy access to climb in or out, under tank heater, hygrometer and thermometer, glass cover, lots of humidity, 12 hour light cycle, you get the idea.

I did have a quick question regarding feeding. Before I get everything set up in terms of food, I've got a bunch of crickets in a bucket with a very shallow and wide water dish (so they don't drown) which I'll feed him with and some pinkies in the freezer. When I get some earthworms and frozen minnows, I'll be good to go. Anyway, my question was regarding the coconut fiber and him eating it. I put a cricket in the tank to see if he would eat, and he lunged and missed maybe 5 times before getting it right. The end result, was that he got several mouthfulls of substrate, which he seems to have swallowed a good deal of. There's no risk from him eating the coconut fiber is there?

Also, on the missing the crickets repeatedly... is this because he's still a youngin and has to refine his hunting technique, or are they just not that great hunters? Doesn't matter either way, he'll certainly get fed, I'm rather curious is all.

Anyway, he's here, he's a ton of fun, the tank is set up and he settled in enough to eat, so all in all things seem to be going well.

Oh and the other question was whether there was any way to keep the glass from fogging up so much. The humidity in there is at about 85 and the glass is fogging a slight bit, are there any tricks for keeping the glass fog free without using any harsh chemicals or having to lower the humidity level?


----------



## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

Beautiful frog twitch-And awesome photo's sir-thanks for sharing with us!!!!


----------



## bigboi (May 3, 2006)

They are a sweet frog my kids have one


----------



## KingRex (Sep 4, 2006)

Cool frog, I'm thinking of getting one myself at the chicago NARBC show. You've got no worrys about him ingesting coconut fibers, they should pass right through him. I think theres a caresheet at anapsid.org if you were looking for one. ~ Rex


----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Good stuff, thanks guys.

AK - I've got studio flashes I can put to good use getting photos of this guy, just gotta reposition the tank a bit and then we'll see some good shots









Rex - That's good to know. I almost think he ate more coconut fiber than he did cricket so I'm glad it should pass right through. He's certainly not the awesome predator just yet, aside from eating alot of coconut, he also jumped at a cricket and did a sumersault into his water dish in the process of missing. I think if he hadn't ripped the legs off the cricket he did eat he'd still be chasing him... The other one I took out because it kept trying to burrow and my frog seemed none too interested in him after getting the first one.


----------



## AKSkirmish (Jun 24, 2005)

elTwitcho said:


> Good stuff, thanks guys.
> 
> AK - I've got studio flashes I can put to good use getting photos of this guy, just gotta reposition the tank a bit and then we'll see some good shots
> 
> ...


I love your photo's sir!!!!!!Sounds good-cant wait!!!!!

/sits and waits patiently while sitting and staring at the wall like a little school girl!!!!!


----------



## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

Nice frog Twitch! and as always, NICE pics!!















ps-haven't seen u around here lately, watcha been up to?


----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Also, regarding dusting of foods. If I have a bag I sprinkle some vitamin powder into, and I'm only feeding small portions since the frog is maybe 3 inches big, I'm going to have left over powder. Is it ok to leave that dust in the bag and use it for my next feeding or is there a danger of molding or bacteria?

As for what I've been up to.. Photography mostly, I shoot maybe two or three nights a week just getting my technique all worked out. Studio lighting is a pretty complicated subject and I'm hoping to open a studio professionally in the new year. It tends to eat up most of my free time, which is a good thing anyhow. And as for the fish keeping, well I've settled into that stage where my collection is mature. My fish are in tanks that are cycled and healthy, the fish are healthy and eating regularly, and I'm happy as can be looking at the same fish I was looking at a year ago. As such, not much to really discuss with such a static collection 

The amphibian aquisition will likely keep me around for some time though, I'm having flashbacks of when I was learning everything about fish keeping for the first time oh so many years ago.


----------



## TheCableGuy (Feb 22, 2005)

Do you have any recent pics of your fish? IMO you take the best pics around here, and I'd love to see some updated pics of your P's


----------



## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

anapsid .org....50% of that info is well how shall I put this politely....questionable...

coconut fibers should pass...and the missing is normal..they are ambush predators, and as he gets older he will learn to sit still until they are right in front of him...

try uncovering the top a little...the air circulation is important, and will decrease your fogging issue.

Keep us posted!


----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Not a ton of recent pictures of my fish trevor, putting things over the tank is about the only thing that stresses them out, but it really bothers them. That makes it pretty much impossible to get lighting or flashes above the tanks and not have them stressed, but I'll see what I can do.

Croc - Thanks for that advice on the circulation. The tank was more or less completely covered to retain humidity, but I saw that the hygrometer was reading 90% so I probably could afford a bit more circulation in there. I adjusted the glass cover and there's now a 1.5 inch opening all along the front glass, which should bring cool fresh air along that surface and clear the fog on that pane at least.


----------



## psychofish (Jun 5, 2004)

When mine were younger they missed their food all the time and 
came up with mouth fulls of coconut fiber too. It never had any 
ill effects on them. Like croc said they will get better at hunting as 
the get older.

Thats a very nice looking frog too..


----------



## wayne the pain (Mar 30, 2004)

here's a good factsheet :nod: 
http://www.geocities.com/tozgood/about.html


----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks Wayne.

I had a quick question. Using my little temperature probe, the spot my frog is sitting in is at 84.2 degrees (right on top of the heating pad) which is supposedly a slight bit warmer than ideal for them. If the spot he was on was too hot for him, he would move, right? There are cooler spots in the tank (not directly on the heating pad for instance) he could move to, but he's sitting on the warmest spot directly on the UTH and I want to make sure everything is set up for him comfortably.


----------



## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)

They are not the brighteset light bulbs...and while they normally move around to suit temp issues...they do not always..so keep a close eye on temps...

Too cold is easier to deal with than too warm.......but you sound like you can peg it right where you want it with a little moving, air circulation, etc..

Loved pic..and wishes had a good digicam...







wants Nikon or Cannon Digi SLR...(and is looking for a Nikon F4 or F5 body)......did not mean to derail thread...sorry gang.


----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

Thanks Croc.

The air temperature in there is perfect as can be, 79 degrees at the coldest, 81 at the warmest. What I'm worried about is since I'm using a UTH the heat is coming up from the substrate, and the substrate is going to be warmer. Sure enough, he moved burrows to a new location, and I put the temperature probe at the bottom of his old burrow into the substrate. 91 degrees it came out to, which I think is because that is dead center of the heat pad. I also probed his new spot, 81 degrees, which is much much more reasonable and is actually in the ideal range.

What I'm likely going to do is place a rock in that hotspot so he can't burrow there again. He seems to have figured out that it's too warm and moved on, but I don't want him going back just in case.

For anyone interested, there's a better photo and feeding video here

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?showtopic=133681

He ate his first pinky, the crickets are eating an orange slice and some bran flakes crushed up into paste with vitamin and calcium powder mixed in, I think I'm getting the hang of things.


----------



## CrocKeeper (Dec 26, 2003)




----------



## elTwitcho (Jun 22, 2004)

And now he's burried himself completely underground since eating that pinky. I'm guessing it's so he can digest his meal since he has no real reason to be above ground at the moment. Pretty neat stuff


----------

