# Frogs & Toads > Pacman Frogs >  My Pacman won't accept food from tongs or plastic tweezers

## Ebenezer Frothingham

My Pacman has a good appetite, but he has yet to accept anything held in tongs/plastic tweezers. He/she will only eat bugs that walk by on their own- This has proved trickey when feeding him/her occasional superworms, as they immediatly dig into the substrate if not eaten at once, and are not easy to dig up. He's eaten them before, and i know my frog really likes superworms. I'm not sure if frogs can be trained- but if so, how can I train mine to accept food from tongs? My frog also seems frightened of me, as when I open the tank lid to feed him/her, he immediatly burrows. i hope at the very least my frog can learn to associate me with food. Any suggstions? My frog will sometomes eat food dropped right in front of him/her, but food held in tongs in front of his/her face is always ignored. Any suggestions on how to get my frog to accept food from tongs?

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## Poly

My toad acts very similar to your pacman, but it's not afraid of me which I guess helps. 

What I normally do, is pick up my toad (out of it's terrarium), set it on the floor, (yeah, the floor) and put a food item in front of it, the second it moves, the toad strikes and eats it.

I've tried feeding it with tongs/plastic tweezers, etc. but it just isn't interested, by putting it on the floor, it's gets "exercise" as it occasionally hops around, and it's food can't escape anywhere, also, you may find it helps if you get a large flat rock, and put it in the terrarium, then drop insects on top of the rock when the frog is near/looking, they can't borrow anywhere, and the frog can strike them eaiser on a hard surface, I use that method when feeding my toad grubs.

Hope it works for you!  :Smile:

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## Sublime

I had a problem with superworms as well, I had to soak my frog in a warm water bath while I dug out all the coco fiber to find this superworm that was still alive in his dirt.  I was nervous that the superworm would bite him so I had to take it out.  As far as feeding superworms, you can crush the head on them so they can't burrow with your tongs and then place it in the dirt right in front of him.  They will still squirm somewhat.  My frog didn't accept food off the tongs either, it took him about 3 weeks to try it.  I would suggest just keep offering food in front of his face with the tongs, if he doesn't do it that day then try another day and just drop it in front of him.  If placed correctly and not to quick in front of his face, he might try it.  Just keep trying, mine only accepts food off the tongs right in the beginning when I first offer him night crawlers and then crickets.  Once he's done eating the night crawlers off the tongs, he doesn't do anything else off the tongs and then I just drop the rest of the food in.  Hopefully this helps with some of your concerns.

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## Wormwood

A small glazed ceramic dish (found at most pet stores) with a high enough wall works well to.  Meal worms and super worms are unable to get out of them since their bodies don't bend the right way, not to mention the sides being pretty slick and smooth.  Sooner or later your pac man will become used to feeding out of this dish and might even wait by it if he's hungry.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

You mentioned that you think your Pac is scared of you. Your frog will not take food from tongs if he/she isn't used to you yet. Your frog must be used to you and not afraid if you want it to take food from tongs. They can be trained to feed from them. Once they realize that they can easily get food from tongs they will feed from them. I would get your Pac used to you first then try to train it to eat from tongs. If your frog won't even eat in front of you then there probably is no need to try and train him/her yet.

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## Eel Noob

My brown cranwelli is a stubborn one as well. I have had no problems getting young frogs to eat from tong but this one won't budge no matter what I try. Going to give it another try within a few weeks and see what happens.

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## Ebenezer Frothingham

Thanks everyone for the great advice!

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## Ebenezer Frothingham

> You mentioned that you think your Pac is scared of you. Your frog will not take food from tongs if he/she isn't used to you yet. Your frog must be used to you and not afraid if you want it to take food from tongs. They can be trained to feed from them. Once they realize that they can easily get food from tongs they will feed from them. I would get your Pac used to you first then try to train it to eat from tongs. If your frog won't even eat in front of you then there probably is no need to try and train him/her yet.


Well, my frog tank is on my desk right now, and my frog has been starring at me for hours, so hopefully he'll get used to me. i'm beginning to think he has bad experinces with humans at Petco, hence his being afraid.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> Well, my frog tank is on my desk right now, and my frog has been starring at me for hours, so hopefully he'll get used to me. i'm beginning to think he has bad experinces with humans at Petco, hence his being afraid.


This is sad but quite possible. There are cruel people in the world and not only customers but even those who work at the Petco could have treated him/her bad. He/she will get used to you in time. Your frog being curiouse of you is actually good.

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## BG

He might be too young,and scared.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> He might be too young,and scared.


My little baby Green cranwelli is pretty skiddish. I think I just stressed it out today. It got up in the middle of the day and pooped and when I got the poop out it kind of freaked alil and jumped back in its hole. Hasn't eaten yet tonight.

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## BG

All my new babies are doing great. They have been eating and pooping. They are growing fast. They don't look stressed . The lil bruiser yesterday jumped up and went for my hand.lol I should of taken that as a sign. This guy is 2 inches and he's jumping up for my hand.lol


> My little baby Green cranwelli is pretty skiddish. I think I just stressed it out today. It got up in the middle of the day and pooped and when I got the poop out it kind of freaked alil and jumped back in its hole. Hasn't eaten yet tonight.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> All my new babies are doing great. They have been eating and pooping. They are growing fast. They don't look stressed . The lil bruiser yesterday jumped up and went for my hand.lol I should of taken that as a sign. This guy is 2 inches and he's jumping up for my hand.lol


That's awesome! I hope my little one doesn't get too stressed. That's the last thing I need. It ate two red wigglers last night so I guess it would be fine if it didn't eat tonight. I got the little guy/girl to eat a wax worm last week.

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## Ebenezer Frothingham

> My little baby Green cranwelli is pretty skiddish. I think I just stressed it out today. It got up in the middle of the day and pooped and when I got the poop out it kind of freaked alil and jumped back in its hole. Hasn't eaten yet tonight.



Just curious, how long after a feast does a Pacman usually poop? He ate quite a bit 2 days ago and I haven't found any poop. He/she isn't hungry today.  (he ate an earthworm, 4 big crickets and a superworm)

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## BG

Make sure your cocofiber is not to dry. Do you mist everyday? They should poop the next few days.it takes from 1 to 3 days. With the frog eating everyday.


> just curious, how long after a feast does a pacman usually poop? He ate quite a bit 2 days ago and i haven't found any poop. He/she isn't hungry today.  (he ate an earthworm, 4 big crickets and a superworm)

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## Ebenezer Frothingham

> Make sure your cocofiber is not to dry. Do you mist everyday? They should poop the next few days.it takes from 1 to 3 days. With the frog eating everyday.


Im misting him quite a bit, so he's not dry at all. Okay,hopfully he'll poop tonight

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## Colleen/Jerrod

How often they poop can vary depending on the frog, what they are eating, and its conditions (humidity, etc.). Neither of my frogs go that often, more like once a week. If it has only been two days, then you definitely don't have anything to worry about. I know when I first got Grif I got worried because pacman info says they poop like every 2-3 days, but he goes more like every 5-6 days. If you would like, you can soak the frog in some Lukewarm water. That usually helps.

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## Ebenezer Frothingham

Hmm, I noticed on the wikepedia entry about pacmans that superworms aren't good for them. Well, they sure smell bad enough- i might stick with crickets

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## Ebenezer Frothingham

> How often they poop can vary depending on the frog, what they are eating, and its conditions (humidity, etc.). Neither of my frogs go that often, more like once a week. If it has only been two days, then you definitely don't have anything to worry about. I know when I first got Grif I got worried because pacman info says they poop like every 2-3 days, but he goes more like every 5-6 days. If you would like, you can soak the frog in some Lukewarm water. That usually helps.


He finally pooped! I was afraid he/she was constipated. My frog pooped in the water dish again, very strange to poop there

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## BG

There was to good signs in the pacmans container. 1 was the poop,2 was the ferocious apatite . The ornate wouldn't let go of the tongs like four times. The cranwelli took crickets outa my fingers.  I am very happy.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> There was to good signs in the pacmans container. 1 was the poop,2 was the ferocious apatite . The ornate wouldn't let go of the tongs like four times. The cranwelli took crickets outa my fingers.  I am very happy.



Very nice. I haven't tried to feed Grif from my fingers with out force feeding. I bet he would take food from my fingers.

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## IvoryReptiles

I've noticed that it's mostly our females that go for our fingers. Got a few pics of them sticking tongue to walls though........they were trying to eat my fingers & camera lens cap!!

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> I've noticed that it's mostly our females that go for our fingers. Got a few pics of them sticking tongue to walls though........they were trying to eat my fingers & camera lens cap!!


Lol! That's funny.

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## BG

I noticed  with all my pacs that they will axcept everything from fingers to tongs. They will also take any type of food from live to  killed.  Some are picky. I have a fantacy frog that will only eat pinkies and worms. and is a secret eater.

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## Colleen/Jerrod

> I noticed  with all my pacs that they will axcept everything from fingers to tongs. They will also take any type of food from live to  killed.  Some are picky. I have a fantacy frog that will only eat pinkies and worms. and is a secret eater.


Grif is really careful not to bite me. I can actually whipe dirt off his mouth with my finger after he eats a night crawler. He won't even budge.

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## Malachi

> I noticed  with all my pacs that they will axcept everything from fingers to tongs. They will also take any type of food from live to  killed.  Some are picky. I have a fantacy frog that will only eat pinkies and worms. and is a secret eater.


I have a secret eater too, he is soo fussy compare to the others.

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## Greg M

I have been really lucky with my guys - all have eaten off the tongs within a week or so of purchase. Everything they eat is off the tongs now. I think that willingness to feed from the tongs probably reflects a lot of factors including individual temperament, stress levels, training/conditioning, hunger and general husbandry (temperature, humidity, etc). As an aside, some species of frogs and toads just aren't very good at grabbing food from tongs - most of my toads, for example, will strike repeatedly at food on the tongs but just simply can't grab it. In addition, I agree with IvoryReptiles - my big female Cranwell's is much more aggressive - just plain mean!

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## BG

Come to think of it my female cranwelli is the most aggressive eater from all my pacs. She loves my fingers. Never had a problem with her. . She is the one on my avitar pic.

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