# Frogs & Toads > Pacman Frogs >  Can i feed my pacman crickets that have small wings starting to grow? Please help!

## anapolis

Hello, 
i am the proud owner of benji, an ornate pac. I got him for Christmas, And he is doing just fine, Everything is good, i put 4-5 crickets in his 10 gal. at ten o'clock at night, and if hes eaten them all and is still out in the morning i give him 2 more at 730 am. Most of the crickets I've been giving him were just over 1 cm. long. However, just today i went and boght two dozen crickets and all of them were at least 1.5 cm! and they are fat too!  the only thing i am unsure about is, is it its safe to feed him crickets that already have tiny wings, ranging from 2 to 8 Millimeters? Also, some of the crickets are 2 cm long! i know i might sound like im worrying to much, but i just don't know if my guy can handle these, he is 1.96 (2) inches long, from the tip of his nose to the tip of his butt.  
Any help would be much appreciated! 
thank you so much 
J.G

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## Tongue Flicker

Yes you can. It's usually the jumping hind legs that gets caught up and causes the impaction so try to watch out for that

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## anapolis

Thank you for replying so quickly, would it help if i cut off the bottom part of the hind legs when i feed them to him? 
thanks 
J.G    

p.s    i was also wondering if there is a reason that he's not going in his water dish? i keep the substrate pretty moist is that maybe why? aswell, he eats very well, just now he ate a nice sized super worm and a big cricket, but i can seem to see poop, is it underneath the substrate? 
sorry for all the questions, but i just dont want to do anything wrong .

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## Tongue Flicker

Yeah you could pull it off or cut it out. 

What substrate do you have her in?

We have a wonderful pacman guide here please feel free to browse it and ask questions if you see it confusing and we will explain it to you  :Smile:

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## anapolis

hey, 
i have benji in coco fiber, its quite moist and has a 20x20 cm heater covers about just under half the bottom of the cage,  
Thank you for all your help  :Smile:  
J.G.

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## anapolis

oh and sorry but could you link the pacman guide, if its no trouble of course,, i cant seem to find it 
Thank you 
J.G

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## Tongue Flicker

Here you go

Frog Forum - Pacman and Horned Frogs - Ceratophrys - Care and Breeding

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## Carlos

Hello and welcome to FF!  Insects should be sized same as distance between frog eyes.  Otherwise frog can get impacted from undigested parts like the head.  Crickets should be gut loaded for 24-48 hours with carrots, lettuce, oats and cherios.  A better staple food are Canadian night crawlers.  You can get the not dyed ones at bait shops.  Will need to cut into 2 in. pieces from the pointy end.  Once frog reaches 3 in. can feed whole ones.

Substrate should be mixed with dechlorinated tap water until damp and clumps in fist but does not drips water out.

Please remove heat pad from under substrate because it can overheat the frog.  Relocate heat pad to an enclosure side and add a red bulb or ceramic heat emitter in a dimmer dome if needed to reach 82-84F during day with a few drops temperature at night.  Good luck  :Smile:  !

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## anapolis

hey, 
is it absolutely necessary for the heater to be on the side, because once i take this one off, it wont re-stick, he does have about 2/3 of his tank without the heater, in it 1/3 of the area has the heater under it. 
wouldn't he know that he is overheating? 
thank you 
j.g.

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## Carlos

Air temperature should be 82F or around 28C.  In order to reach that; your substrate will be way warmer to the point of being too hot.  Just stick a thermometer probe on substrate above the glass bottom where heater pad is located and measure the temperature in there. 

Your frog instinct over thousands of evolutionary years has taught it to bury when it's hot into the cool ground.  Problem is; you have reversed nature's heat situation in your enclosure.  The frog isn't going to figure that out and it will overheat while trying to cool down.

There are tapes (i.e. high temperature duct tape) you can use to reaffix the pad on the enclosures side.  Just be carful when removing it, so that the interior wiring does not get damaged  :Smile:  .

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## anapolis

hello again, 
benji just went through a week or so of impaction, i Did everything, the pedialyte, and honey baths, an finally it worked. i am just wondering how long i should wait until i start him back on his regular feeding of 3-5 crickets? i gave him 1 cricket about a day after he pooped. He pooped ALLOT.  
Thank you 
J.G :Frog Smile:

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