Need help please with a pacman frog

[fierogal]

Hello, I am new here. It was recommended to me to post my issue here to see if someone can help. I have a Pacman frog named homer. I have had him almost 3 months. On Wednesday, I found him sitting in the middle of his cage with his eyes closed. I misted him and he just sat there. I touched him and he tried to bite me, but with his eyes closed. I left him alone and later that day, he buried himself, still not eating and eyes still closed. Since then, he is getting smaller and has only opened his eyes once that I have seen. I cleaned his cage but was careful not to move him and he never looked at me.
I am afraid he is not going to make it. I have an appointment for him on Monday, but am afraid he will not make it.
i keep his cage between 75 and 85 degrees. i mist him twice a day. he has fresh water daily and I feed his crickets that Gut load stuff. Does anyone have any ideas what is wrong? Or what I can do? Thank you for reading.

[snakewrangler]

What has changed recently, environmentally speaking?

It is unusual that any animal would be fine for 3 months and then all of a sudden take a nose dive.

[frilled1]

did you change type of water frogs are sensitive to water changes

[fierogal]

Nothing has changed that I can think of. I am always careful to use water that has sat out at least 24 hours and is room temperature. Oops, I forgot, my local pet store ran out of crickets and I fed him meal worms for only one feeding. That was different. Do you think Homer is stressed over something? I heard about hibernation, but he is kept warm an is losing weight. His appointment is tomorrow at 3pm, but I am afraid the vet won't know what to do.

[snakesRus]

I don't know anything about frogs, but I am sorry to hear about your lil guy. I will keep my fingers crossed that all is well. Please let us know how things go tomorrow ok??

Totally off topic, but where in MD are you located?

[fierogal]

Thank you. i will keep everyone posted. I have been quite surprised at how many people I have encountered (Not here) that are so insensitive about Homer. So thank you for your kindness.

I live in Olney, Md.

[Palor]

It is really irritating when you tell someone about your sick pet, of the non cat/dog type, and they go "So what it is only a X". That just makes me fell murderous.

I sure hope your frog is ok.

[fierogal]

Thank you Palor. I had someone tell me to just buy a new one, but there is no replacing Homer.
Homer did bury himself deeper into his substrate today. It was good to see him move, but sad that he is getting farther away. He still has not opened his eyes.

[RosenKrieger]

As far as I know, pacman frogs tend to bury themselves and just sit in one spot until food comes by, but if he isn't eating, that definitely isn't a good sign. Good luck with him. Just know, if people look at you funny in the waiting room, you arent the only one it's happened to. I don't know about anyone else here, but people gave me wierd looks when I took my lizard in about a year ago.

[Quig]

I don't know about anyone else here, but people gave me wierd looks when I took my lizard in about a year ago.

LOL, they tend to stand and move away from you once you tell them there's a snake in the pillow case your holding too. I don't mind, I prefer the snakes company over most humans anyhow ;D

[fierogal]

LOL, there was only one person in the waiting room and they were too busy with their dog to even notice what I had.

Homer will most likely be OK. He actually opened his eyes about an hour before his appointment. He has parasites. The vet thinks he had them when I got him. He was given an oral medication and I have to bathe him in a special solution daily for five days. I also bleached out his cage and bought new substrate. Homer already looks happier. Poor guy.
Thank you everyone for helping me through this trying time. I had no idea how much Homer means to me until he stopped eating.

[snakesRus]

YAY!!! I am so happy to hear that he is going to be okay!
BOO to those nasty parasites, but atleast it's something that can easily be treated.

I hope you don't shy away into the shadows now that the problem is solved. That tends to happen when some people join for an answer....

[Palor]

Good to hear Homer should be ok :)

[fierogal]

Homer ate a minnow yesterday about 6pm!! I am so happy. Thank you everyone for your well wishes.
I will try not to disappear. This forum is full of great people who understand how I feel about Homer. It's nice to have somewhere to go where people understand me.
Thank you again everyone.

[Emma318]

Homer ate a minnow yesterday about 6pm!! I am so happy. Thank you everyone for your well wishes.
I will try not to disappear. This forum is full of great people who understand how I feel about Homer. It's nice to have somewhere to go where people understand me.
Thank you again everyone.

I told you you'd find good people here! (I'm the referrer from CL)
As you've seen, even if we can't offer specifics, there's a good general knowledge base here and wonderful support! I hope you hang around too! ;D

and HOORAY for HOMER! 8)

Please post some pics when you get a chance!

[fierogal]

Thank you so much Emma318. I have to figure out how to post pics, I am not very good with computers.

[snakesRus]

Thank you so much Emma318. I have to figure out how to post pics, I am not very good with computers.


Check here (http://www.thereptilefile.com/forum/showthread.php?t=693). If you need anymore help, just let me know!!

[girl_interrupted]

I told you you'd find good people here! (I'm the referrer from CL)
As you've seen, even if we can't offer specifics, there's a good general knowledge base here and wonderful support! I hope you hang around too! ;D

and HOORAY for HOMER! 8)

Please post some pics when you get a chance!

Oui, oui, lots of great people why do you think I'm hooked since I got here! ;D

And also, I hope you do stay, we could use a few specialized frog people here. I don't have lizards but I've done some research and thats what I know most about, as many on here do as well. Stayyyy, ohh won't you staaay? :D

[fierogal]

I will stay :) You convinced me.

I took Homer to the vet again today. He has lost another 4 grams :'( The vet put him on Nutrical every other day. Homer has actually been moving around and acting better so I don't know what's going on with him. The vet swabbed him and his home, but only found yeast. She says it's in the air, I don't know. After $270 in vet bills, I am almost out of money.
Does anyone have any ideas? She also said that the parasites are gone. She also said hat it is very hard to keep frogs, since they continue to get parasites from their food. Has anyone else every had these problems?

[fierogal]

Thank you snakesRus. http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll260/fierogal/0523090838.jpg

[Emma318]

Yay Pictures!

Okay, let's go back to basics here, your temps sound okay, what food items have you offered him and how do you feed him? In-tank or out? Have you tried a pinky yet? Are his eyes open all the time now? You said he's more active, which I think is a good sign, has he been acting like himself, but just not eating?

[fierogal]

Homer is still pretty small. I have been offering him rosey minnows and crickets. He ate a minnow yesterday (Wednesday) but today is not interested. He keeps his eyes open all the time now. I have started hand feeding him outside of his cage since the parasites that he had were most likely from the fish I bought at Petco. I am bathing him in an iodine solution once a day. His vet suggested it. He has another appointment on Saturday, but after that, I will be unable financially to take him again for a while. It's so sad for Homer, but money is tight and I have already spent $270 on vet bills alone. Not to m3ention all the money I spent to get him a whole new habitat and driving over 20 miles one way just to get him healthier (I hope) fish.
Please let me know if you know of a cheaper but still great vet. Or if you have any suggestions, other than get a second job :)

[fierogal]

Homer died last night.

[Palor]

That is very sad, RIP Homer.

[snakesRus]

OMG I am so sorry!! I'm kinda surprised because it sounded like he was doing good.
Again, I am sorry you lost Homer. You did everything you could have done for him. ((((HUGS))))

[GTP]

So sorry to hear that he passed away :0( Homer was lucky to have such a great human to care for him. There are quite a few people that wouldn't have even taken him to the Vet! Sometimes these little critters just don't have the strength to fight no matter what you do.... Keep your chin up, you did everything that you could!

[fierogal]

Thank you everyone for your support.
Homer was only with me for a short period of time, but it's amazing how badly this is affecting my son and I.
The Vet gave us hope and he had started eating again. I don't know what went wrong and that hurts me the most. I wanted to have a post mortum done, but he has suffered enough. I bare the thought of someone cutting him open. I am willing to bet it ws a blockage though since in his last weeks, he did not go to the bathroom. The poor guy.

[Emma318]

Oh, I'm so so sorry to hear about Homer. :(

I understand how you feel about the necropsy (post mortem), but if you can find the courage to do it you might get some good information should you and your son choose to get another frog. For instance, if the vet found a whole bunch of dirt in it's stomach you might look at another substrate like paper towel... or if it was nothing but fish parts, you might want to avoid fish as feeders. Your vet might even do it for free (or at a discounted price) since you already spent so much on him and just want to prevent it from happening again, you know?

Hang in there! We all know what it feels like to lose a valued friend, and our hearts go out to you! And keep us posted on whatever you decide to do.

[fierogal]

There is a reptile show coming here on Saturday, I may go and look to see what they have. If I decide to get another Frog, I don't want to go to a pet store. I think breeders may be a better way to go since they actually care about their animals. Pet stores just want to sell animals and make money.
We currently have a dog, a cat, two rats, a chinchilla, and four white doves, so I may wait a while before getting anything else. Our house is a zoo. Oh and my son wants a water dragon. Are they hard to keep?

[snakesRus]

Our house is a zoo.

We have 4 dogs, 2 cats, 1 parrotlet, 1 iguana, 4 savannah monitors, 4 leopard geckos, 2 tokay geckos, 1 snapping turtle, 50 something snakes, 5 guinea pigs, 14 rabbits ( one just had two babies so 16 ) and we breed all our own mice, rats and african soft furs.

Yea we charge admission :tongue:

[Palor]

Water Dragons are charming, but definitely an advanced species to keep. There are some good books on them written by Bert Langerwerf.

[fierogal]

SnakesRus wow! That's a lot of animals. I would have more but my husband won't let me :(
Palor I will check out the books. I am not sure that a seven year old is ready for an advanced animal. I may check out the Reptile show here tomorrow and see what m son thinks.

[Palor]

Never too soon to learn :)

I started catching em when i was 2 and keeping all sorts of reptiles as pets by 8. Soon as I learned to read I was studying reptiles. I still love studyng and learning about reptiles :)

[GTPs better half]

There is a reptile show coming here on Saturday, I may go and look to see what they have.

Fierogal we will be at the MD. show tomorrow. Whoops after midnight, today. If you want you can meet up with the wife and I and we can point people out to you who are reputable. We probably will be down there around 10 to 12. I'm just going because I've got 250-300 F/T rats I've got to pick up. The rest of the time we'll be mingling. I can probably work out a deal for you if you find something you like. I can also hook you up with Larry. He has just about every book available for reptiles. I'll PM you our numbers if you decide to meet up.

Chris

Oh and Heather I'm playing hookie the next 2 days from work. I've got this show to hit and the Chondro meet tomorrow and then the big $3,500 Chondro (lobster tank game) give away I don't want to miss. So yep I've got the 48 hour bug. Cough-Cough!;)

[fierogal]

Chris- I am sorry I got your message too late. I would have loved to meet you. Maybe next show that is if my husband will let me get more animals. I went and ended up getting a nickle-sized Pacman frog, we named Sandy Cheeks. S/he is like a sand color with green. She ate three baby crickets this morning. My son picked out a Bearded Dragon about 3-4 inches long, that he named Spikey. I had no idea that Bearded Dragons were so docile. Luckily I already had a 55 gallon tank. I will post pics later, right now, the zoo needs cleaning :)

[Bahthelm73]

They are superb I dont think I have got any better shots of my bearded dragons let alone wild lizards. How the heck do you find so many, reptiles???? I have only seen that many lizards abroad.

[MrsWTownsend]

Hey Bahthelm, this is super belated and completely off topic but welcome to the forum! ;D

I'm a little slow but I get there eventually...