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 #1671325


Tipzy
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 SICK PACMAN! Please help.

All right I have a pacman that is about 4 years old. He’s not all together too large, perhaps 3 inches wide at the most. I have a hardtime maintaining the temperature above 70 in winter because I live in a cold climate and our home is heated by a fireplace. Therefore, it is equally hard to keep the humidity up. As long as I have had my frog, he has a tendency to "hiberate" for the winter. I know this is because it’s not warm enough and there’s not that much humidity, but he’s been doing it for the last few years without much problem. Well, we’ve had an extremely hard winter this year and my frog had been "hibernating" for much too long. I disturbed him and got him out, making sure his tank was moist. He often gets a thin layer of something like skin upon him, and it makes it real hard for his eyes to open. Usually I’ll rinse my hands and use some water to help him get the "skin" off his eyes and whatnot so he can eat his calcium-dusted crickets.

Well, he went back into "hibernation" for a few weeks, and I woke him again, knowing he NEEDS to eat. He hasn’t been going to the bathroom, either, though I did see him pee two or three nights ago. Well he had been hoping around, and his eyes looked a little funny. I rubbed them, trying to get that strange skin off of him, though I didn’t see any. I thought he was just taking longer to recoop so I left him alone. I asked my mother and sister to pick me up some crickets for him to eat, seeing as I’m currently taking 16 credit hours and working two jobs. Of course they forgot, so I ran out last night to pick him up a dozen or so large. Well I dusted them, dumped them and ran. I didn’t get home until 1 AM this morning and when I looked at my frog, Rodzilla. He looked miserable. His skin isn’t sunk in like it is sometimes, but he was nose first down a shallow hole and all the crickets seemed to still be there.

But this is the scary part. The skin of his eyelid (for lack of a better term) is in place, but his actual eyeballs are sunk below that level. His eyes seem clear of infection, and it’s mostly his left eye that’s sunk in. His right eye appears fairly healthy, but his health seems to be getting worse.

Now I had a situation where he didn’t eat before, where I basically had to make him mad enough to lunge and eat food. This time he’ll weakly open his mouth, where we’ll use tongs to place something in his mouth, and he’ll spit it out.

I’ve trained him to eat from a white plastic spoon for the most part, but he just won’t keep food in his mouth.

His color seems relatively normal, though his two front legs are reddish where they connect to his chest. I don’t think it’s reason for alarm, however, seeing as I don’t usually pick up my frog and look there and it might just be his normal coloring. this is his coloring, for the most part, http://www.arachnoboards.com/ab/gallery/displayimage.php?imageid=5796, though my frog is a tad bit greener. He’s perhaps a little more mature than that. (excuse me for no having a picture of him, i’m at my job right now)

When I looked at him this morning, about 10 hours later, he hadn’t really moved. His eyes were more open, though. As a result I had his tank moved to a window with a towel wrapped around it to keep warmth and give him sunlight. I’m having my mother and brother increase the humidity to try and stabilize all the variables.

I guess, when I look at him, I think dehydration. A dehydrated person’s eyes are sunk in, like his, but his color is relatively bright. He’s weak, he’s terribly weak and I’m so afraid he may die. I’m going to buy some earth worms (his FAVORITE food) tonight after I get off of work and try and force feed him, but I’m afraid he wont have enough energy to even eat the worm and may spit it out, as he’s done before.

I called local vets and 24/7 vets (as I’m working until 7 PM and most places close at 12 PM) and there is nobody that cares for frogs in this area. The closest place is a good hour away, and close at 2 PM (it’s now quarter after 2 PM) The place where I bought him, petsmart (oh the horror) no longer carries these cute little guys because they have a hard time keeping them alive. The only other petstore is petco, which I don’t think will help either, and pet supply plus, who I also, think will not be able to help.

I don’t know, I guess this is a plea for help. I don’t know what else I can do for my frog. I don’t want to use the undertank warmers because I’ve heard stories of the frogs burning themselves. I also have a red infared lamp at 60W, I think? That I keep on 24/7 ontop of his metal mesh top of his tank. I use a coconut substrate, bed-a-beast as bedding and it’s about 1" + deep. He likes to burry himself.



03/22/08  02:04pm

 #1671560


Tipzy
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   Message To: Tipzy   In reference to Message Id: 1671325


 SICK PACMAN! Please help.

Also, I called my sister to check in. He’s not doing any better and my sister says he stops breathing for a moment, and then resumes breathing. I don’t know what to do. =*(
03/22/08  05:08pm

 #1672523


JackAsp
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   Message To: Tipzy   In reference to Message Id: 1671560


 SICK PACMAN! Please help.

Keep looking for a vet, because it sounds like he needs it. If you forcefeed him, try a guppy. They love the taste of fish, and he’s probably got a Vitmain A defiicency going on right now, among other things. Mine only hibernated one time in over nine years, and I had some trouble gtting his eyes open too. I forcefed him one fish, then the next time his eyes were still shut but he eagerly took it as soon as he felt it against his mouth, and by the time after that his eyes were open again. Yours may take longer. Sounds like he’s in worse shape than Buford was.
For future reference: Once I moved him into a plastic tub with undertank heater under one end he started staying active year round. Rarely vocalized during the winter, but kept eating at least.
03/23/08  12:22pm

 #1672688


Tipzy
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   Message To: JackAsp   In reference to Message Id: 1672523


 SICK PACMAN! Please help.

I can’t get him to eat at all. I’ve tried the earthworms and crickets, but it’s usually kinda hard to get him to eat fish. He won’t open his mouth at all. I read and found out that his malnourished and possibly dehydrated, but he peed again last night. The fatty tissue behind his eyes is becoming depleted so it’s causing his eyes to sag. He’s so thin but I can’t get his mouth open! I even bought an emergency kit with a syringe and had the help of three people.

Anyone know how to get his mouth open? He’s getting worse and worse. :[
I don’t know if he can hang on until monday.
03/23/08  02:27pm

 #1675982


Tipzy
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   Message To: Tipzy   In reference to Message Id: 1672688


 SICK PACMAN! Please help.

I picked up emergency food for my frog and heard a tip about a popsicle stick to open his mouth. he seemed to be doing really well, but he just passed away about a half an hour ago. :*(
03/25/08  10:36pm

 #1700663


Mr.Pacman
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   Message To: Tipzy   In reference to Message Id: 1675982


 SICK PACMAN! Please help.

Im so sorry
04/12/08  08:31pm


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