Pacman Frog Feeding: Tips and Tricks for Optimal Nutrition
If you’re a new owner of a Pacman frog, you must be confused about its diet and feeding ways. It’s necessary to maintain a proper diet to ensure the sound health of your Pacman frog. To reduce your worry, I’ve also researched a bit to give you the proper Pacman frog diet, and its feeding guide.
Pacman frogs are opportunistic carnivores. It means they eat anything that fits in their mouth in the wild. So, a well-balanced diet includes crickets, worms, other varieties of insects, goldfish, small fish, etc. Also, you should feed an adult Pacman frog 1-2 times a week.
But, there are some basic guidelines for feeding your Pacman frogs according to their age. Also, several foods are harmful to them. As a beginner or new owner, you should have an accurate idea about these.
Hence, I urge you to go through this article to get a clear idea about their diet and feeding guide.
Pacman Frog Diet: What Can I Feed My Pacman Frog?
As I stated before, Pacman frogs are carnivorous. To be more specific, they are insectivorous. But, there are many other foods that you can add to their diet list.
For this, you need to know first which foods you can serve daily or occasionally and which foods are unsafe too. After all, a balanced diet is essential to maintain good health.
That’s why I’ve summed up the list of their entire diet in the following list. Let’s take a quick look at what you can feed your Pacman frog.
| Staple Food | Semi-Regular Food | Occasional Food |
|---|---|---|
| Crickets | Silk-worms | Mealworms |
| Black Soldier Fly Larvae (BSFL) | Hornworms | Waxworms |
| Locusts | Rodents | Shrimp |
| Nightcrawlers | Guppies | Chicks |
| Dubia Roaches | Mollies | Lizards |
| Superworms | Platies | Butterworms |
| Earthworms | Smaller frogs | Crab Legs |
Staple Food List For Pacman Frogs
There are varieties of foods that you can give your Pacman frogs regularly. I’ll give short descriptions of some of those Pacman frog foods here.
Crickets
No wonder that a vital part of the Pacman frog diet is crickets. These are not only a great source of proteins but also easily available in any store.
If your Pacman frog is above 3 inches or adult, you can give 3-4 crickets daily.
But, you need to be concerned while giving crickets to your juvenile or baby Pacman frogs. As the head of crickets is hard to digest, crickets can hurt your Pacman frogs.
If you are looking for live crickets, I don’t think there is any other better deal than Josh’s Live Crickets. They are simply the best in the market when it comes to foods for frogs.
What To Gut Feed Crickets For Pacman?
Certainly, if you feed crickets nutritious foods, the nutrients will ultimately pass to your Pacman frog. It works as nutrition boosting. Hence, it’s pretty necessary to gut feed crickets.
You can gut feed crickets several items such as apples, carrots, lettuce, oranges, potatoes, tropical fish flakes, squash, sweet potatoes, dark leafy greens, etc.
Besides, you should allow your crickets at least 24 hours to absorb those gut foods. It’s better to gut load crickets 48 hours before offering them to your Pacman frog.
Locusts
As Pacman frogs depend on live foods much, locusts can be a good inclusion in their diet. Moreover, locusts contain varieties of vitamins and minerals.
Nightcrawlers
You can give nightcrawlers as a nutritious snack for your Pacman frog. This food contains very high-fat with lots of nutrients. So, you can offer 5 nightcrawlers per week to your Pacman frog. The soft body of nightcrawlers makes them the favorite staple food of Pacman frogs.
For live nightcrawlers, Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm can be an exciting deal. You’ll get loads of live nightcrawlers that will last you months at a very cheap price.
How many nightcrawlers to feed Pacman frog?
You can feed around 5 nightcrawlers to your Pacman frog every week. As nightcrawlers are filled with good fat and nutrient, they can be easily a favorite staple food for your Pacman frog.
Black Soldier Fly Larvae
One of the important staple food for Pacman frogs is black soldier fly larvae. This high calcium Pacman frog food is also easily available.
If you want these shipped right at your doorstep, check out this Black Soldier Fly Larvae deal on Amazon!
Semi-Regular Food List For Pacman Frogs
Again, several Pacman frog foods can be included as semi-regular food in the diet. Let’s see what you can add to the diet list of semi-regular food.
Worms
Silkworms, hornworms, etc can be a good semi-regular food source for your Pacman frog. Due to their soft bodies, they are easily digestible for Pacman frogs.
Moreover, these worms contain high protein and varieties of nutrients. Thus, you must not feed Pacman frog worms regularly.
Hence, they fit in the semi-regular food list in the Pacman frog diet very well.
If you want to feed silkworm to your pacman frogs, I’ll highly recommend the Small Silkworm Pod from Amazon. It contains 50 live silkworms ready to be fed to your pacman frogs. They should get crazy over it!
Rodents
In the semi-regular diet list of Pacman frogs, rodents take a vital part. Again, you should remain concerned about the age of your frog before choosing rodents to feed them.
Here, the newborn mice are called pinky mice. Then, slightly older mice are called fuzzy and hopper.
On the other hand, mice of over 5, 25, 30 gm weight are called rat pup, fluff, weaner rat, etc.
Among all of these rodents, you need to choose according to your Pacman frog’s size. For example- an adult Pacman frog can easily digest adult mice or young rats.
Don’t give any rodents which are bigger than your Pacman frogs. Ultimately your frogs will try to swallow their food. So, choose the smaller ones.
Can Pacman Frog Eat Pinky Mice?
Pacman frog can eat pinky mice! Live pinky mice are the best feeding options for pacman frogs among all of the rodents. Because they are fur-free, soft, and only a couple of inches long. You can also serve frozen or dead pinkies.
Also, they contain high protein. A very suitable semi-regular diet for your Pacman frog indeed!
Small Fish
You can also offer small fish semi-regularly to your Pacman frog. These are enriched with various nutrients, proteins, etc. Not to mention, they are also available everywhere.
In this case, you can choose small guppies, goldfish, mollies, etc. However, make sure that the fish are healthy and also their aquarium is clean.
Occasional Food List For Pacman Frogs
In the list of occasional diets, you can add mealworms, waxworms, butter worms, shrimps, etc. You might be wondering how often you should feed them to your Pacman frogs. This entirely depends on the size of both your Pacman frogs and the foods.
Mealworms, waxworms, butter worms, etc are soft-bodied but overflowing with nutrients. Due to their high fats, you can’t feed Pacman frogs such worms much regularly. Thus, they are on the occasional diet list.
As an occasional treat, you can feed Pacman frog shrimp also. Many experienced owners suggest that the Pacman frogs like crab legs, chicken livers, and hearts also.
But, you must not provide these as Pacman frogs’ staple foods. You can feed these treats to your frogs once a week at maximum. Otherwise, count them as monthly treats.
Foods You Must Never Feed Your Pacman Frog
Among varieties of foods, some foods are harmful to your Pacman frog. There are such foods that you must never feed your Pacman frog. Such as-
- Red wigglers
- Wild-caught items
- Scorpions
- Giant mealworms
Because they contain unnatural hormones, high lipid contents, chemicals, etc. Again, they can create digestive issues for your Pacman frogs. Hence, cut them off from your Pacman frog diet.
Supplements For Pacman Frogs
As the usual diet might not fulfill the needs of all kinds of nutrients, your Pacman frogs need supplementation. For this reason, experienced owners give suggestions to gut load foods before feeding your frog.
What Supplements Do Pacman Frogs Need?
As a new owner, you should know about the necessary supplements of Pacman frogs to ensure their sound health.
Pacman frogs usually need supplements of calcium, vitamin D, vitamin A, etc. If you choose multi-vitamins, it includes vitamin A, vitamin K, niacin, beta carotene, and minerals. Other dietary supplements can also be helpful.
Simple Pacman Frog Supplements Guidelines For New Owners
| Supplements | Schedule |
|---|---|
| Calcium supplements | Use at each feeding |
| Multi-vitamin dust (Exo Terra makes a fantastic multi-vitamin powder for amphibians and reptiles. You can check it out here on Amazon.) | Once a week |
| Vitamin A supplement | Once per month |
| Pigment supplement | Once per month |
| One dosage of the mixture of Calcium D3 and multivitamin (Especially, in the time of Pacman frogs’ growth) | Once to twice a week |
Pacman Frog Feeding Schedule
Since Pacman frogs are carnivores, you should offer your pet Pacman frogs varieties of insects. Make sure that the insects are alive and moving.
Adult Pacman frogs do not require daily feeding. If your Pacman frog is an adult frog, you should feed your frog every 2-3 days. In the case of a baby Pacman frog, you should feed your baby frog daily.
Make sure to choose such insects that do not choke on your Pacman frogs. Every month, you can offer your Pacman frogs bloodworms or waxworms as treats. Do not forget to gut-load these insects each time before feeding your Pacman frogs.
However, you must not overfeed your Pacman frog, which can lead to obesity. On the other hand, Pacman frog owners may underfeed their Pacman frogs mistakenly.
For this, you should notice whether your Pacman frogs are getting skinny or fat. You can also check the body condition score of your Pacman frogs.
I’ve prepared a rough list of Pacman frog feeding schedules. You can follow this schedule or modify the schedule according to your convenience.
| Days | Adult Pacman Frog | Young Pacman Frog |
|---|---|---|
| Sunday | 3-4 insects | |
| Monday | 2-3 insects | |
| Tuesday | 2-3 insects | |
| Wednesday | 3-4 insects | |
| Thursday | 2-3 insects | |
| Friday | 3-4 insects | 2-3 insects |
| Saturday |
How Do I Feed My Pacman Frog?
As a new owner, you might be wondering how to feed your Pacman frogs. Hence, I’ve come up with a couple of ways of feeding a Pacman frog.
- Hand feeding
- Tong Feeding
- Hunt feeding
- Container
Feeding Pacman frogs are pretty easy because Pacman frogs aren’t picky eaters at all. But, if you place two Pacman frogs together, the older or stronger one may finish a large portion of food earlier.
Hence, just keeping the food in front of them will not work every time.
You can hand-feed your frog. But, it requires much patience. Because, while feeding it by hands, there are risks of getting bitten by your Pacman frog. For your safety, it’s better to use tweezers to feed your frog.
If the insects are larger than your Pacman frog, cut them up. Make it smaller. By this, your Pacman frog can swallow them easily.
An important thing to note is to feed your Pacman frog until it loses its interest. Also, do not forget to remove the uneaten foods after a while or in the morning.
Moreover, each Pacman frog is unique. So, you have to observe your frog first. However, you can check all of the mentioned options and choose the way which you find easy.
Can You Force Feed A Pacman Frog?
As a new owner, this may look confusing but don’t worry.
You can force feed a pacman frog. At some points, you might need to force-feed your Pacman frog whenever it needs. If your frog isn’t eating and falling sick, force-feeding is required.
All you need for force-feeding is wet paper towels, flat toothpicks, guitar picks, etc. Now, wrap the wet paper towels around your Packman frog loosely. Then, create an opening of its mouth and proceed with your feeding gently.
It’ll be better to take the help of another person to force-feed your Pacman frog. Make sure that your frog remains unharmed.
How Often Should I Feed My Pacman Frog?
Many new owners ask how often and when they should feed their Pacman frog. Only knowing the food diet isn’t enough. To keep your Pacman frog fit and healthy, you should know their basic feeding timetable also.
- Baby Pacman Frog- Feed every second day
- Adult Pacman Frog- Feed every 3-4 days
Moreover, it’s better to feed your Pacman frog at night or evening. Because they remain active in the night as they are nocturnal animals.
How Much Should I Feed My Baby Pacman Frog?
In maximum cases, new owners of baby Pacman frogs remain worried about their frogs’ diet. Certainly, you need a basic guideline of feeding so that you won’t under-feed or overfeed them.
When you bring a baby Pacman frog, give it some time first. Then, offer some food to the baby Pacman frog. If it doesn’t show any interest, remove it. Try the next night or give it more time.
Many experienced Pacman frog owners have shared their experiences.
The baby Pacman frogs usually eat 1-6 crickets at each feeding while being offered every 2-3 days. You can feed them every other day too.
But, keep in mind the accurate size of those crickets. If you offer large insects, your baby Pacman frog can have digestive issues. Again, you have to increase the quantity if their size is too small.
Can My Pacman Frog Eat Dead Insects?
Since I stated before that Pacman frogs are carnivorous, they eat both alive and dead insects. But, many Pacman frogs do not eat dead insects.
For them, movement of their food is necessary to be their prey.
Pacman frog can eat dead insects but it is not recommended as pacman frogs like when their preys show movements. In case you want to feed dead insects, you have to cut those dead insects into small pieces.
So, try to give live foods as much as you can. Don’t feed them dead foods or insects on purpose.
How Long Can Pacman Frog Go Without Eating?
New owners of Pacman frogs easily get confused if their frogs stop eating. But, this doesn’t mean that your frogs are sick. Again, it’s essential to know how long your frogs can survive without eating when you’re out of town.
Some Pacman frogs can go for a week easily without eating anything. Again, some can go for a more extended period like a month or more.
Some experienced owners shared their experiences whereby their Pacman frogs stop eating for 3-4 months. So, take it as a normal characteristic unless your Pacman frog is inactive or dull.
Again, losing interest in food is a common sign of their sickness. Thus, you need to notice their signs carefully.
Can Pacman Frogs Eat Fruit?
When you keep Pacman frogs as pets, you may want to offer your pet frogs many food items. If you think of feeding fruits to your Pacman frogs, it’ll be a huge mistake.
Pacman frogs can not eat fruits. Due to being carnivores, fruits are not included in the natural diet of Pacman frogs.
Besides, fruits contain a high level of sugar and water. As a result, feeding fruits can lead to various health issues for your Pacman frogs.
Do Pacman Frogs Need Live Food?
In the wild, Pacman frogs hunt live prey like all frogs. When these Pacman frogs swallow their prey, those live insects keep kicking and moving inside their mouth.
So, Pacman frogs need live food for survival. These frogs do not accept dead insects as food. When you keep Pacman frogs as pets, you should provide varieties of live insects to your frogs. You should remain concerned about the size of insects that you offer to your Pacman frogs.
In rare cases, Pacman frogs may consume dead insects. If your Pacman frog is starving, it may try to eat dead insects.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can Pacman frogs eat vegetables?
Pacman frogs are primarily carnivorous and do not require vegetables in their diet. They can eat a variety of live insects such as Dubia roaches, crickets, and nightcrawlers, as well as small fish and rodents.
However, it is important to provide a balanced diet and not rely on one type of food.
Can Pacman frogs eat superworms?
Pacman frogs can eat superworms without any problems and they are known to be a good addition to their diet. However, they should only be fed sparingly along with other types of food to provide a balanced diet.
Do pacman frogs need calcium?
Pacman frogs require calcium in their diet to maintain healthy bones and prevent metabolic bone disease. Calcium can be provided through supplementation or through feeding calcium-rich insects such as Dubia roaches and crickets.
How do Pacman frogs eat?
Pacman frogs are known for their unique eating style. They have a wide mouth that they use to swallow prey whole. They will wait patiently for prey to come near and then lunge forward to grab it.
They can eat prey that is almost as big as they are, and they have been known to eat mice, other frogs, and even small birds in the wild. After swallowing their prey, they will use their powerful digestive system to break down the food.
How can Pacman frogs eat so much?
Pacman frogs have a unique ability to eat prey that is almost as big as they are due to their elastic skin and powerful digestive system. Their skin is very stretchy, which allows them to swallow prey whole that is much larger than their head.
Additionally, their digestive system is very efficient in breaking down food due to the presence of hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes in their stomach.
This allows them to digest prey quickly and efficiently, which enables them to eat large meals.
How do Pacman frogs digest food?
Pacman frogs digest their food using a powerful digestive system. After swallowing their prey whole, the food enters their stomach where it is broken down by hydrochloric acid and digestive enzymes.
The nutrients from the food are then absorbed into the bloodstream through the lining of the stomach and small intestine. The waste products are then passed through the large intestine and out of the cloaca as feces.
Final Words
I hope this article has given you a complete guideline of feeding ways and the diet of Pacman frogs. Besides all of this information, observe your Pacman frog and prepare the diet schedule in your way. No doubt, a perfect diet and feeding schedule can ensure your Pacman frog’s longevity!
About Author
Hello, I’m Muntaseer Rahman, the owner of AcuarioPets.com. I’m passionate about aquarium pets like shrimps, snails, crabs, and crayfish. I’ve created this website to share my expertise and help you provide better care for these amazing pets.
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