Pacman doesn't eat for a year....

I have a friend who has a pacman she's had since a child, it's now about 20years old, i heard that is a record for these critters, however it stopped eating and it's been a year, they have tried fish, worms pinkies etc and nothing, it has been on white mice all it's life and now won't eat, the viv is all good humidity and temps and no sign of impact, im gathering age, but it hops all over when let out, very active, so????? Any guesses i can pass on?

Hello,

Are you saying that she has a 20 year old Pacman Frog that hasn't eaten in a year or have I misread that?

The reason I say this is because to the best of my knowledge, a 10 year old Pacman is considered very old. That would make this frog the oldest pacman in existence. (To my knowledge.)

Wouldn't a year of no eating kill the animal? If it were still alive after a year of not eating, it would be skin and bones which is pretty remarkable considering these frogs are pretty massive.

I would also be interested in knowing why she hasn't brought it to the vet. If one of my animals that ate regularly stopped eating and went a few weeks without eating, I would be down at the vets. Waiting a year seems a bit, umm, irresponsible if this is indeed the case.

yes you read it right, i only go on their word and her mother was up to visit to state when it was bought, but i don't know frogs. She is like the rest of one crowd, it's just a frog and yet when it dies, she wants it stuffed it's that cool, yet they won't take a frog to a vet. I am in the same boat, i wouldn't take a frog to a vet either, you spend more there than on the frog, but i told her i would look into it for her. Shes also afraid if she brings it up here from where it's at it won't make the climate chage, so in the bay area it will stay. I don't believe everything i hear, so im not going on the age thing. It might be impacted or a medical problem, but still fat and sassy and active as can be. Go figure. Some people eh?

I can say right now that if it was on a diet of white mice it's entire life I would doubt very much it is that old. That diet is way too high in fat content for a frog. It is recommended they eat rodents sparingly as a treat. The longest living pac to my knowledge was in the 16 year range. Not to put down your friend but I find it disturbing that she would not take it to a vet. Captive animals depend on there caregivers for the best possible care, regardless of there value and if it is "worth" it to take them to a vet or let them die. That comment really annoyed me. Then again that is only my opinion, I'm sure others would disagree.

I would have to agree to the fact if she has this animal in her care and it has not eaten in a very long time, it definitely needs to be seen by the vet and its her responsibility to do so, whether its a frog, a gecko or any other animal we have a responsibility to our animals

The others have made some solid points. Twenty years is a very long life for an ornate horned frog, from what we know today. Though I could normally see it as possible, it's very unlikely on a solid diet of mice, as Ken pointed out. A year without food is also unlikely.

However, if 20 years were perhaps an exaggeration, and the frog were morbidly obese and went off food for about a year, but was given plenty of water, I could possibly see it surviving on the large fat reserves it would have after eating so many mice.

I just really don't see a frog living such an incredibly long life on such an incredibly poor diet, but anyway, that's not really the issue. It could be that all that "fast food", and old age, has finally caught up with the horned frog and she's just reached the end. I have to look down on waiting a year to seek help about it though. The climate change excuse is pretty lame.

Just to check, do you know what the substrate was? They could go 20 years on the same substrate without an impaction, but if it's a bad substrate then that doesn't mean it's not possible. It could also be that the frog suffered a chronic impaction rather than an acute one, in which case substrate has been harming the amphibian's gut for years and it's finally done too much damage. Increasing electrolytes in the diet can increase appetite and energy, but it won't help if the frog is just too old or impacted.

the substate is unknown, it lives in a 10gallon and filled one side with water, i also think the climate exscuse is also lame, thats why i hate hearing about it all, but i got 2 mice out of the deal when it didn't eat last time and the grandmother takes care of the mouse, and says to only eat white female mice as appose to anything else. No vet here will look at it as we are in a small town and where it's located is in the bay area with plenty of vets. They also ask people in the pet store where it was bought, will see what comes of it, out of my hands and i don't bring it up, just didn't know about the species and thought i would inquire on thoughts etc.

I too have a problem with the attitude that the vet trip will cost more that the frog's purchase price so ,...let it die.
One has absolutely nothing to do with the other. If you are going to take on the care of a living creature you have to realize that sooner or late there will be illnesses and such that will require medical care. To view the animal as disposable based on the price paid for it is in my opinion pretty inhumane. Would the same attitude be acceptable with a mammal pet, a bird, etc? These people do not have a pet,...they have an ornament.

I also have a problem with the attitude that it would cost too much to take it to a vet and yet they have no qualms about spending the money to have a taxidermist stuff and mount it when it dies??
Go figure!

Thanks Merlin,,,,this post has bothered me since it was posted. 3 years ago i took a puppy into my family that was a total mutt, it cost me nothing. Since then, counting regular innoculations and 2 surgeries she's cost me over 2 thousand dollars,,,,,and worth EVERY penny. When one takes an animal in it's care, they are responsible.....period. (and i bet the taxidermist would have been 4 times the cost of the vet)

I know what you mean. I paid 12 bucks for a normal morph corn snake and within a few months,(due to my own ignorance) it became ill and I ended up spending over 150 dollars on it in vet bills.
And it was,... after all,... "just a snake"!