Pacman frogs are used to being on the ground rather than moving vertically, so your frog will be more comfortable in a tank that is longer than it is tall. Tanks and aquariums should be available online or from your local pet store.
Avoid using a substrate that has fertilizers or any other chemical add-ins, as they may hurt your frog. If you use substrates made up of sand, gravel, or big pieces of bark, your frog may ingest some while eating. This can lead to choking or indigestion, which could kill your frog. If you must use a gravel substrate or something similar, feed your frog with tweezers to reduce the chance of it eating chunks of rock.
Tap water often has added chlorine and other chemicals which can be harmful to your frog if absorbed. Always use filtered, bottled, or treated water when refilling the water dish. Your frog will spend more time sitting in the water than swimming, so make sure the dish is shallow enough that your frog can comfortably sit in it.
Make sure that you don’t overcrowd the enclosure with decorations. Try and leave around 1/3 of the tank empty so your frog still has room to move around.
A background that looks like a rainforest will make your frog feel the most comfortable and at home, but anything green and leafy will work just as well. Adding a backdrop will also improve the look of the tank from the outside. If you would rather your entire tank be clear glass so that you can see through it, you can skip this step. Adding a background will make the frog more comfortable, but excluding it won’t make its enclosure uninhabitable.
Heating pads designed for Pacman frogs and other amphibians should be available online or from your local pet store. You should always place the heating pad under the tank, rather than placing it under the substrate. As your toad burrows, it could burrow down far enough to come into contact with the heating pad, and it could suffer a burn.
As your frog can burrow into the substrate or sit in the water to regulate its temperature, some believe you don’t need to worry too much about the temperature. As long as it’s between 60 to 80 °F (16 to 27 °C), your frog should be comfortable. Thermometers designed to attach to the glass of a tank or aquarium should be available online or from your local pet store.
Pacman frogs go through wetter and drier periods in the wild, so your frog won’t panic too much if the humidity is off. Try and keep the humidity inside the tank around 65%, misting the tank more or less frequently to adjust it if need be.
Some people don’t think that UVB lights help Pacman frogs that much, but at the very least they don’t hurt them. If you want to go the extra mile for your frog, purchase a lamp with a UVB light. Otherwise, you can skip this step and your frog will still be happy and healthy.
Mist the substrate just enough to dampen it. Don’t soak it, but you also shouldn’t allow it to dry out.
Make sure you only use water that does not contain chlorine, as even small amounts will be harmful to your frog.
Use tweezers, feeding tongs, or something similar to remove the uneaten food, as your frog may try to bite your fingers otherwise.
Some plants will be able to easily draw enough moisture from the damp substrate to stay alive. For other plants, you will need to water them as well as misting the inside of the tank regularly. You should also check every week or so to make sure that your frog hasn’t dug up the roots of the plants in its enclosure. If they do, you can keep the plants inside buried pots to prevent this in future.
You should clean the tank at least once a month, or potentially more often if you notice it becoming dirty a lot sooner.
