In the second installment of Tsu, my pacman frog’s adventures, I would like to focus on some of their oddities and perpetual hangriness.
I get the chance to stare (okay, let’s just tone that down to observe) at my pacman frog during weekends since her habitat is in a fairly dim place in our living room.
Every other Saturday, she gets her chance at a faux escape from her dreary abode and enjoys (not too sure about that) some sunshine near our garage. I feel that she’s been cooped up too long, that even a falling leaf calls her attention. Aww, you poor domesticated froggy!
The pacman frog may display odd, unusually boring, or just static behavior. Here are my top observations, which I hope you’d find useful if you have a pacman frog or just love frogs in general:
- Ping-pong size. Just when I thought that she was a phat phrog, she does her “thing” and goes back to being a medium frog. There are days when she just gets gigantic and fluffy, and this could be one (or a mix) of reasons for the chubbiness:
About to shed. The pacman frog puffs up to its maximum horizontal size possible, like a frog balloon, before shedding. She does this to expand the skin, so that when she deflates, she can easily peel off the skin with her feet—and here it comes—eat it! Never a dull day with Tsu. Even if you don’t witness the shedding, you’ll know she just did. The frog usually ends up with a shiny green sheen and happy eyes after this skin-ny exercise. Happy eyes? Yes, I can always tell.
Needs to pee. I just chance upon this when I move her to a separate container to clean the terrarium. With a sudden swoosh of air, which turns out to be liquid, that’s her peeing, to be followed by automatic shrinking. A fountain of weight loss.
Needs to poop. This one is a given. After a week or two of her meal, she doesn’t just get chubby. She begins to look like a clucking mother hen, rounded and grumpy, just about ready to lay her brown egg(s). You gotta clean her poop fast or else, she will try to bury the evidence under the substrate! And then you’ll just get the sh***y surprise when cleaning her terrarium. Stinky surprise!
Mad at you! Accidentally misting her eyes or just misting at all? Opening her cage all of a sudden? Giving her feeding signs but not feeding her? Last but the the least, touching her? RED FLAG alert, watch her bubble and swell in fury! The rounded ball of fury will not run, will not bite, but will just become an evil ball until she feels safe again (AKA just give her a few minutes).
- Plays dead. My frog can sit and stay in the same spot for 2 weeks, which is why my Saturday cleaning gives her a chance to stretch. It’s also a stroke prevention activity, so that she can burn off those pac attack calories. Speaking of play dead, I also learned a sneaky trick of these damn frogs. They like to move and stretch at night—and return to the exact same spot—so that when I inspect her the next day, it’s like nothing happened. But I spied on her several times, she does have some midnight trips and appears not guilty the next day. Yet, the evidence is splatter all over the walls!
- Perpetual hangriness. The pacman frog has an epic hunger. It eats, so long as you give. Why, it even got a taste of my pinky—and thank God—did not like it. Too salty for you, Tsu?
The good thing about my frog is that we have established a feeding schedule. She completely ignores me until Tuesday. When Wednesday evening creeps, I wave that pac attack or pacman soft food bites jar in front of her, and boy, do her eyes grow (with that gluttonous glee)!
She begins to look all jittery and my slight movements make her suspicious. At times, I deliberately make my preparation slow to annoy her, and she responds by bumping on the glass and giving that impatient side eye. What a brat!
Well, the frog isn’t known much for being brainy, but it just brings me delight that Tsu and I have at least the feeding schedule pretty much organized. As bratty as she may be, at least the frog’s got character.
Impatient, perpetually hangry, occasionally phat and 24/7 bratty. Yup, that’s my Tsu.
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