A frog lives by biting and swallowing its prey. As long as they feel threatened and are searching for food, it is a natural behavior for them to attack or bite. It is no different with a Pacman frog in this case.
Sorry to break your bubble, but just like any other animal, this pet-friendly frog does bite. There’s also a huge debate regarding these little creatures. A lot of people think that they’re poisonous, while others don’t. This puts an aspiring frog owner into a spiral of confusion.
If you want to know a bit of detail on whether Pacman frogs are poisonous or not, this short blog post will help you. So, keep reading and find the truth for yourself!
Are Pacman frogs poisonous?
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The best thing about the Pacman frog is they are not poisonous no matter what type of Pacman frog you own. That means, A bite or a skin secretion won’t poison you. This is why they are becoming more and more popular as pets.
However, due to their large size, they can bite you with a good amount of force. Which can be quite painful and have a high chance to draw blood. You can read about this in detail on my other article about Do Pacman frogs bite? Read it if you have the chance.
As opposed to poisonous frogs, Pacman frogs do not secrete any toxic substances through their skin, making them ideal pets. The sticky substance they release from their skin is more of a defense mechanism that feels a bit sticky on the hand.
Can a Pacman frog bite you hard?
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Despite being friendly, they will bite your hand if they feel threatened. You would be shocked to know that this small thing can bite with a force of 30 newtons. Let me put it in another metric: it’s 3 kg of force. They also happen to have the largest and sharpest teeth among the frogs.
Moreover, the combination of maxillary teeth & vomerine teeth can puncture through the human skin.
It is also possible that they will give you a strong bite when they are hungry. Pacman frogs, male and female, both exhibit this same behavior.
What to do if Pacman frog bites?
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In any case, if the frog bits you and refuses to let go, the first thing you should do is not shake it, you might hurt the poor thing. Simply put it back into the running water & it will happily go away leaving the bite.
Normally after a mid-level bite or normal bite, you won’t have to do anything. But in case of blood leaking, you should use both water plus antiseptic for the primary level medical treatment.
Do the Pacman frogs pollute the tank?
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Under normal conditions, the Pacman frog can be seen close to water drainages, even sometimes close to sewage lines where a high amount of pesticide is passing through.
As they are like any other animal hunting for food, they eventually end up eating both alive and dead things like bees, centipedes, fire ants, and wasps which are poisonous.
So, while living in the wild, they may secrete a bit of poison from the skin due to eating those poison carrier foods. This might compel you to ask yourself, “isn’t a pacman frog going to poison my tank?”
Fortunately, No. As opposed to their wild counterparts, when you will keep a Pacman as your pet, you will provide food like pinky mice, dubia roaches, feeder fish, small reptiles, and small fishes which are not poison carriers in general. As a result, their tank won’t be polluted with any kind of toxins.
Is Pacman Frog friendly to other pets in the tank?
Image Credit: Canva, Valentin Petkov
Even if it’s not poisonous, there are still some reservations that you need to maintain with your Pacman frog.
There is no way you can keep your Pacman frog with other species in the same tank. Even if you keep them, there has to be a glass barrier.
If you have small-size fish and smaller amphibians, then they won’t miss the chance to start a feeding frenzy. Even you should not keep them with other types of frogs of the same species because the bigger one is going to eat the smaller one.
So just because Pacman doesn’t have poison does not mean they are completely harmless for other pets.
Final words
If you are an amphibian enthusiast, you’d be glad knowing that your pacman isn’t poisonous, rather a pretty easygoing pet. So, if you plan on bringing them and petting them, you can do so without a doubt.
