NomNOM the pyxie frog

[jaleely]

My Pyxie frog...NomNOM!
This thing was a quarter this size when we got it. No idea if it's male or female. I have heard it croak once...and make a mewling sound once *lol*

It went off bugs pretty fast. We've been feeding silver sides. I know that's going to make it grow...but it's sooo happy to eat! It's just about the greediest animal I've seen (though my beagle is tied for that title).

I've been nommed once, got my whole kunckle. Didn't really get any teeth in, but it did bite repeatedly *lol*
It's also got me with the tongue...makes me laugh cuz it's warm and squishy...and so big! i'm going to have to start wearing gloves soon, to clean the tank because it tries to eat me all the time!

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n640/jaleely/frog2.jpg

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n640/jaleely/frog.jpg

[millertime89]

I'm still considering frogs, those guys are pretty cool. Saw some real little ones at the last show I went to.

[jaleely]

well nom-nom is a doll. Fiesty, crazy for food. I hope he gets bigger than this pic

Pixie Frog - ratboy's anvil 2 (http://deeperwants.com/ratboys_anvil_2/2011/04/pixie-frog.html)

we're still looking into proper nutrition for him...seems dubias might actually be best. I can't find if silver sides are sometimes from sat water...and i don't want that to hurt him. Seems unclear if it will or not.

[Gungirl]

Hahahaha I love the face!

[DragonsEye]

Fat sucker. heh

[jarich]

Ya, you dont often hear, "my frog wont eat"! Although now that I mention it I think someone actually did post that lately. I had a leopard frog for year and years that would try stuffing everything in its mouth, and I do mean everything. I had to pull the underwater filter out of his mouth once when I moved it around and he thought it was food.

Nice looking pyxie!

[alessia55]

Hahaha its so alien-like! :p Kind of cute. Will it get any bigger?

[Will0W783]

OMG, NomNOm is soooo cute!!! I love pixie frogs!!!!

[Trent]

Nice pics!!

[jaleely]

Alessia it's going to get HUGE! hehehe
I think you should all get one! He's the most active and hilarious frog i've ever seen. A real treat to feed, and to watch try to chase the snakes around from his tank *lol*

[It'sKourtneyYo]

duude, My boyfriend doesn't want me getting anymkore pets beside a fish tank that I'm getting pretty soon but, seriously, after I the fish tank gets settled I think I'm going to get one!
I have a couple questions though before I do research:
What and how often do you feed him? Would you consider him to have more personality than any other frog? [from my point of view and from what I know and read on your post, yes, yes indeed.lol]
What do you have him housed in and how is he and will he get?

[jaleely]

I've had a random tadpole, that grew into a random frog of somesort....and it was a HORRIBLE pet...always scared, wouldn't eat right, and one day it choked on a cricket and died! I've always loved frogs, but he was just such an annoying pet *lol* i have no idea what he was. It was some small mom and pop place that i got the huge tadpole from.

Then, i've had pacman frogs. Totally cute frogs...but they just sit there. Totally ambush predators. One of them used to croak when he'd hear Xena on tv (no joke, we were watching all the seasons on dvd and he would croak everytime she would do her yell thing!) They were cute, not very active, but fun to feed.

This guy though...i had looked up pyxie frogs because i wanted a large frog, that would be more interesting than pacmans. Boy did i get what i wanted! Did you see that link i posted somewhere in the middle of this thread? They can get HUGE.
I have read that they are supposed to be insectivores, and eat every day, especially when young. Like i said this guy quickly outgrew crickets and i have been feeding him fish, and an occasional fuzzy. He used to get full on a pinkie, and he could actually easily eat a mouse right now size-wise, though i have been sticking to just a small silverside fish (a day) and an occasional cricket or fuzzy that my snake wouldn't eat.
He will actually eat ANYthing that moves. I pour water in there and he attacks it clumsily. I move the dish and he'll bite the substrate. I reach for him, and oh yes, he WILL bite me. It's hilarious though. I have FELT the teeth, but usually all i really feel is warm sticky MUSH tongue, because he will act classic frog and opens his mouth wide and sticks his tongue out to eat! It's soo cute!
I've been cutting back on food recently, and giving maybe 3 mealworms, then a fish the next day, or skip a day, and then fish.

I've read babies need to eat, but i'm also not sure if the fish is healthy. I've not read where it is bad....so we just make sure to dust some meal items with calcium every now and then.

If you do get one, observe it first. I got this one specifically because i saw how voracious it wanted to eat!

[SpOoKy]

What are the husbandry requirements for these guys?

[jaleely]

I don't know if i'm doing it totally right, but he's thriving so far.

You can google a caresheet, but as for my guy i have him a ten gallon tank with a glass lid, that has a hole in the corner....lol so i do have to watch the moisture. They burrow a bit, and poke their faces out. I have a plastic bin on one side with water in it, and a large plastic bin on the other with gravel and fur bark. I had moss, but that got too stinky. I decided on gravel so i could rinse it easier, as he will pee in it. There is a small UTH under the gravel side (on the outside of the glass 10gal tank). He mostly sits in the gravel, but will poop in his water dish. I give him fresh water every day...he will also sometimes pee in there. I rinse the gravel once a week...though i may start doing it more often now that he's bigger as i suspect he's peeing in it more.

Other than that, feeding once a day, and i try to handle him when i clean the tank...i do get Nommed sometimes...but once i establish that it's not feeding time he seems to like having his head stroked. I find it's better to feed first, then move him around. A full belly means a little bit slower frog who's not AS greedy...but still very greedy *lol*

[It'sKourtneyYo]

Holy frog! He gets huge!!! I love it! But I thing my bigger lab would think its a chew toy and that's kind of took big for me but very cool. I had a dumpy frog before named Figaro
He was so awesome. He liked to chill on my shoulder a lot. Whenever I too him out he would always climb onto my shoulder and just chill there. Im still thinking about the frog thing. Its out of some type of frog, leopard gecko or fish tank and I can only pick one for now.

[jaleely]

Even though i have always been into like, everything...i am just not that into geckos for some reason. I haven't met the right one. I think i'd rather have a snake if i've got the room *lol*

But yeah...NomNom is pretty awesome. Sooo cool to hold. He takes both hands and surprisingly he WILL jump out of them. I mean, i make a cage with my fingers but he pushes out all his air and SQUISHES through my fingers when i least expect it. I am honestly shocked when he does it. I don't see how such a big thing can get out of my grip but he sure does. We make sure to never hold him high at all, because he will jump out!

[jaleely]

Someone has gotten bigger and bigger! I think he/she is at least a pound now.
Just an updated photo. Had to be taken over the sink, since he decided to pee on me to tell me what he thought of the photo session *lol* i knew he was awfully full feeling.

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n640/jaleely/Photo4834.jpg

[alessia55]

A 1 lb frog? geez! looks awesome :yes:

[jaleely]

lol i love him, even though he will bite me in a heartbeat if i let him. I was holding him down in his enclosure the other day, while i picked up a worm he missed...and he still managed to push my hand off to try and bite my OTHER hand. Got me with his HUGE tongue, but thankfully not the teeth. Oh yes, he has teeth...lol
I seriously need to get some gloves for this guy. He is fine if I let him know it's handling time, not feeding time...but the second he thinks it *might* be feeding time he is biting!
It's hard to tell but he's at least twice as big now as he was in these first photos!

[jaleely]

Okay, here we go! At just a little over 6 inches long, NomNom is now in his adult phase. Still ravenous, he's pretty docile now when held. I'm hoping he'll eventually reach 7 inches. In captivity they usually reach 6-8 ...and at this size, he is all male for sure! The females don't get this big.

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n640/jaleely/Frog3.jpg

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n640/jaleely/Frog2-1.jpg

http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n640/jaleely/Frog1.jpg

Bowser meets NomNom the pyxie frog - YouTube (http://youtu.be/1Ow7Zzi3bus)

1Ow7Zzi3bus

[Kaetlinv]

That video is cute.

Just cause i'm curious and know nothing about them - why are they called Pyxies if they get to such behemoth sizes? That is one BIG frog, haha.

[jaleely]

Pyxicephalus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyxicephalus)

Pyxicephalus (Pyxis = "(round) box," cephalus = "head")

Thusly...Pyxie frog! Also, thusly...pyxie, an oxymoron used to make my husband assume the frog will stay small, until he researched it and realized oh no...BIG muwahahaha!

[Kaetlinv]

Well that makes a lot more sense than 'pixie' as in fairies, haha. This is why questions are good things :D

[Evolieno]

Omg!! He is sooo cute, even as big as he got! I want one now... Darn you

[Rogue628]

Oh wow! Quite a big and interesting fella! lol I don't think I've ever seen a frog that huge. He seems like a really neat pet to have! :D

[jaleely]

He's awesome. Kind of a brat when it's feeding time though. He eats dubias, fish, mice, half a rat once...he's a bottomless pit! And let me tell you...it is NOT pleasant to clean up after him. Wow boy, that is a mess. And it just surprises the pants of me to see the size of his poos LOL
He's awesome though.

I even got a book on him! Was reading it just the other day. The captive species in North America is not the true giant form...that gets 9 inches and up to 4.5lbs. But instead is a smaller kind that gets about 6-8 inches, and a pound or so.

You can tell when they are juveniles, which sex they are only by how super fast the male grows. I managed to see this guy in with another one, that came in at the same time from the breeder (which is almost all the same central farm in the U.S. that distributes to almost all the locations that sell these..they all stem from there).
This guy was clearly bigger than the other one, which i found out later did turn out to be a female!
So if you decide to get one...males grow bigger! just fun facts : )