Anyone remember how long it takes? (karelinii)

[eldaldo]

Anyone remember how long it takes for Karelinii to get back legs? and how big they have to be to eat blackworms?

I have a ton of larvae that hatched in september and they still haven't shown signs of back legs yet. I thought by almost two months they would be big enough to eat chopped blackworms, but they show no interest. (I did this last year with the larvae's parents and I don't remember them growing so slow)

Could it be because this is the first year for the parents?

 

[rigsby]

Crested newt larvae are big eaters and need lots of small food such as daphnia to bring them on to a size where they can manage black worm. are the pieces of black worm still moving as at that age the larvae will need to see the food move. Cresteds would normally breed in spring so the larvae may be of poor quality.

 

[Jennewt]

It could be due to young parents. What have they been eating up to this point?

 

[eldaldo]

I've been feeding them BBS. This is probably not the best food source, but I can't afford daphnia, and it worked last year when I raised the parents. There are about eight out of the forty that look like they are close to getting back legs, but there are alot of really small ones that are below average as well. I suspect it is because they are from young parents. The parents weren't even a year old when they bred. I have plenty of brine shrimp eggs, so I guess I can just stick with it until they eventually get big enough for blackworms.