Eastern Red Eft

[Rags and Rexs]

Hi, first if I am new to this sight and newt care. My class has taken a Red Eft as a class pet and we have a 10 gallon tank and the basics. He seems okay we decide to name him Issac Newton. I was just wondering if anyone has any tips or advice. He does seem kind if scrawny and has only eaten a little bit of a worm. Any advice will be gladly accepted. Thanks.

 

[Otterwoman]

Cut up nightcrawlers are the best food for him. Alternately blackworms in a shallow bowl with water.

Also see this link; scroll down to "Feeding."

 

[Cliygh and Mia]

Also if you want him to transform into a adult newt faster, do an inch or so of water, and then choke it with duckweed or other small floating plants or rocks sticking out of the water and let him settle. When he settles, you can feed him bloodworms and blackworms, the usual aquatic caudate fare

 

[Otterwoman]

I had a red eft that I fed blackworms in a little dish. He would just lay in it and eat and got so fat that one day I picked him up by his tail and threw him in the aquatic noto tank. He needed to get some exercise. He did fine.

 

[Proudgranof5]

AW: Eastern Red Eft

My granddaughter found ET, our Eastern Red Eft, about 1 1/2 years ago on our driveway. He was teeny tiny, barely an inch long. I had never seen nor heard of one before. After a little research,we set up a 10 gal aquarium with moss on the bottom, I added a live plant also. He has rocks and bark to hide under as well. At first we we kept a shallow water bowl in it, he never went near it. All it did was end up drowning fruit flies that landed in it, so we took it out. He absorbs moisture from the dirt in the tank. I raise flightless fruit flies for him to eat. The jars of fruit flies sit on the table behind his habitat. Once in a while we will see him watching the flies walk on the walls of the jars. Guess he can't figure out why he can get to them:happy He loves to stalk the fruit flies. He has never shown interest in anything else we have tried to feed him and seems to be healthy. My biggest worry is that I have no clue how to tell when he/she might be starting to change to a Newt. We would be devastated if something happened to him.