Elodea muncher

[benjamin]

Yesterday I caught my female fuzhong doing something which I found rather odd. She was biting elodea, then shredding it by pushing it through her clenched jaws with her front legs, much like the way a tortoise eats. Though I didn't get a picture of her in the act, I did get this picture of a particularly damaged plant:

The transparent frayed leaves are the ones which have been nibbled. Has any one caught a newt doing something similar, and could there be any reason for this? She's been doing it quite a lot lately.

 

[chris]

Are you sure she isn't eating eggs?
I've had a hongkongensis do this, and it really looks like eating the plants
Chris

 

[benjamin]

Well I haven't found any eggs. If she is eating eggs she's doing it right after she lays them.

 

[jennifer]

Newts rarely lay eggs on decaying plants, they usually pick healthy sections. I suspect that there was some kind of bug or snail eating those decaying leaves, and the newt was going for that.

 

[chris]

Ben - are the leaves dead before she starts chewing, or do they die and start to decay afterwards?
Chris

 

[benjamin]

The leaves are alive when she goes for them, then they die afterwards, here are some leaves which have been attacked more recently and though they are stretched and twisted have not yet started to decay (except for one in the middle of the photo):