Evaluating body condition in C. pyrrhogaster larva

[heather]

I have had some larva for several weeks now and I figure they must be eating since they are still alive, but they seem thin. When I look at them from the top they have no "plumpness" to them, just a wide head and skinny all the way down to the tail. Is this normal, or should I be changing my feeding methods? I have been using tiny blackworms and also choppped up bigger blackworms, and there is always food in with them. I have only ever seen one larva eat one time, but they must be eating SOMETHING to still be alive. I have been concidering ordering some white worm cultures as supplemental food but didn't know if this would be necessary. Thanks for any input on the matter,
Heather

 

[ian]

are you using live food , at that age they will need to see it moving , you could also try live daphnia..ian

 

[jennifer]

Your feeding methods sound great, but I wonder about the setup. I've found that Cynops larvae don't do well in simple setups (plain bare tub). While this works fine for most newts, when I've tried to raise C.p. this way, they always look pale and thin and stressed out, in spite of having plenty of food available.

 

[heather]

Hmm, my setup is pretty simple. They are in bare bottomed plastic shoe boxes, but I also have clumps of java moss for them to hide in. I do have a few extra tanks around and also some smooth river pebbles I could use to help "spruce up the place."
Oh and Ian, the blackworms are live. I have been thinking about trying to culture daphnia but my space is limited, especially now with the larva - ironic that I have no space for a culture because of the creatures that need to eat from the culture.
Thanks for the responses, I think a little redecorating is in order.

 

[jennifer]

Just put in plenty of java moss, that will help. Also, C.p. is a species that can do well being raised together with the adults, so you might want to try leaving a few in the large tank.

Best of luck, I'm really happy you got little ones already

 

[ian]

hi again Heather ,although i don't breed them anymore i always raised them in a tank with a lot of elodea ( canadian pond weed ) and water taken from my wildlife pond in the garden , i do this with all my species with success ,they seem to find plenty of food from this method and survive until they are large enough to start taking blood worm or similar...ian

 

[TJ]

No, Heather, they really shouldn't be skinny. Check out Mark's photos to see what they should look like:

http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/63043.html?1153352629

Well, you've got plenty of good advice here already so I've nothing else to add. This is basically just an excuse to post a photo of some new larvae I noticed the other day:

 

[heather]

Thanks for all the advice - I have added more java moss in with them and hope it will help.
Ian, the parents tank is jam packed with elodea and thats what most of the eggs were laid on, but I found that the java moss has been doing better in the lower light conditions that I have the larva in. If only I lived closer to a pond or similar, but being in the great desert state of Utah it would be quite a drive to find a suitable source.
I removed about 30 eggs from the tank and have left the rest in with the adults, and have seen at least 2 larva swimming about in there, so I hope they will do well. The parents sure seem to like the taste of the eggs so I hope the find their larval offspring less tastey. And I too am very happy I have little ones already!
Heather