Feeding trouble

[laura]

A few weeks ago I caught 8 wild Eastern newts. At the time they were swimming around in a pool. So anyway, I read up on them but they defy everything I have read about them. They are adults so they are supposed to be mainly aquatic. But they hate going into the water other than to soak themselves. I ordered small mealworms for them but when they attempted to eat the worm and the worms squirmed too much they refused to eat them. I tried tubiflex worm pellets but they dont like those either. At present all they will eat is mosquito larvae, but winter is coming and supplies are getting short. Help?

 

[jesper]

Most newts dont like mealworms.
Earthworms(chopped) are the best food I believe. They eat them both when aq and terrestrial which is great!
Start your own colony of earthworms

I just did!
Talk to Mike Edwardes or check his page, http://mike-edwardes.members.beeb.net/Amphibiary
under food for frogs(or salamanders)

 

[jennifer]

Laura, as jesper suggests, try chopped worms. If you can't find them outside, buy them in a bait shop or walmart bait department. Easterns need quite small pieces. Feed in the water, or from a tweezers/toothpick. You could try feeding them frozen (thawed) bloodworms too. Forget the dry foods, they probably won't go for any of that.

 

[laura]

Thanks for the suggestions. Anyone have any idea how often they eat? I just assumed everyday.

 

[jennifer]

If they are skinny or juveniles, every day. Healthy adults, every 2-4 days. You may have seen this information, but just in case you haven't:
http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/FAQ.html
http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/caresheets/n_viridescens.html

 

[marykidwell]

We have 2 red spotted newts, one is a baby (1 1/2 " long)and one is about 4 inches long. The big one eats from our forceps chopped mealworms, the baby nothing in front of us. We've had them about 3 months, they appear healthy. Sometimes, we've fed them earthworms, tried pinheads w/ no luck, and put in a pillbug and another couple of very small insects. We've never seen the little one eat. Do you think he's eating in the quiet and dark? How long could he go without food? He's tiny (much brighter than the big one) and doesn't appear to be getting larger. any sugguestions? P.S. Have read lots of info on the care of them and aren't sure if we should feed them more than every few days.
thanks, mary

 

[jennifer]

Keep trying to feed the small one with forceps, especially chopped worms, very tiny pieces. If it still refuses, you'll have to keep adding the tiny insects or pinheads (which it probably eats when you aren't looking). It is possible for them to go for weeks without food and still look OK. You can feed them more often if you want to, but the larger one would not really benefit.

 

[pin-pin]

Hi Mary,

Everything Jen says is good, I wanted to add my own experience. Just keep putting food in the tank for the smaller one to look for, but continue using tweezers to feed the little one every week. This will get it used to having you put food in front of it. Then, one magical day, it WILL eat out of your tweezers. At this time, take all excess food out of the cage and feed it with tweezers only. Once it gets the hint, a little hunger reinforces it.

 

[cataldo]

Has anyone tried LIVE Blackworms? These should be placed on a plate of some kind as they BURROW into the rocks. They move and seem to smell good to the eastern newt. I also found they like to chomp away on Frozen BRINE shrimp that I release in a clump. They eat it as it melts, or chomp on pieces of the block, also, they sniff and find it in the gravel.

Cataldo

p.s. they also like to catch LIVE brine shrimp.