Feeding worms..

[vistajpdf]

Well, my male adult newt is still not entering the water. He was moved into his own 10 gallon tank a few weeks ago and even into a cooler room. Not eating, not swimming - or swimming frantically back onto land when I put him in the water to feed him. Water quality is good.

I have yet to try cutting up worms for him - our Walmart doesn't have them. I'm ordering online. Which worm would I have the best chance of feeding whole to him? I'm really not happy about cutting up fat worms but will do what I must for my little friend. Re wigglers it seems may not be accepted, nightcrawlers, earthworms? What's smaller? I guess earthworms are the best. Until now he's survied on bloodworms, black worms, and white worms. He has been offered pinhead crickets and fruit flies with no interest.

Thanks,
Dana

 

[Azhael]

Earthworms are very nutritious as you know, so i would give them a good try (be patient).
If you can find small ones, you could feed them whole. A big earthworm would be too big, though, so you might have to do some chopping...sorry xD

If possible, i would encourage you to find waxworms, either the big ones (Galleria sp.) or the small ones (Achroia sp.). No healthy newt would dream of refusing those!

 

[vistajpdf]

Thanks, will try to get both. I'm not sure he's healthy, sadly. I don't know why he left the water. At least he's separate from the female, but the added space doesn't seem to help. Should I set him up in a more terrestrial habitat? Right now, he's parked on the turtle dock under a hide.

Dana

 

[Azhael]

Becoming terrestrial is certainly cause of concern for an already stablished animal, but is not necessarily a definite sign of illness. If he has all the signs of being in terrestrial phase and completely refuses water, moving him to a fully terrestrial set-up for a while would not be a bad idea. If you get him to eat well while he is terrestrial, you´ll have time to worry about getting him to be aquatic again later. Normally, the terrestrial phase takes a while, until the cause of the situation is resolved.

Don´t dispair, try those foods and best of lucks!

 

[Jackulwulf]

Earthworms are very nutritious as you know, so i would give them a good try (be patient).
If you can find small ones, you could feed them whole. A big earthworm would be too big, though, so you might have to do some chopping...sorry xD

If possible, i would encourage you to find waxworms, either the big ones (Galleria sp.) or the small ones (Achroia sp.). No healthy newt would dream of refusing those!

I'd like to add my two cents here in reply to the waxworms. That's not really true. My adult tiger won't eat them. He ate one and after that refused them and he's healthy. I've heard of other people who have had theirs refuse them also. My guy isn't all that fond of earthworms either. He's a bit of a fussy brat.

 

[shmifty5]

I'd like to add my two cents here in reply to the waxworms. That's not really true. My adult tiger won't eat them. He ate one and after that refused them and he's healthy. I've heard of other people who have had theirs refuse them also. My guy isn't all that fond of earthworms either. He's a bit of a fussy brat.

i agree, except my tiger loves his wax-worms, he goes kookoo for wax-worms and earthworms/nightcrawlers/anything that moves.

 

[vistajpdf]

Thanks, everyone. I suppose I have to try to find something he'll eat - no signs of sores, bloat, etc. When in the divided tank w/ the female, I didn't view him as weak as I saw him trying to climb the divider. He has successfully scaled it before and found his true love. I wonder if he's pouting by being separated from her, though I suppose that's not the case...I wish it were true. While he swims frantically when immersed, he doesn't move around much at all on land simply staying in the hide.

I will offer a variety of food and pray for the best.

Thanks again,
Dana

 

[misslyss]

My guy isn't all that fond of earthworms either. He's a bit of a fussy brat.

Thats strange. Tigers are known for their enthusiastic eating habits and love of food. Maybe he is fussy over something wrong in the set up you have him in. A lot of times if one condition is off thats enough to have an effect on their willingness to eat. There could be other reasons as well depending when you got him and where the supplier got him as well. Something to ponder.


Wax worms are definitely a good choice, only problem I've had while using them is my salamanders developing a sweet tooth and not eating the other food items I offer them more vigorously as before. Which is probably why my Female Warty Newt is border-line obese! My Tiger Salamanders will eat them right out of the refrigerator, still cold and lifeless (but not dead) !
They should do well for you!

The earth worms are located in the fishing and outdoors section, not the pet section of Wal-Mart (just in case you didn't already know :happy. I've been that lost customer burdening the employees to assist me in finding "worms"

 

[Jackulwulf]

Thats strange. Tigers are known for their enthusiastic eating habits and love of food. Maybe he is fussy over something wrong in the set up you have him in. A lot of times if one condition is off thats enough to have an effect on their willingness to eat. There could be other reasons as well depending when you got him and where the supplier got him as well. Something to ponder.

I don't think its his setup since I've had him in the same setup since I got him last August. And he is a bit of a voracious eater when it comes to crickets and superworms. He loves them superworms. Though I didn't get him from a supplier, my brother actually found him in the trailer court where he lives. He lives in a city but its on the edge in a bit more rural area. So he could have been a wild salamander or he could have been someone's pet who let him go. We don't really know. Chances are though he might have ended up being killed if my brother hadn't found him so I decided to take care of him. We're not even sure if he's native to our area since we've never seen Tiger salamanders before.

 

[CherryBlossom]

Hi Dana. I would definately give the wax worms a go. My boys a re a good size and they will gladly take a whole wax worm when I feed them to them. I hope he starts eating for you soon.

 

[vistajpdf]

Thanks. I will look for the wax worms. Two sites are out at the moment, so I'm searching for another.

Dana

 

[CherryBlossom]

Brilliant. Fingers crossed for you xxx