Photo: Help identifying these hatchlings.. need food

[AshSeek]

Hi there, helping out an acquaintance identify these hatchlings. She told me she took eggs from a local lake for her son, thinking they were frog eggs, however they have hatched a few days ago and they are some sort of newt/salamander...
She wants to know firstly if she can feed them a packet of brine shrimp from "the sea monkey kits at walmart"
But she doesn't know how to care for them or what to feed, she said they hatched a few days ago.
She lives in Calais Maine, right on the Canadian border she said the eggs were in a huge clump pole frog eggs and she broke off a small blob.. they are native there she says.

These pictures i have attached are photos she sent me.. Can anyone identify/help out/ give her advise? I am not really familiar with anything but axolotls and still new to raising young tho i kind of assume its quite similar but don't want to assume...

Thank you,
Ashley

 

[AshSeek]

Can anyone help out?
thanks,
Ashley

 

[jAfFa CaKe]

It is very hard to identify them at this age, if she doesn't know how to care for them tell her to put them back, it would be for the best. If she really wants to keep them, show her this Caudata Culture Articles - Raising Newts and Salamanders from Eggs. If it grows 5 toes on its back legs then it is most likely some species of Ambystoma, but like I said before it is almost impossible to identify them at this age.

 

[Lertsch]

Given that they were found in the northeast and in a lake my guess would be that they are eastern newt larvae. I think those are the only newts in this part of the US, and I think the other types of salamanders in this region are mostly river/stream dwellers, but I could be wrong.

I recently had some hatch, had no idea how to care for them so I have been following the advice in the link Jake provided above and they seem health so far (about 2-3 weeks old). Good luck to your friend!

 

[NewtB]

a quick food source is simply to grab pond water from the pond she took them out of. And don't be afraid to get some muck off the bottom. I have found most of the life like to sit in that muck. That will give her a little time to figure out how much she wants to invest into feeding the little guys.