Question: How much do I feed my Chinese FB Newt?

[brainlady]

Hello,
I have a new Chinese Fire Bellied Newt (Nibby) and have fed him one largish black-worm each day for 3 days now.... he was a bit skinny when I first got him home. He ate it with gusto! My question is how often do I feed him? I have read that they haven't eaten for weeks when they arrive at the LFS and should be fed every day as babies, and I have read once every third day.... I am confused!!! I can't cut worms up unfortunately because it just is too hard to hurt anything living, so his diet may be a bit limited to black worms. I bought the floating tabs and of course he won't touch them. I am still researching other food options for him. Although the black worms are alive I don't seem to have a problem feeding them to Nibby.

 

[Kaysie]

How big is your newt?

 

[brainlady]

He is just a baby, around 2.5 inches long. Sorry for the late response.... had a crisis in my fish tank.

 

[Kaysie]

Actually, that's pretty close to adult size in this species.

You should offer him/her all the blackworms it'll eat in 15 minutes.

 

[brainlady]

Oh, I have only fed him one or two. I am off to feed him again now. Thank you so much, that helped a lot.

 

[grius]

For your newts well being you should really try to learn and accept that you will have to cut worms etc. It can be a little hard at the beginning of curse. But you have to ask yourselfe what`s more important, not to hurt those worms and keep feeding the newt a food source that not may be so good in the long run, or do what you have to do to give your animal a healthy diet..If i get a animal i feed them with what says to be best, which in this case are worms.

Give it a try, think of your cute fire belly and you will "happily" cut your worms after a while

 

[brainlady]

Ok, I am willing to do this so that my Newt has the right diet.. ..... It will be quite hard for me though. It is going to rain tomorrow and this will provide an excellent opportunity for me to find a worm and try to cut it up. Does my Newt have to have worms every day or can this be a two to three day worm diet out of a week..... I figure if I find a worm it will last about three days if I keep it in the refrigerator. Oh, gosh, this is so icky.

 

[grius]

Ok, I am willing to do this so that my Newt has the right diet.. ..... It will be quite hard for me though. It is going to rain tomorrow and this will provide an excellent opportunity for me to find a worm and try to cut it up. Does my Newt have to have worms every day or can this be a two to three day worm diet out of a week..... I figure if I find a worm it will last about three days if I keep it in the refrigerator. Oh, gosh, this is so icky.

That is good thinking of you It is kind icki but as mentioned it will get less icky after a while. But if you should start breeding worms you dont have to cut any worms, there will be worms in al sizes when the culture have started. I myselfe breed worms and have as small as 2cm thin threads, no cutting there hehe.

But to start a breeding for only one newt could be a little overkill i think, if you dont have other animals that can eat worms? I cant answer if it`s safe for you to pick worms were you live, but it should be in a clean area with no trafic or other pollutants. But i asume you understand that allready. And no, you dont have to feed them worms every feeding, variation is the key, so use other food as well.

Food reading.
Caudata Culture Articles - Food Items for Captive Caudates

I wish you all luck!

 

[Kaysie]

If you're offering black worms (definitely blackworms, not tubifex), they're nearly as nutritious as earthworms.

 

[grius]

If you're offering black worms (definitely blackworms, not tubifex), they're nearly as nutritious as earthworms.

So she could replace worms with blackworm if she wanted to?

 

[brainlady]

I found a local fish and bait store that has worms for sale. They are commercially grown and good quality. I am going to visit them tomorrow and see what size they have in their worm collection.!!! Yeah.

 

[grius]

Sounds promissing! I had no idea that Blackworms are nearly as nutrious as bate worms. So those two as food source will be great.

 

[brainlady]

That is very reassuring. I will feed Nibby a worm once a week, or a least as much as he can eat in 15 minutes and keep up with the black-worms which are live and readily available at my LFS.
I bought 6 tiny little tupperware lidded-jars, plastic, and I am going to use them to make ice-cubes for his tank. It gets so hot in California that even with AC and a fan I am concerned. I can put one behind the filter and one under some plants and then change them as the water melts. I will keep the AC quite low, but when it gets 105 or more in the summer, the AC tends to turn into a big ice-cube if you set it lower than 72. I will also try using a fan but don't want to blast him!!! I do sound like such an anxious Mum don't I!!!