How to make marmoratus grow quickly

[Jennewt]

This is a technique that I use for feeding T. marmoratus juveniles. I have tried this with various Cynops sp. and it does not work for Cynops. The animals must be fairly bold. I suspect it might work for some other Triturus, but this won't work for shy species.

First, I set up a small tub with several piles of small, homegrown earthworms. I put all the marmoratus juveniles in the tub and close it securely. About 20-30 minutes later, I return the juveniles to their regular setup.

The photos below were taken at the END of the feeding session. Notice that some of these newts are super-fat. This species can really gorge itself when there are worms available.

 

[caudatadude28]

Thats a good idea Jennewt. I cant see the pics though.

 

[Otterwoman]

I can't either.

 

[Jennewt]

This is weird. I am now unable to pull up the "Images" link that lets me append images from the Gallery. Lets see if I can add them from hard drive...

 

[John]

Give the gallery a shot again - I want to see if that problem is reproducable.

 

[Jake]

That's a great idea, Jen! I do something similar with all of my Pleurodeles waltl juveniles. I remove them from the aquarium, place them in a shoebox tub with small handful of salmon pellets and let them eat until they lose interest (usually about half an hour) and then I place them back in their tanks. It eliminates most of the water changes I'd normally have to do and keeps them all happy.

 

[Jennewt]

Give the gallery a shot again - I want to see if that problem is reproducable.

I figured out the problem - I had left the Images box open from before, and it was buried under other windows on the desktop. I inserted the photos in the first post where they were supposed to be. I'm still not sure why the pictures disappeared during an edit of that post, but problem solved.

That's a great idea, Jen! I do something similar with all of my Pleurodeles waltl juveniles. I remove them from the aquarium, place them in a shoebox tub with small handful of salmon pellets and let them eat until they lose interest (usually about half an hour) and then I place them back in their tanks. It eliminates most of the water changes I'd normally have to do and keeps them all happy.

I'm amazed that works with pellets. I'll have to give that a try some time.

 

[Bellabelloo]

I shall give this a try..I have been chopping the worms up for my little gang, but having seen the size yours eat I see I no longer need to.:happy:

 

[Otterwoman]

I have to try this!

 

[merk199]

I have done this on Jen's advice and it does work. Best part is they are eating the worms without chopping them.

 

[monkeyfrogman28]

This works well for emperor newts also. This is what I do with mine off and on when feeding worms.Thanks for sharing.

 

[stavroske]

That's a very nice technique Jen!

 

[Bellabelloo]

I have used this method over the last 10 days and they have really taken to it.

 

[fishkeeper]

This is good to help any that are falling behind in size or are getting their food taken by the piggies.

Putting the skinnier/smaller newts singly or in small groups in a seperate container of shallow water with loads of blackworms. Several hours later remove some very plump, happy newts.

 

[kenya_1977]

Are you digging your worms or are you ordering them? If you are ordering them, where from?

 

[troutnerd]

That is a great idea.Must try it.I have 4 and they do eat like pigs...but the food tends to run off before they can get it all. I can see this working for certain tylos as well.

 

[Molch]

I have a bunch of marmoratus morphs now and would like to try this. How do you get them used to this method at first? Is there an acclimatization process to that feeding method?

Also, would it work with chopped worms? My earthworms are all much too big and have to be chopped.

Where do you get those tiny worms? Are those Lumbricus terrestris? If so, how does one home-grow them (I thought they can't be cultured...)