Maggots

[martin]

I like to vary food fed to my newts and wondered
if anybody fed maggots?
I feed bloodworm,crickets and waxworm but i have some babies that waxworm is too big to feed and wondered if maggots had any nutritional value?

Martin.

 

[morg]

Martin
I cannot tell you the nutritional value of maggots, but I have used maggots as part of the varied diet of all of my newts.
One of my T alpestrus has been fed exclusively on maggots and live bloodworm for years and is doing great.
I always use the smaller squat maggots, available from bait shops, or for the smallest young newts I use fruit fly maggots.
If feeding to aquatic stage newts I usually pierce the skin of the squats for easier digestion.
The squats are fed unpierced to terrestrial newts. I have yet to see an undigested squat in newt waste but when pierced the squats can climb out of the food dish and up the sides of the tank.

MORG

 

[jennifer]

Yes, I use maggots/spikes a lot. They are a great food for small terrestrials, and my aquatic eastern newts like them also. The biggest advantage, in my opinion, is that they stay healthy in the refrigerator, so one order lasts a long time. They are higher in protein and lower in fat compared to waxworms. For those in the U.S., I have bought them from both bestbait.com and grubco.com - both are OK, but I prefer grubco. There is some good nutritional information at:
http://www.grubco.com/nutritionalinfo.html
http://www.nagonline.net/Technical%20Papers/NAGFS00397Insects-JONIFEB24,2002MODIFIED.pdf

 

[paris]

mmmmmmmm....maggots.............

actually i like mousies. and despite them being maggots they are quite cute!

the main benefit i see to mousies is that they are aquatic-so they cant drown! and the little 'tail'(which is actually a breathing tube) makes it easy to dangle in front of newts and frogs faces. beaver bait sells them in 1000 lots for 30$, and i think in smaller lots too-you can usually get them in 25 units at bait shops too. and hey-if any arent eaten...well then just wait and youll have flys to feed.

 

[andy]

anyone ever tried feeding aquatic newts guppy fry?

 

[jennifer]

None of my aquatic newts are willing or able to eat baby guppies. One exception: I had some ferocious Triturus larvae that ate them for a while. But after they morphed, they were too slow to catch them any more.

 

[martin]

Just got half a pint of squatts, newts luv em!
Babies and adults are all eating them.
Very handy as some food is harder to get in the winter.
Went in the fishing tackle shop, cost £1 inc container! Bargain.

 

[mark]

Looks like thats what i'll be mainly feeding my t shanjing over these next couple of months - its the only thing thats readily available this time of year - cant find decent waxies anywhere...