Natural Habitat/ Aquatic Questions - FBN

[23matt3]

I currently have 11 Cynops Orientalis efts that are about 1-2 years old. I am currently raising them fully terrestrial using the coconut fiber as their substrate with plenty of hides although their tank is a bit swampy to keep them moist and i spray them down twice a day. They are currently eating dusted fruit flies but i was curious if there were any tricks to teach them to eat frozen bloodworms, as I will feed them that once they are full grown

Also what are some tips to engage them to become aquatic?

Thanks

 

[AuSu]

You can try to offer bloodworms from a toothpick or such and move it in front of the newts nose like it was alive. But you need to be patient and maybe try several days/weeks before succeed. Eleven is quite a team to handfeed... why not teach them eat earthworms, they are much better nutritiously than bloodworms. If you set up a worm farm, you can slowly collect young, small ones that are suitable for the little ones to eat.
For me, it took over two years to get them back to water. I made a tank for them in a plastic container and put 5 cm water full of plants (ceratophyllum worked well). I kept them in that amount of water for months so that I was sure they hunt in the water and raised the depth by 5 cm slowly.

 

[23matt3]

Yes they are quite a handful lol. Great Idea about the worms, thanks! For the tank, I was almost considering doing that as well but was worried about how they would eat since they have been eating dusted fruit flies their whole lives and i assume the fruit flies would drown in the water.Currently my tank is all terrestrial except one spot where i made it swampy for them to keep moist in addition to me spraying them everyday, I can post some pics of their setup when i get home

 

[AuSu]

Maybe if you find tiny earthworms (or if you can cut bigger ones), you could teach them eat those. And when you change into aquatic system, they know what they should search. In the beginning I served the food by hand, first in the surface, then slowly to water and kept an eye on them really getting food. They are first quite clumsy in water and lose food but learn better & better by practise.

 

[23matt3]

I used to have a semi aquatic set up, (Half water-half land) with about a half inch of water with moss and floating plants covering the water. Unfortunately as you stated they are clumsy and I have lost a few that I guess got tangled in the moss and drowned. Thats why i went to a full terrestrial setup but i'd prefer to have them in water somehow to teach them to become aquatic. I'm just worried if i leave them out too long they will be scared of water.

 

[23matt3]

Currently they are in a 5 gallon tank with coco fiber as a substrate and large leaves as hides with a small feeding dish filled with water as the swampy area. I was thinking maybe making another setup, with one of those plastic containers you get from the pet store and experimenting with a semi aquatic setup and see how they do.. Any recommendations how how i should set that up?