Need help with picky Cynops orientalis

[sam]

I have a little Cynops orientalis who is an incredibly picky eater. I need help in finding something, anything, he can eat.

my little guy is incredibly slow and, um, not bright. he won't eat anything that doesn't move for at least 10 seconds, so he can really get a good look at it; pellets he doesn't even notice.

the only live feed I can get locally seems to be blackworms; he does eat them, but only if I drop a big glob of them at once; otherwise they move too fast and hide under the gravel. (I've tried putting them in a jar lid, but I don't think he finds them.)

Waxworms are pretty big for him, and unfortunately they float -- he only sits on the bottom and only hides under rocks and the filter, so won't see anything floating. Earthworms are way too big, and when chopped up, they don't move. I understand mealworms are bad for Caudata. I have had pretty good luck giving him a few Mediterranian fruit fly larvae from the compost pile in the backyard, but there aren't always larvae around and I can't find any info on raising them. I think he's way too slow to catch brine shrimp.

any advice? Is there a feeder species I'm missing I can get online, or raise myself, or find in the backyard? I am pretty desperate at this point.

thanks,

gribley

 

[ralf]

How often do you feed your newt? Does it look skinny? Maybe your newt just isn't really hungry enough.

Have you tried frozen bloodworms? Sometimes they will just go for the smell. You might also try large Daphnia from a nearby pond. You can also breed fruit flies and harvest the larvae from the breeding substrate by slowly and carefully warming it in a heat resistant container on a hot oven plate (or something like it). The fly larvae will crawl out of the substrate up the sides of the container where they can be harvested. Lots of work. You might also keep your newt in a barebottom tank without gravel, so the blackworms wont be able to hide.

 

[jameswei]

If you use fruit flies, which i too recommend, be sure to dust them before hand, a little water, should help adhere the dust to the flies, this is assuming your newt will eat on land, otherwise dusting thme really accomplishes nothing, and fruitflies arent very nutritious to begin with. There are additional nutrional insects like spring tails that might interest your pet.

 

[jennifer]

I agree with Ralf's suggestion to adapt his setup for the use of blackworms (no gravel). I would also say give the live brine shrimp a try. You might be surprised. I assume you mean the adult brine shrimp they sell at pet stores, not the newly-hatched kind (which would be too small).

My other suggestion is earthworms. I raise compost worms in a tub, and I can pick out any size I need. (Plus, the worms compost my kitchen scraps.) They are wiggly, nutritious, and don't burrow into the gravel.