New oregon newt question

[joemama]

I used to own an Oregon Newt back when I was a kid. It ate salamander and newt pellets. I am now an adult and i decided to buy one again. The lady at the pet shop said that that's what they feed the one I bought. It's a pretty fat little guy so I can tell he's been eating.I just bought him today and setup the tank. My question is....I tried to feed him this evening and as soon as i dropped the pellet in and it sank down he snatched the food in his mouth as it fell towards him but then spat it right back out. Does this mean he's nervous about the new enviroment or that he wasn't hungry? Any ideas or suggestions?

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[jennifer]

Joe, it could be the new environment or lack of hunger. If your setup is suitable, the newt should acclimate in about a week and begin to eat. It could also be that this newt will not adapt to pellet food. You can keep trying for a while, but if it continues to refuse pellets (as most newts do), then you will need to find other foods. The best bets are chopped earthworms and frozen bloodworms (not dried). See:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml

 

[elizabeth]

Do you have a picture? I would start calling your newt a Rough-skinned Newt instead of an oregon newt. It is sometimes used as a Synonym in the pet trade and shops but is fictional.

 

[jesper]

Since this is a international forum, it would be awfully nice of everybody to use the scientific names instead of "the common names".

I mean calling a newt "rough-skinned newt" is kind of diffuse eh? California newt or Oregon newt seems better if anything, at least someone was smart enough to try to give a location - that pretty much narrows it down to at least a couple of newts presuming the location is correct(never underestimate the stupidity of man).

I suppose we are talking about taricha granulosa, taricha torosa torosa, taricha torosa sierrae or taricha rivularis?

Hmmm, sorry if I sound aggressive, I'm not

Thanks

 

[joemama]

alright, alright! taricha granulosa is the scientific name okay? the fact is that i got him to eat a piece of a worm yesterday evening. he's pretty fat so how often should i feed him? as often as he wants? it seems like when he's not hungry he ignores the piece of worm.

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[elizabeth]

<font color="ff6000">Point taken Jesper, as I always use the latin name. I was just clearing that up. Last I knew, Oregon didn't allow commercial collecting so, I guess it would be a california collected newt, or granulosa contraband.

Feed it every 2-3 days depending on filtration. Everyday would be okay for one worm or so. I have only had them take 1-2 worms, hand fed, in a sitting.</font>

(Message edited by bethnewt on March 05, 2004)

 

[kaysie]

i feed mine 1/4 of a worm, every 3 days. depends on how big your worm is. if you go feeding them one night crawler a day, they're going to be hugely obese

 

[chris]

It could also be that the pellets were still too hard as they had not soaked up water. My paramesotriton fuzhongensis used to eat catfish pellets occasionally as a change from worms/bloodworms, and they had to learn to wait for the pellets to soften before eating them. At first they grabbed the pellets and then spat them out.
Chris

 

[joemama]

oh thanks a lot chris. that really makes sense now. i think the one i had when i was younger learned to wait.

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[elizabeth]

<font color="ff6000">Kaysie, I find them soooo cute obese dont you? Well, your right, diet is important as you don't want them expanding tooooo big.</font>