Newt Larvae & Morph Feeding Techniques

[coen]

I'd like to know which techniques you guys use for feeding newt larvaes and fresh morphs. For instance, I have my freshly morphed newts in a terrestrial tank with small woodchips and moss as soil, it's pretty hard to feed them in there. Anyone got an idea? Same with larvaes. I'd just like to hear some techniques you guys heard of or learned along the way, especially those from the triturus genus.

Thanks in advance,

Coen

 

[nate]

Hi Coen, I've used the same technique for Triturus morphs (alpestris, carnifex, cristatus, pygmaeus, boscai)as I use for all genera: I handfeed them by offering small bits of worm on the end of a stretched-out paperclip. I also rear them in plastic containers on toweling so I can better observe their progress. Woodchips and moss make for a more aesthetically pleasing setup, but like you mention, it's difficult to make sure they're eating well.

 

[ralf]

Hi Coen,
I have used a setup similar to yours before, especially with shy or nocturnal animals. I didn't use woodchips though, but an open pored flower pot substrate made out of bricks (brand name Seramis) as a "moisture reservoir" on the bottom. Then followed a layer of cork bark pieces and moss on top. Like Nate said, you can use plastic containers with some sort of ventilation. In this type of setup one is forced to feed indirectly, putting the different food organisms (e.g. White worms, Springtails, Drosophila, Thermobia)directly onto the moss. One should control the animals in the container weekly to see if they are doing well (and if the food is being eaten). It is also quite useful to write down the number of inhabitants on top of the container, so no animals are removed when changing the moss (fresh moss from the woods will also contain a lot of potential food organisms).
The other method (feeding the animals directly) is much better in that one has more control of the animals' growing progress, however it is also more time consuming and needs some patience (especially in the beginning when the animals have to be conditioned to feed from your paperclip or tweezers). This last method should work well with most Triturus.
Henk Wallays described a method of raising juveniles outside, using an upside-down buried plastic box with a hole cut into the bottom (top). Haven't tried this one though.

Ralf

 

[martin]

Hi Coen,
Whe rearing larvae (verrucosus,popei and marmoratus)i use bare bottom tanks with a bit of java moss for cover.Plenty of daphnia, bloodworm and occasionaly brine shrimp.
I feed daily as larvae and have had good success.
With bare bottom tanks you can see what they are eating and you can see the muck that needs removeing before it builds up before it causes problems.

Martin

 

[coen]

Thanks everyone. I've never seen Java Moss before but it looks pretty neat. I'm feeding my larvaes pond water which contains the micro organisms and I go out every now and then to catch some cyclops and daphnia. Sometimes I also catch some kind of small red worms, that swim through the water by twisting and turning their body, are these redworms?

I'm feeding my morphs chopped rainworms, they are doing well. I can also see some tiny insects in the terrestrial setup that probably came with the moss or the 'big' piece of dead tree.

 

[ajfr0ggy]

I think the red thingsd are bloodworms, the ones that make almost a figure of 8 while swimming.
I had so few smooth newts in such as large outdoor aquarium, there was always a supply of daphnia or bloodworms. Now almost all of them have morphed, i released about 8 (or i let them wonder out on their own accord, i kept 6, and i have a few left to morph.

does anyone know a quck way of taking bloodworm from a bucket of gravel, thats how i breed them, but they take ages to be picked out :/

thanks

AJfr0ggy

 

[morg]

Ajfroggy
You should be able to find a tropical fish store near you selling live bloodworm at around 20-25 pence per bag, which is a lot easier than home culturing.

 

[caleb]

I've been using quite a lot of mosquito larvae recently- there are lots about, probably as a result of the hot wet weather.

I have a suspicion that Daphnia, rather than bloodworm or whiteworm, might be best for larvae of more aggressive species. Newts will attack another newt that is feeding, and it can take quite a long time for a newt to finish a worm. A Daphnia (Daphnium?) is gone straight away, so there's less chance of being attacked while feeding.

 

[geo]

I am currently feeding my larvals with 2" tiger worms on the end of a 3' long stick! Just added some notes on feeding on the LOG page of my site at http://www.pondwatch.org.uk - just may be of interest.