Newt won't eat!

[sparkyr99]

One of my T. shanjings stopped eating about 5 days ago. The other one never stopped. I've been feeding them chopped earthworms. He's been getting noticably skinnier. When i try to feed he starts climbing around, the glass, the rocks. the plants, even tried climbing up my hand. When i go to feed he sniffs at the worms and goes to the climbing. He still hangs out in his favorite place, still takes his morning swim, dogpiles up with the other one, and digs up all the moss as usual, but no eating. At what point should i become more concerned? Is there any way to stimulate feeding, or if necessary any way to "force feed" if it comes to that? And finally how long can the go without food before it becomes a real problem? His belly is already as narrow as his head if not a little smaller. Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[sparkyr99]

Anybody?

 

[Jennewt]

This kind of problem is difficult to address. It happens sometimes, but there's no sure cure. Sometimes the animal starts eating again, sometimes not. Here are some things that MIGHT help, but there's no guarantee on any of them.

Try separating them. It sometimes happens that a more-shy individual is more likely to eat when the more-assertive one is not around. This can even sometimes be the case in non-aggressive species like shanjing.

Try waxworms. There is hardly any Tylototriton on the planet that can resist a waxworm.

Try raising or lowering their temperature (carefully). You didn't indicate what their temp is, but a slight manipulation might help (or not).

 

[sparkyr99]

Well i ran out into the shopping-frenzied side of town today to find some alternatives to earthworms. Picked up some crickets, waxworms and some mealworms. Thats all thats available locally. Placed one of each in front of the one thats not been eating. he stared at them for about an hour, (not the cricket, i had to disable it after it crawled off several times). I gave up watching, came back a while later, the cricket was gone, the waxworm was gone, the mealworm was sticking out of his mouth. I guess he was either tired of earthworms, or was manipulating me into running to the store for "candy". Anyway he ate somthing. I guess thats a start. thanks.