Noto Feeding options.

[joel]

Hello everyone,
Thinking of food options for my soon to be pet Notophthalamus V. v.'s. Just wondering what sorts of foods you all have been successful at feeding to them? Please specify if it's a core food that they can live off of entirely, or a supplement/treat that they get rarely.

 

[karen]

My nvv's love live blackworms, which I feed them everyday. I've tried other foods like bloodworms and beef heart, but they didn't care for it too much. Ditto for tubifex worms.

 

[ester]

Frozen blood worms, mine always go for them and they're cheap and always available.

 

[joel]

Frozen bloodworms, eh? Just drop a cube in the water?
That is excellent news, as it's about the only newt food I can buy here without resorting to online purchasing...which I'm more than a bit wary of.

One concern though....will uneaten portions pose a problem with toxins, or filters?

And could beef heart be combined with frozen bloodworms to make up a nice varied diet for them?

Appreciate the info, thanks a bunch.

 

[wyatt]

actually, it is pretty funny, but you need to thaw them, because the core of the cube is filled with ice, and it won't sink, and they don't eat it.

 

[jennifer]

With the frozen bloodworms, you need some method for cleaning out the leftovers after mealtime (siphon or baster). You absolutely don't want them getting into the filter or rotting in the tank. A feeding dish/plate may also be helpful. If you throw in the whole cube, there is some "red liquid" that adds nutrients to your tank (nutrients encourage algae and other unwanted invaders). If you thaw them first, you can avoid some of this. One other recommendation is to buy Hikari brand, if you can get them, as they are much better than other brands I've used. Petsmart and Petco both sell Hikari.

 

[joel]

Ah, all we have around here is a pets unlimited, and I don't remember which brand they have. Regardless though, a baster or siphon is pretty cheap and effective.

Beef heart seems like a rather manageable source of food for them. And bloodworms seems do-able. I've heard some horror stories about live foods...and I'm a little leery about starting off with live foods now.

I'd like to catch some wild N.v.v. to keep, but have yet to check if that's really doable, loved trying to just catch them when I was a kid and never suceeded many times, so even if it's doable, it might be tricky.

There are lots of different animals in the pond where I used to see them, would it be beneficial to catch a couple snails and waterbugs while I'm at it if I do go that route? The snails in particular peek my interest, as they would help clean the tank, right?

Oh, and to thaw them (bloodworms), would I just want to leave them out on a plate for a bit? Microwaving just seems like a bad idea.....though it raises another question... can newts eat cooked meat? like cooked beef heart for example?

(Message edited by gwydian on March 25, 2006)

 

[jennifer]

Yes, you need to thaw them by just letting them sit out, then pull the bloodworms out of the red juice. I've never used cooked meat, it just seems wrong somehow. I have fed N.v. using raw chicken liver cut into bits. It's not the best staple, but mine lived for years eating a lot of it.