Red Eft not eating?

[EasternNewtLove]

I caught a very young red eft recently, and its been about 1 and a half to 2 months, he hasn't eaten since. I'm getting really worried. I've tried chopped earthworms, white worms (chopped and whole), and am trying an injured termite. He tried to eat the whiteworms but seemed to be tired of the beatings they gave to his face when he bit at them and left, dismayed. He only tried eating them on one occasion a couple of weeks ago and has been starving himself.

On a seperate but just as worrying note, my older male Noto v. v. has been refusing to eat as well. He refuses whiteworms, earthworms (chopped and whole), a small wax worm, a grub, and newt pellets. The other ones have no problem with these foods. The young male happily eats pellets, and attempts to eat earthworms (I haven't seen him eat white worms but he probably does) and the female eats the white worms and earthworms. His hip bones(?) are beginning to show near his tail and its getting me worried.

What should I do for the two of them? I'm getting extremely worried. I THINK the (problematic) male ate some phantom midge larva a while ago but I think that they may have all died since it snowed here recently (snow in fall? really?!) I'm taking a trip in the woods with my friends this weekend food hunting so hopefully we'll find something they'll eat but any suggestions on what to be on the lookout for this species find irresistible?

 

[Ed]

Try small isopods or flightless fruit flies for the eft. The fruit flies can be obtained from a variety of sources including some of the sponsors of various websites. If you shoot me a pm, I can recommend some vendors for you.

In at least the dart frog hobby there are at least 6 species of isopods being cultured, many of which make good food sources for terrestrial newts. At least one of the species of isopod I work with has an adult about the size of a fruit fly and the first instars are about the size of some springtails.

Ed

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Try this. On wet paper towls place your red eft down and give it a few minutes to calm down. Then place a small bunch of black worms (10-20 worms) down in front of him. If that doesn't work you will need a alot of fruit fly cultures to feed him.
If you want to try isopods I sell Costa Rican isopod cultures for 11.50 shipped. They are one of the smallest species around. The culture contains over 20 isopods of various sizes. They don't get much bigger than this zero 0 as adults.

 

[Niels D]

You can also try bean weevils.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Bean or Pea beetles may be to hard for an small red eft. There are little red beetles that grow in old pancake mix. I can't remember their name but they are smaller and might be accepted more. Im sure someone will know what they are called. I keep a small culture of them going " just because" I never feed them to anything I just keep them....lol.

 

[Ed]

Bean or Pea beetles may be to hard for an small red eft. There are little red beetles that grow in old pancake mix. I can't remember their name but they are smaller and might be accepted more. Im sure someone will know what they are called. I keep a small culture of them going " just because" I never feed them to anything I just keep them....lol.

Probably confused flour beetles (Trilobium confusum). The beetles are often rejected as they have an unpalatable secretions but the larva are often well recieved. With respect to hardness, the newt is going to ingest it whole which means hardness is often not an issue.

There is some good data that indicates that prey species that have historically been considered to be less "nutritious" due to higher chitin levels are on study being demonstrated to be better for growth. See for example (sorry not free access) The effects of prey species on food conversion efficiency and growth of an insectivorous lizard - Rich - 2008 - Zoo Biology - Wiley Online Library

(free access) http://www.herpconbio.org/Volume_5/Issue_3/Gauthier_Lesbarreres_2010.pdf

Ed

 

[slowfoot]

Another thing to try that always gets my most picky efts eating are termites. You can find them in and under rotting logs - you might have to tear at the wood to get to them. They are hard to find at first, but very common. If it's too cold already, they might be more scarce. I believe you can also order them, but they are expensive.

 

[Ed]

Another thing to try that always gets my most picky efts eating are termites. You can find them in and under rotting logs - you might have to tear at the wood to get to them. They are hard to find at first, but very common. If it's too cold already, they might be more scarce. I believe you can also order them, but they are expensive.

Care must be taken when ordering termites as they are considered plant pests and shipment across state lines requires a permit from APHIS and depending on the state from the state as well. If your ground hasn't frozen, you can often trap more than you need by taking a piece of 4 inch PVC pipe and drilling holes all up and down the pipe. One end should be capped (with a drain hole drilled in it) and glued to the pvc (this end is on the bottom) and the pipe buried vertically. The top end cap is left loose as this is where you access the pipe to collect the termites. Moisten (not soaking wet) some cardboard and roll this up and slide into the PVC. Leave alone and then come back and check it in a week or two. If the termites have found it, there can be thousands of them in the cardboard. These can be collected and housed until you need them. If you want to try to culture them you can follow these directions http://guelph.ca/uploads/PBS_Dept/building/Termites/Termite Culture Box.pdf
or Easiest way I found of culturing termites, wanted to share. - Dendroboard

Ed

 

[Niels D]

Bean or Pea beetles may be to hard for an small red eft .

From the moment they got on land I'm feeding my efts bean beetles and they have no problem eating them.

 

[EasternNewtLove]

Just an update, I found something the eft will attempt to eat. Baby pill bugs. He tried but gave up once it drowned in a drop of water ._. Is it normal for them to go all... frog-like on them? He shot his tongue out at it instead of snapping at it like all my other salamanders.

 

[EasternNewtLove]

Another quick update, my newt is eating again. I don't know why o_o nothing changed. I did have a little talk with him about how he needs to eat and then he just started chowing down. The eft still refuses to eat unfortunately.

 

[PS]

I had trouble with my eft eating as well. Like yours, I think it went a month or more without eating. I would try feeding it wingless fruit flies but it wasn't very good at catching them and eventually gave up trying. Mine eventually started eating the tiniest waxworms when I would hold them pretty close with a pair of tweezers. Now it eats anything again.

Good luck.

 

[otolith]

White worms are another good option. They are small, slow moving and easy to culture. You can often get cultures for them in the FS section of this board.

 

[EasternNewtLove]

My waxworms have turned into cocoons apparently so I set up a jar for culturing them! The cool thing is, they'll lay eggs and make teensy little packets of fat for my eft to put some meat on his little bones, and the moths will be African Clawed Frog food when they die! So its a win win. Thanks for the info! It made me go check my supply of wax worms and if I had waited too long, I could of had some moths flying into my face from the jar and into my house!

 

[Coastal Groovin]

Mine have always refused or spit out pea beetles. You are just going to try everything mentioned above and try roatating your offerings they sometimes become bored with one item after a time. You should also try chopped garden worms.

 

[EasternNewtLove]

Well, looks like the eft passed away today...

 

[Niels D]

I hate losing an animal, but sometimes you can't do anything about it.