Red Wigglers

[Pugwinkle]

Can I feed this type of live worm to my Newts? We don't seem to have a lot of availability of different kinds of worms where I live. I can only find frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, mysis shrimp at the aquarium stores. I did find a place where I could buy some red wigglers and start up a colony of them. I use to have them for my turtle a few years back.

 

[Chinadog]

I don't think Red wigglers are actually harmful, but they are smelly and distasteful, especially when cut up. Some newts will get used to them though so they are worth a try and are far more nutritious than frozen bloodworms. I would say offer whole small ones to begin with, then maybe try them chopped if your newts accept them.
Just a thought, if you only have frozen food available locally, it might be worth trying to get them to eat a high quality pelleted food as a staple?

 

[Pugwinkle]

I don't think Red wigglers are actually harmful, but they are smelly and distasteful, especially when cut up. Some newts will get used to them though so they are worth a try and are far more nutritious than frozen bloodworms. I would say offer whole small ones to begin with, then maybe try them chopped if your newts accept them.
Just a thought, if you only have frozen food available locally, it might be worth trying to get them to eat a high quality pelleted food as a staple?

I would love to find a pelleted food as a staple for my guys. However the only thing i have found locally is that HBH Newt food. I think that is the name. Is that a good pellet?? Other than that can you recommend some other pellets to try to find. I'm in Ontario, Canada and it seems to be a lot harder to find stuff here

 

[Chinadog]

I fed my Axolotls sinking trout pellets for many years without any problems at all. I would have a look online and see what's available. Not all newts will eat pellets, but it's worth a try if you are struggling to find worms.

 

[Pugwinkle]

I just checked my aquatic turtles different pellets and the reptomin pellets say they are okay for turtles and Newts so I may try them. I'm going to the aquarium store later to see what else I can find. I'm pretty sure they have those HBH type New/Salamander pellets but I'm hoping they might have some other options as well. I can get wax worms and meal worms at our pet stores and aquarium stores. Those are okay once in a while as well right? How many would I feed at a time of the wax or meal worms? And how do I ensure that all three are getting some and not just one being a piggy?

 

[Chinadog]

I've used reptomin in the past, I used to feed it to my Clawed frogs years ago and never had any issues. Waxworms are fine once in a while, but I wouldn't bother with mealworms, they are pretty poor nutritionally and difficult for newts to digest.
Amount wise, most aquatic newts will only eat until they are full in one sitting, as the greedy ones get full the smaller ones will move in for their share.
Btw, what kind of newts do you have, Chinese Firebellies?

 

[Pugwinkle]

They are Blue Tailed Fire Newts.

 

[Jennewt]

My blue-tails are pretty good about taking pellets. It's certainly worth a try. I've heard that the Zoomed pellets are the same as the Rangen soft-moist pellets (recommended). Not sure about HBH.

All my newts are happy to take juvenile red wigglers. So if you have the willingness to set up a worm bin, and to sort out the smallest worms, then these are most assuredly an excellent food for newts.

I don't recommend waxworms or mealworms for small newts. These worms are large and not very good nutritionally.

To find other types of earthworms, try finding a bait shop (not a pet shop). Look for nightcrawlers.

 

[Asevernnnn]

I think HBH pellets would be fine, all of my newts will eat them(P. waltl, H. orientalis, A. mexicanum)

I feed them whenever I don't wanna walk down stairs to get worms or when I run out