Trying to Teach my Taricha to Eat!!

[david]

I have a baby Taricha (Cal. Newt) which just morphed. He won't eat. It's been 5 days now. This doesn't surprise me, as the last couple that morphed that I had did the same thing to me. They died, emaciated, after a couple weeks. This time I improved the terrestrial surroundings and have plenty of live food in with him (flightless fruit flies). But still no eating, even when I tease him with a live fly held by tweezers. I even tried soaking the live fly in the runoff of a cube of thawing frozen shrimp (his formerly favorite food as an ever-hungry aquatic larva). Nothing. I don't want this guy to croak on me as well. What to do?

 

[jeff]

I would try frozen bloodworms

 

[john]

Well, this may or may not help but some of my newly morphed frogs from this spring would not eat unless they were kept in fairly small enclosures with minimal surroundings (damp paper towel substrate only). I later lost them all because my FF cultures couldn't keep up with them

but they did eat well.

 

[pin-pin]

Grindal/White worms. You can culture them quite easily. If you keep the soil rather moist, they congregate on top of the soil where the Tarichas can get to them.

They aren't as nutritious, but that's how I nursed my Tarichas post-metamorphosis for the first 2 months.

Tara has had success with fly larvae (which still move to stimulate the feeding response but don't move as fast as fruit flies).

 

[david]

White worms, huh? Say, do you know where I can get some, Pin-Pin? (I haven't seen them in the couple pet shops around here that I am aware of).

(Message edited by todas_abiyoyo on October 26, 2005)

 

[pin-pin]

I used to maintain one, but have since stopped as all my animals grew large enough to eat other food items. They were pretty easy to culture.

I see a few cultures up at
http://www.aquabid.com

I ordered my whiteworm cultures from
http://www.livefoodcultures.com/

Typically prices run $5 for the culture and some S/H charges.

 

[david]

Thanks, Pin.
Good news, too.---my baby Taricha is apparently eating the flightless fruit flies. My wife said she saw it; I myself have not.
But i am encouraged that he has already outlived my other two that i failed with.

 

[jeff]

I still say try the bloodworms

 

[ali]

I'm with Jeff, go for Bloodworms!

 

[david]

You mean frozen bloodworms? If so, I have those, but he won't eat anything not moving.
If you mean live, I am not sure where in this area I can obtain them--neither local pet shop has them. Though they do have live tubifex worms (which don't live very long unless I create another little aqua set up for them...and I can't at this time do that.)

 

[pin-pin]

David, if you are feeding exclusively fruit fries, do try to introduce other forms of food from time to time.

Also, dusting fruit flies not only increases their nutritional value, but "incapacitates the flies" enough to allow a better chance for your juveniles to catch them.

I've found a little cup with a lid works best: Sprinkle a little vitamin/calcium powder into the cup, dump some fruit flies into it, cap lid, shake, serve.

 

[david]

Thanks, Pin-Pin. Wow, you really know a lot.