VERY SLEEPY, maybe gravid C. FBN..Is this ok?

[Critter Mom]

I have a female C. Orientalis who may be gravid (who really knows for sure the first time, right?) who is definitely NOT bloated, and she is slowly getting more and more lethargic. This last time she peeled, I actually had to help her because it took over an hour because SHE KEPT FALLING ASLEEP DURING IT!

She sleeps a lot during the day anyway, but that is just a bit much. It is not the first time it has happened, but usually she just has the end of her tail to do yet or left a foot undone, etc., but not her whole self in sections. She just kept falling asleep for 15-20 or more minutes at a time until I gave up and either sprayed her with water or helped her some more. She eats really aggressively and a lot when I feed them blood worms from a toothpick (I have not seen her catch anything lately). Sometimes she is active. I think she may have laid an egg the other day, but I don't know if it is fertile. I am guessing it's not, but I am just going to wait. She has always been docile compared to others in her 2 years of captivity. She is the one I thought had an eye problem (had whitish grayish cottony stuff around her eyelids) but it seemed to have cleared up after the peel. Her eyes are not as bright coppery color as the younger ones. Can a newt get "dry eye"? I always see her most of the time with her eyes looking uncomfortably shut and her skin dry until I spray her. Then she opens them and she may become active for a while until she "sleeps" again. Is she too stupid to go in the water, or is this a sign she may be older than I thought, or do I need to take her to the vet? Is this a "phase" they go through? Do all gravid females do this?

Any thoughts would be nice. Thank you!

 

[Azhael]

I think what you consider "sleeping" is in fact the normal shedding behaviour.
In order to help the skin being shed, newts close their eyes and shape their upper arms in a particular position. They look like sleeping but they are only shoftening the skin.
If the skin comes in pieces something is wrong. Normally it´s water quality, but if she is terrestrial then it could be inadequate humidity, temps, i dunno...
She really should be in the water....so you should probably check there´s nothing wrong with the water...

Spraying her constantly, touching her to help her shed, etc, it´s all stressing her. Remember....try NOT to touch them..just let them be.

 

[Critter Mom]

She has her eyes shut a lot during the day and part of the night even when she is not shedding. I will keep this in mind about the shedding behavior though. I have found her (left alone) hours later with skin stuck on her in a spot or two (a foot with the skin hardened on...or the end of her tail) with eyes shut as though she missed it and was sleeping. Thank you.:happy:

Any idea why she would appear to sleep so much more than the others in general (when not shedding) anyway?