Illness/Sickness: Vulgaris with Ca deficiency?

[Molch]

here is a pic of her now. Apart from being too skinny, she doesn't look so bad...

 

[Linus]

Nice work Molchy! Is her movement returning back to normal too?

 

[Molch]

Nice work Molchy! Is her movement returning back to normal too?

she's swimming very well. When on land, her movements are still a bit impaired. But she's regained her appetite and I'm hand-feeding her chopped earthworms every other day. So there's some hope that she'll recover completely.

I do think now this was/is a nutritional deficiency, probably calcium. Although I did provide a varied diet, it may have been overall too low in Ca, and this particular animal may have eaten only the whiteworms - who knows. All my other vulgaris look fine. The 2 older males have developed nice crests and are tail-fanning a younger female. The 3 smaller ones I also turned aquatic and they are all eating...

 

[Molch]

in my newt room, where it's usually 55-60 in winter and maybe 62-68 in summer. Currently about 58 F (umm..about 14 C I think)

I'll revise that: actually it's more like 49-52 F. The tank is near floor level, and when I found another thermometer, I discovered it's quite a bit cooler down there lol.

The newts seem very active and happy at that temp.

 

[Molch]

I'm happy to report that this little newt appears to have fully recovered. She is now fat, active, eating everything and growing.

I believe turning her aquatic turned things around. If her problem was indeed Ca deficiency, then maybe she was able to absorb enough Ca over the skin once she was in the water, even though she didn't feed much at first. My water is hard and alkaline, and I put some oyster shell in there; maybe that's what made the difference. By now, she has regained her appetite and is snacking on blood worms, blackworms and chopped earthworms. She looks great, and Mama is very pleased.

She has lost a bit of ground, growth-wise, while she was sick. A younger female who was initially smaller has caught up with her in growth and is now laying eggs. However, the lil' ex-sicko is now growing again. I'm keeping her away from the horny males and with some younger vulgaris so she can catch up in peace