Question: Waxworms for C. Orientalis morphs question

[vistajpdf]

I have springtails and fruit flies en route - should be here tomorrow, and wax worms that just arrived. However...they are huge! Please don't tell me I have to chop them up for my morphs, but I think I know the answer. Is there a humane way to do this? These past 3 months have taken me into a whole other world. Beside my vegetables in the walk-in cooler/refrigerator, sits a tub of blackworms...the white worms are in front of the door where it's still chilly, inside the door of my main refrigerator in my kitchen lies the mealworms (for my hedge hog - can the juvenile FBNs eat them? They're smaller.) The Daphnia is in the bathroom of my middle son....you see where I'm going with this.

Anyway, I am concerned as I don't believe my original morph has eaten since going terrestrial. Tomorrow will be one week. I've since had another morph and one that seems to be following suit, though still taking some swims - I fear a drowning but figure it knows what it's doing? The water is very shallow in this tilted tank - only an inch at the deepest and lots of things to climb on.

Help!

Dana

 

[Azhael]

As long as the worm is smaller than the distance between the front and hind legs, they can take it.
If they are bigger....yes...you´ll have to cut them. It´s a good idea to crash the mandibles.
If you can´t feed it waxworms try to feed it blackworms on a piece of paper towel, or very tiny earthworms if you can dig them up.

Mealworms are a poor choice, they generally are nutritionally incomplete and they are very quitinious and hard to digest, plus they bite. The freshly molted worms can be used for caudates, but remember, they are not complete and they lead to nutritinal deficiencies if used as a staple.

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Don't cut up the waxworms. It will just spew the insides out, it's not like cutting a worm into chunks. If you still have some blackworms left then I would finely chop them up and put them on a damp paper towel in the tank with the new morphs. That should entice them to eat.

 

[Azhael]

What Justin sas is true, they are pretty much liquid in the inside, but i´ve had very good results with cut up waxworms anyway, just cut them in half, each part will hold most of the contents inside.

 

[vistajpdf]

OK, I'm a bit sickened at the moment! My 9 and 7 year olds have assured that they can do the cutting if need be...

I've tried the blackworms and today white worms on the same paper towel the morphs are on and they just turn away. But, I've only put one worm there, not a mound of them or anything. I can try that. What about my springtails and fruit flies that should be coming tomorrow? When will the almost one week old and less morphs be able to eat them?

Dana

 

[Azhael]

They should be able to eat them right away, but as i commented somewhere, the juveniles of this species are not exactly blood thirsty hunters...they are of a clumsy persuasion and they may not be good at catching fruit flies.
Try the waxworms...i know it´s gross for you, but to tell you the truth, you get used to cutting up things and handling insects of all kinds quite quickly...
Don´t fear the waxworms! xD Cut them, and cut them good. Hopefully the little fella will take half a waxwrm from the tweezers. Mine did...

 

[vistajpdf]

I cut it and put it beside him - no interest. I already did that before seeing your quick response (and I thank you for that!) I will try using tweezers, though w/ 40+ larvae, the thought of hand-feeding them all is a bit daunting! I realize it's this delicate time after morphing that this will be needed most, so I will try...I am growing concerned and I hate to keep going in there and stressing them out! Will give it one more try in a minute then let them rest.

Dana

 

[Azhael]

It´s very important to give them space and not stress them. I find that when an animal refuses to eat, constant tries to feed it only stresses it out more. Leave it alone, and check every few hours to see if it has eaten(leave some food in with it), trying to disturb it as little as possible.

I really hope that the little bugger makes it for you. However, you need to realize not all of them will, and from the 40+ larvae you will have losses. Be prepared for that...it´s sad, but it happens and you can´t do much(sometimes a morph just isn´t strong enough).
I know it´s not what you want to hear but i lost my first morph because it didn´t eat....but now i have several healthy juveniles and i´ve given away a dozen more before. That is to show that you shouldn´t let it dissapoint you if things don´t go well with some of them..others will do well and grow to be healthy little cute copies of their parents.

By the way, i don´t know what kind of waxworm you bought, but i would check the container for smaller larvae. Sometimes you miss them with all the culturing media, but if you find some small ones the chances are good the newt will eat them. If you don´t succeed you could also try aphids, provided you can get hold of some from a pesticide-free zone.

 

[vistajpdf]

I had no success. Today I will change the paper towels and leave a large mound of food beside them. The other trouble is that I don't know for sure which morph is which of the first two. I do feel a little better in that they seem to be exploring a little, or at least one of them is. The other is quieter inside the hut on land, but I've seen it out as well, so I'm hoping they are nibbling though I do still see food left behind.

Do you think feeding them in a separate container that is very small and has really shallow water is an option? They loved the blackworms and the white ones while larvae, though I realize that's a whole different part of life. I also can certainly see how the runts of the group won't be strong enough to survive this stage. I have quite a few runts.

I don't know what kind of wax worms I bought though they were advertised as plump and they were. They are larger than the distance between the front and hind legs so I did cut one up last night as I said. Do you think they would nibble on some of it or if they eat, do they eat it all? The two halves are there, but much smaller looking. Probably it's from them losing their insides gradually and not the newts eating.

I'm awaiting the arrival of the springtails and FF today. Will give the little guys a buffet from which to choose...

Thanks again,
Dana

 

[Azhael]

I´ve never tried a semiaquatic set-up for orientalis morphs so i can´t gelp you there, hopefully someone who has will chime in.

A little recommendation. When you take some of the fruitflies of the container to dust them, put them in the fridge fora minute. That will slow the flies down and give your morphs a better chance of catching them.

Best of lucks Dana.