what to feed baby marmoratus?

[snussmak]

hi i've just bought a pair of baby t.marmoratus. the only thing i'm a bit worried about is what to feed them, in most cases i use small worms or larger worms chopped to pieces. but could i use frozen bloodworms that have been thawed? they have just metamorphosed to their terrestrial state, they are about 3-4 cm long. what other food items could you guys recommend?

 

[Azhael]

Let´s see...worms would be the best option as always. Tiny slugs may also be very atractive to them.
Then you can also feed waxmoth larvae, isopods, crickets, and even tubifex or black worms on damp kitchen paper. As for the bloodworms...it will require patience. They usually only react to moving food items...and more specifically self-moving foods (moving it with the tweezers doesn´t always work xD). I´ve found that nearly all my juveniles won´t take them at first...but after some weeks of loooots of patience they may try a bit....after that they become rabid eaters and always want more bloodworms Ô_o xD They really must taste good...some of my animals have a huge feeding response with them.
Oh...btw, if you use frozen bloodworms just let it defrost on some kitchen paper or in some water...
Best of lucks, you´ll enjoy these little buggers

 

[snussmak]

thanks, as soon as it gets a little bit warmer i will go out and search for some small critters ^^
we're wondering if it would be any idea of purchasing fruit flies

 

[Azhael]

They will eat fruitflies until they are about 7 cm i guess...then i think they may loose interest on them(maybe not)...plus you´d need lots of them to feed them at that size. Also marmoratus tend to make quite robust, strong juveniles...so if you can feed them bigger preys (and they will take them...you might be shocked) why offer fruitflies?...it´s just not necessary in my opinion...
If i were you i would feed them earthworms and frozen bloodworms...and ocasionally a vitamin/calcium dusted cricket...i think that would be quite a decent diet.

 

[snussmak]

aren't crickets a bit diffucult to digest due to their exoskeleton? besides, if i'm going to buy that small crickets i'll have to buy a bunch of them (about 50-60) otherwise they will be to expensive, and the crickets will guaranteed be fully grown before i have used them up

 

[Jennewt]

In my experience, small crickets are a much better "growth" food than fruit flies, even if ample amounts of either are provided. The smallest crickets have a fairly soft exoskeleton. My marmoratus juveniles were very non-picky about food and would even eat small mealworms (and those certainly do have an exoskeleton!).

If you have only 2 marms, I would recommend trying to teach them to feed from a tweezer or toothpick. Once they learn, you can feed them any food and you will not be dependent on live food. Try with thawed bloodworms or pieces of earthworm. Marms do become tame fairly easily.

Good luck with them!

 

[snussmak]

thanks, i've always feeded my newts and salamanders with tweezers. in that way i can turn to frozen food when i run out of worms and such (especially during the long cold winters here in sweden). bought them yesterday so i'll try to offer some wriggling chopped worms today and see if they want them.