Feeding Juvenile FBNs

[jessicafennen]

I have recently acquired two fire belly newts that are quite young and small. They have rejected bloodworms both inside and outside of their 10 gallon tank, even if I use tweezers to wiggle it around in front of their faces. They haven't eaten in at least 5 days. They stay on the leaves of a plant that is half submerged and half out of the water. They're full of energy outside of the tank when they were trying to escape my grasp (I used gloves, don't worry), but inside the tank they stay right next to each other on those leaves. The water quality is great and there is no filter for now. I'm afraid the current would be too much for them. There is a massive driftwood piece they could climb onto that sprouts out of the water about 4-5 inches, which is about the same amount of water that is in the tank.

I've read to feed them chopped earthworms. Do I buy them from a bait store? I don't fish so I don't know. For now, I will leave more frozen bloodworms in their tank spread about, though I doubt they'll tough them. Is avoiding food for an extended period of time normal for them at this age, or not swimming, too?

 

[JohnBnewt87]

Jfn

You could try extra small crickets, grab them with forceps and flatten out (quickly) i use a single edged razor blade to make bite - sized portions. I've fed my newt lean roast beef and chopped meat when he was little.

 

[jessicafennen]

Luckily I have seen one eat frozen blood worms. I haven't seen my other FBN eat, but I've had him for numerous weeks so I assume he has been eating in secret

 

[toddnbecka]

Back in my college days there was a grad student using salamanders for her thesis. She kept them in glass flasks and fed them chopped earthworms in the end of a small stick. There were a number of different species, but they all ate the earthworms w/out any hesitation. Bloodworms are actually insect larvae, similar to mosquito larvae. You can get earthworms at a bait shop, or off the sidewalk on a rainy night. There are also smaller grindal worms, a closely related species, check the live food category on aquabid.com if you're interested in those.

 

[jessicafennen]

Okay, thanks!