Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How do you all feed your newts.Do they eat from your hand, or do they come to the top and eat floating pellets. I've had mine for a day now and havnt tried feeding them yet cuz i dont want to stess them out. But im worried that they wont eat, how do you guyz feed yours and how much. Thanks a bunch,

'chris

It depends on what species and what you are feeding him. You mentioned pellets so I assume it might be a small species like an Eastern Newt. I keep mine in a 5 gal that is half land and half water. The water is shallow. The newt divides his time between the two sides. He will eat small crickets off the land or the surface of the water. I also feed him live blood worms which he takes on his own or off a tooth pick. When feeding blood worms it is best not to have gravel as they quickly disappear out of reach of the newt. Some keepers prefer this as the blood worms expose themselves in small quantities so the newt has a source of forage. Do not put in too many worms because if they die they pollute the cage very quickly. My newt never liked the pellets and I never tried him on freeze dried worms etc.

Randy
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Firehouse Herps

Thanks for your reply. I have two japanese fire bellied newts. They are both about 2 inches long including the tail. They have not eaten once since ive had them, and im getting a little bit worried. The water level in my tank is deeper than it was in the tank they were in at the pet shop. They dont spend hardly any time in the water, usualy just sitting on the rocks on the land. I have this rock bowl that i placed in there with some newt pelets in it, i figured if they find it they might eat it. I also found some small worms today, and tried to hand feed those to them, but they looked at the worm and turned away. Im getting realy worried becuz they arnt eating( btw, its been 2 days).How do u all feed them the pellets? Is raw meat good to?

'chris

I have 8 chinese fire bellys and 3 paddletails. I feed mine frozen bloodworms, frozen daphnia, frozen white mosquito larva and newt pellets. For the frozen food I just place in their water and as it thaws it gradually falls to the bottom. Or in the case of the paddletails they grab it at the surface and shred them apart. The pellets tend to sink to the bottom. Now I have small ramshorn and pond snails in both my tanks and they clean up any uneaten food so the water is not smelly, cloudy or dirty. the only thing I have to do is a partial water change and change the filter cartridge once a month. I feed my newts every 3 days and I mix up the food variety each time. Feeding them just one type of food can cause nutritional problems. They get an overload of one or more nutrients and depletion of one or more other nutrients. Hope this helps Steven

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"I am all that is Divine, I am all that is Evil.
I am the one who brings forth Death,
On the wings of a Weevil." JSKII