Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just caught a couple of newts in a lake on vancouver island, and brought it home with me. I at first fed them (4 of them) flys that I would catch flying around at the lake where I caught them, but now back at home there aren't any of these flies. I went to a pet store and they guessed that I had a California Newt, but they supposeedly aren't supposed to be on vancouver Island, so they weren't 100% sure what it was. They also gave me some frozen bloodworms but my little buys don't seem to like them very uch, they havn't eaten any actually. I was just wondering if anybody knew something good to feed them. Also if anybody has any good ideas on how to make a good/cheap living space that includes both land and water, that would be sweet. Thanks.

Sounds like a rough skinned newt to me. They should eat the frozen bloodworms but it has to be in water. Rough skins can be kept pretty much aquatic. Check out the caresheets on http://www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/ for them. Earthworms would be great as well if you know they're chemical free.

>>I just caught a couple of newts in a lake on vancouver island, and brought it home with me. I at first fed them (4 of them) flys that I would catch flying around at the lake where I caught them, but now back at home there aren't any of these flies. I went to a pet store and they guessed that I had a California Newt, but they supposeedly aren't supposed to be on vancouver Island, so they weren't 100% sure what it was. They also gave me some frozen bloodworms but my little buys don't seem to like them very uch, they havn't eaten any actually. I was just wondering if anybody knew something good to feed them. Also if anybody has any good ideas on how to make a good/cheap living space that includes both land and water, that would be sweet. Thanks.
>>
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Hope my opinions help,
Rob

LOL, Hey moptop...I'm Canadian aswell!!! Pretty sure Sevenofthehorns is aswell!!! Though I live in Ontario.

I once went on a 15 hour fairy ride to Vancouver Island!!!!From ST.Ruperts...

Anyway, rough skinned sounds right to me, opposed to California newts,... lol.

Chopped worms, crickets, frozen/live bloodworms, they all should do.

Steven

Yup..Canadian in Windsor Ontario.

>>LOL, Hey moptop...I'm Canadian aswell!!! Pretty sure Sevenofthehorns is aswell!!! Though I live in Ontario.
>>
>> I once went on a 15 hour fairy ride to Vancouver Island!!!!From ST.Ruperts...
>>
>>Anyway, rough skinned sounds right to me, opposed to California newts,... lol.
>>
>>Chopped worms, crickets, frozen/live bloodworms, they all should do.
>>
>>Steven
-----
Hope my opinions help,
Rob

Yeah boys, that's right, Canadian for life. lol.
My guys still aren't going for the bloodworms, I have tried pretty much doing everything with them. I also picked up some pellets today, but they won't eat those anyways. I guess I will have to try some live food now, hopefully that will work. thanks for the help ya Ontario freaks!

Live food does work best with newts and salamanders. Also remeber they only need to eat every 2 or 3 days, so don't worry about it too much. They could probably go up to two weeks before you really need to worry..the stress of a new home usually does that.

They should eventually take to the frozen bloodworms as well (Make sure you're feeding the frozen bloodworms in the water....and that they're in the water...otherwise they can't smell them and they have poor eyesite so that's the only way they'll find the food). The pellets are probably not going to be taken anytime soon, although with Rough skinned newts they usually turn into amphibian garbage disposals. When I had mine they would eat EVERYTHING. I mean EVERYTHING. It got to a point where I would throw my dead beatles from the mealworm culture I had and they would fight over who got to eat it. Dead moths from a waxworm culture as well. Not fussy at all once they got used to it...and they were all trained to eat from my hand or from the surface/bottom. It was pretty neat seeing them so tame, and they're not shy..would always swim over to the side of the tank and follow me around hoping for food.

Great pet, easy to take care of...probably the best one you could have got for a beginner.

Rob
PS check out www.caudata.org/caudatecentral for the caresheet of them. Their scientific name is Taricha granulosa.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.