Starving Morphs.......

A few months ago I acquired about 5 mole salamander larvae. They were vicious eaters and ate everything in sight....frozen bloodworms,earthworms, even trying the tails of their siblings (bad salamander!). They ate so much they looked like little overstuffed sausages! Anyhow, they morphed into beautiful adults and then stopped eating all together. I tried small insects, ants, various sizes of earthworms, fruitflies, etc... but they never ate a bite, not even when their food crawled on top of their heads. I even tried tweezer feeding but they would turn their heads away like I was offending them. Unfortunately, after lasting a few weeks they all died. Can anyone offer suggestions as to what the problem may have been? My adult Eastern Newts (who eat just fine) recently laid eggs and the larvae are doing well. I just don't want this to happen with my eastern larvae when they morph. I have about 20 or so and if they died after morphing I would be devastated! What's the deal with morphs who starve themselves to death?!?!!?!?!

I'm not sure why they refused to eat at all. Did they show any signs of infection at all before dying or did they just wither away from lack of food? I've raised a few talpoideum larvae before (I assume by mole sal, you meant talpoideum) and found them to eat quite well after morphing. A couple of them even ate during the morphing process. I fed them all chopped bits of nightcrawler which I would touch to their nose/snout and then wiggle in front of them.

I would definitely suggest force-feeding next time should this happen again. I've had morphs of various species pull through and begin feeding normally again after a few weeks of force-feeding.

Sorry for your bad luck, talpoideum are so cool. Hope you can get more in the future.

Yes, I was refering to Talpoideum. It was just so strange. There weren't any signs of infection, fungus, malformities, or even injuries. I was really dumbfounded!

You suggested force-feeding, how is that done?

I really liked them too. They looked like little alien dogs and had a lot of personality. Before they died they seemed not very active.

The place I found them is about 1/2 a mile from my house and there were literally thousands. I'm sure I could find them again, but I'd want to be sure that the same thing wouldn't happen all over again. It's really upsetting to nurture something from egg, become attached to it, and then have something like that happen.

I had some opacum morphs that refused to eat if I was watching. I could leave crickets or pieces of chopped worm in there, close the lid (opaque container), and they would eat it, but if I watched they refused.

I don't think you'll have a problem with the easterns. They'll take fruit flies or pinheads without any encouragement. If you can manage it, it's a good idea to train them to hand-feed on worm bits from a tweezers. If you can train only a few, separate them out for regular hand feeding and they will do best.

i'm having the same problem--i watch the flies crawl on my newt and he just ignores them. i'm hoping that he's getting them while i'm not looking...i know morphs are shy...but it's quite nerve-wracking to wait it out to see if my 'only newt' will starve or live.

how does one 'force feed' a newt...and how much trauma is it? the little guy is so delicate, should i wait for another week? his picture is in the photo section under the T. torosa lava thread.

I use the edge of a laminated index card to gently pry the mouth open, then I (or a helper) push a bit of chopped worm into the mouth with a stretched-out paperclip and then down into the throat. If you don't do this they'll often just spit it right back out. You have to get the swallowing reflex going.

I'm sure force-feeding does impart some sort of anxiety/stress in the newt. That's why I suggest not doing until you see no other recourse. Regardless of how fragile the newt is, if you feel it's obvious it's going to die anyway, you have nothing more to lose. I've pulled some very fragile, weak morphs from the jaws of death in the past by doing it.

Thanks Nate and thanks S.T. for your advice. I'm probably overanxious since it eagerly ate right in front of me before it morphed.