C. pyrroghaster feeding question

I know what the recomended foods for c. pyrroghaster are, but for some reason, the only thing I've seen him eat are small crickets (not pinhead) I know meal worms are fatty so I've tried only a few of them and he ate one and decided against them. My former newt ate feeder fish, but Spot seems totally unaware of them. Would it be okay to continue to feed him smallish crickets as long as he eats them? That's what he was eating at the pet store, and while I know pet stores are not the smartest when it comes to feeding amphibians, but he was much chubbier then, and a lot more active. I've done a recent water change because I noticed he was trying his best to avoid the water. Unfortunately, I was in the hospital for 6 days and couldn't change it quickly. I recently added a land area to the tank in the form of a dog bowl with a little palm in it, and he's been there since yesterday, and I can't find any of the 5 little crickets I put in. I'm assuming he ate them, but I wish he'd be just a little more active. If I need to feed him bloodworms (he has no interest in the frozen ones) I can't find them around here, where would anyone recomend buying them from. Sorry this is long, and thanks!

Give him earthworms! Buy at a fishing shop!
It's the best food, crickets are not very good if not gutloaded, at least not as main foodsource.
Give him some time and check water quality etc, see other relevant post in this help section you will find loads of advise. I'll be glad to help you out here though
Do you breed the feeder fish yourself? Cause they tend to carry parasites and stuff that can be bad for the newt.

I used to get them from a very reputable pet shop that I knew the owners of. I'll try gutloading them if I can't get him to eat anything else. Would the bloodworms be acceptable..... i really really hate earthworms, don't know why. thanks for the advice!

Andrea, it's not clear from your post: is the newt in the water to eat, or staying on land? Yes, the frozen bloodworms are good food for him. But the feeding technique depends on where he spends his time, land or water. On land, it would be necessary to hand-feed the bloodworms with a toothpick or tweezers. If you can find live blackworms, those would be good too.

there are also freezedried tubifexworm cubes that are sold by the can.and the advantage is that there is a greater shelf life, and is easier to store. every aquatic salamander that i have ever kept whnet crazy for those.

Only problem with freeze dried foods is they are nutritionally void. Frozen foods or live foods are really the only options when it comes to ensuring nutrition.

really?! the can says that it had vitamin supplements added to the cubes. well i guess its time to go back to live food. thanx for the info rob.

Vitamins added eh? Well, I'm not too sure how quickly I would believe the claims made on the can, but the general opinion of most people on the forums is that freeze dried foods are pretty much the same as feeding cardboard to your animals. I personally wouldn't recommend it, and I tend to only use live or frozen foods, diced earthworms are what I use with my animals almost all the time though. Occasionally I use other live foods with the terrestrials or frozen fish foods for the aquatics.

I've never tried freeze dried worms with any amphibians, but they're known to spread disease (fungal etc.) in fish, and freeze dried blood worms have caused constipation in some of my animals. Incidentally, they also smell pretty bad.