Illness/Sickness: Older Cynops P. starving/difficulty eating

I have isolated the female newt (her name is Stumpy because she had a leg bitten off around 5 years ago when a Paddletail was accidently left in her tank. It grew back and is not related to the problem now).

She is extremely thin and having difficulty eating. She makes odd little popping sounds when she tries to eat - not sure if something may be wrong with her. She's around 10 years old... I've isolated her and given her live Calif. blackworms. I've also been trying to feed her frozen bloodworms, using tqeezers, and she seems to be having trouble maneuvering her head so that she can eat..

Any suggestions/thoughts? If I can't get her to eat soon I may euthanize her... I don't want her to suffer and she is already extremely thin.

It sounds like you are doing very reasonable things to try to make her comfortable. I can't think of anything else that would help.

Personally i can think of two reasons why this might be happening, age and malnutrition.
With that age in captivity and being wild-caught, there´s no telling what her real age is, so it´s very possible that she is just reaching the last natural moments of her life.
The other possibility, malnutrition, can manifest in similar ways. If all you feed her are blackworms and bloodworms then she might have been left with severe dietary deficiencies over time. Try to vary her diet, offering mainly earthworms and waxworms, and see if it has any effect (although if it is malnutrition, it´s unlikely to get any better).

Thank you both for responding! Amazingly, Stumpy seems to be improving. The first day looked pretty bad but I was able to get her to take a bite of the frozen bloodworms the second day. She wouldn't touch the live blackworms at first but now she is actively hunting the ones I put in her container.

Took to heart what you said about varying the diet more. I do occasionally give them pinheads, live wingless fruit flies and the occasional (fresh killed) mealworm but I had not done in a while... So today I brought home some pinheads and she actually ate two of them, which I had killed and fed her with forceps. She seems to be growing stronger although still very thin... but I am encouraged by her appetite.

I think I am just going to follow her lead, and as long as she has an appetite and seems to be improving I'm going to help her all I can.

That's good! I would still also encourage you to use earthworms, as Azhael suggested. These are truly the Wonder Food for newts.
Caudata Culture Articles - Worms

As for the popping noise, one of mine makes them; he has since I got him and he still does it. He just seems to fill his chin with air and then "pops" it.

Jennewt - thanks for reminding me about earthworms. I actually do worm composting so I have plenty of red wrigglers. Stumpy has just been wolfing them down. Most of her weight came back and she is very active so I have put her back in the tank with the other Pyros. So far she seems to be doing fine. She is swimming around and fending for herself.

That's great! Score another victory for the Wonder Food! Thank you for the follow-up.