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Question: C. pyrrhogaster problems swallowing food

evut

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One of my males has problems swallowing larger food items. When I feed chopped earthworms he goes for the first bit, then struggles to swallow it, usually spits it out and doesn't want another one. Sometimes he manages to swallow a piece but it's probably less than half the time. He has been like that for a long time. I try to give him a piece between feeding so he gets some extra nutrition.
Now the other three seem to have lost their appetite for earthworms. They were fed frozen bloodworms over the winter but now that it got warmer I wanted t give them more earthworms. Last time they left the majority (chopped into very small pieces).
What is the problem?
 

Azhael

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I´d say the most likely problem is that you are probably using Eisenia or Dendrobaena worms.
I feed D.hortensis to mine, and although they have a less foul secretion, some of my C.pyrrhogaster clearly dislike the taste. Half of them take them nevertheless, but the other half usually spit out the worms a few times before finally eating them, with some ocassions when they seem to give up and ignore the earthworms after an initial taste.

There are a couple of things you can do, if this is the problem. First, feeding whole worms instead of feeding chunks or halves, highly reduces the amount of secretion and the worms are eaten with more gusto. Also, using smaller worms has a similar effect (you need smaller worms if you want to feed them whole anyway...).
Another thing you can try is thoroughly washing the worm chunks with paper towels to eliminate most of the mucus and secretion.
I´ve also had some luck in getting fuzzy eaters to accept them by building an appetite on them before.
 

evut

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Thanks Azhael. I'm not sure if it's because of the worms - they always got the same worms and didn't have any problems. The fact that they didn't get them for a while might explain why they don't like them anymore so maybe you're right.
The male really looks like he can't swallow the pieces, though. I will try what you're suggesting and see if it helps. The frozen bloodworms get hoovered up really quickly so I'm not so worried about their general appetite but I would like them to eat something else as well.
 

evut

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I tried feeding the worms whole yesterday and it looks like you were right, Azhael. They did have problems with the larger ones but they worked really hard to swallow them and did not turn their noses up at them like before.
Thank you for your help!
 

Azhael

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:) Glad it worked.
It´s surprising the difference it makes, really. Now that i have medium sized worms in my culture i´m finding it much easier to feed some of my newts.
 
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