Alpine newts not eating

I recently got alpine newts and they weren't eating which i thought was possibly to do with the stress of travelling so i tried different foods and finally live bloodworm and daphnia but one has since died and the last remaining one isn't eating still. any suggestions or tips to help them eat, the water quality seems fine they are juvenielles and i have read they can be difficult to encourage to eat.

thanks

I have a similar problem with one of mine. One has taken to the water well and is eating healthily. The other one is not growing very much at all and while I have seen it eat on the rare occasion, the bloodworm left on the tissue on the cork bark it rarely touches them. I'm slightly worried about its size (or lack of).

Hopefully someone will be able to help you so I can borrow their knowledge too

Are they nominate or a sub species? How are you keeping them? What temperature are they? As they're juveniles I assume they're captive bred. Did you ask the breeder how they were being kept?

If they're newly acquired there's a chance they were sick when you received them. Generally speaking alpine newts are pretty bullet proof. Captive bred juveniles will even attack fingers in hope of a meal so it makes me think something is very wrong.

What foods have you tried? Have you tried waxworms?
I find it quite strange that being aquatic they are having problems eating...mine were bottomless pits of hunger since day 1. I would check that all conditions are ok. Perhaps a picture can help figure out if there is something that needs changing.

am going to be doing more tests today to recheck the tank stats, they were from a member here so i could pm him and see what he thinks, i thought it might be good to get a lot of opinions see if we could put our heads together so to speak.

They were aquatic with morg before i got them with a cork bark for land, so i tried to simulate the same conditions with mostly water and a small land section which they are on a lot of the time, have tried to give them waxworm, bloodworm, daphnia and they aren't interested at all, also tried freeze dried and frozen food as they werent eating the waxworms.

The temp of the tank is 19 deg C and i should also mention that they shed quite soon after i got them which i thought was the reason for the lack of appetite. Results of water tests soon hopefully you can all help me shed some light on this mystery, thanks for all your posts so far

Shedding is normal when they get to a new environment.
I would give earthworms a try, they might do the trick. It´s very weird that they show no interest on the waxworms...i too think something is wrong. Coming from Morg, i would take for granted they were healthy upon delivery, he knows what he is doing. However, there might have been some problem during shipping (although it would be very rare on such short distances).

Off the top of my head i can think that perhaps the water had chlorine? That would cause stress and make them leave the water and loose appetite.

Good luck with them, they are such a lovely and gorgeous species, i hope you get to fully enjoy them soon

Where did you get your water from for them?..rain or tap. have you dropped the blood worms into the water?

its just tap water with treatment in it to dechlorinate it

Ok, This my not be a factor as to why your newts are not eating, but in my opition dont use tap water with any additive in it, if you want to use tap water let it stand for 48 hours, or i use nothing but spring water and my newts are 100% heathy and grow like mad. my Marble newts live outside and they have min/spring water which is topped up when it rains and i do half water change with spring water when the water gets cloudy.
Hope i have helped in some why and good luck with your newts.
kind regards

to be honest i dont think thats the problem, its the same water i use with my firebellies and they are happy and thriving. surely if alpines are bullet proof they shouldnt have any issues with thi water?

Lizamphid said:

but in my opition dont use tap water with any additive in it, if you want to use tap water let it stand for 48 hours,

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Many water sources in the UK use Chloramines. They will not be removed by letting the water stand. Check with your local water supplier and if they use Chloramines then you MUST use a good remover... or spring water (but make sure that it is in fact... spring water). :happy: