Newt Refusing pellet food

My newt is refusing the pellet food I got him I have been trying for about 4 days now,
poor little thing was looking very thin so I took some dirt from my backyard(where I found him) that was filled with bugs and today he's looking a bit more plump.
What my question is how can I train him to eat the pellet food so I don't have bugs trying to get out of the tank, and also during the winter Its going to be hard to find bugs
Please help

Re: Newt Refusing pettel food

you could try freeze dried bloodworm

FD BLOOD WORMS

My boys eat these as well as live foods

xxxxxxxx

Re: Newt Refusing pettel food

Thank you I will give it a try I just hope that he starts eating food other then bugs I'm going to be going on a trip and I need to take him with me I'm leraving for 3 weeks and have nobody to take care of him during that time = < Hope this works

Re: Newt Refusing pettel food

Freeze-dried foods are a very poor choice. Frozen is better, although live is always best.

You won´t be able to feed your newt pellets. That animal was very recently taken from the wild. The only foods it has ever eaten were alive.
Anyway, pellets are for aquatic caudates, where they accept them by smell.

You need to provide adequate food items. Earthworms are the absolut best. You can also offer waxworms, small crickets, isopods, tiny slugs, springtails, drosophila. In time, if all goes well, it might even get used to being hand-fed frozen foods.

Re: Newt Refusing pettel food

I tryed small earthworms, small isopods,and little slugs he just didn't want anything to do with them. =< I did read online that earthworms are the best but if he wants nothing to do with them I have seen him eat one ant from the pile of dirt thou
what type of frozen food would you recommend

Re: Newt Refusing pettel food

BabyNewtSpotty said:

I tryed small earthworms, small isopods,and little slugs he just didn't want anything to do with them. =< I did read online that earthworms are the best but if he wants nothing to do with them I have seen him eat one ant from the pile of dirt thou
what type of frozen food would you recommend

Click to expand...

I have found that it's a lot easier to find red wrigglers / small earthworms than it is to find any black worms or blood worms.

Bait shops, fishing supply etc usually have the 50 count red worms. sometimes they can be too big for the smaller newts, but mine are good sized and can eat 2-3 in a sitting.

Thank you for all your ideas

So far he's refusing everything other then ants, he has maybe ate 6 today either that or they have found a way out of my tank lol but his belly does look more full since I put them in the take. I picked up frozen blood worms (cut the little cube in 4 and put 3 back in the freezer) its the best I can get here nobody sells them live as far as I know (I asked and called a few places) at least he's eating something.

Um is their any way to keep ants during the winter or for a longer period of time without having them get to big like in the fridge or something or would that just kill them ???

What species of salamander do you have? It sounds like you have a type of lung less or mole salamander but I'm just guessing since you said you caught it in your backyard. If so, you're not going to have much luck with the pellets because they are for aquatic newts, and the frozen blood worms won't do you any good because salamanders hunt by movement and obviously anything frozen and thawed out isn't going to be doing much moving! I'm not saying it isn't possible to feed him blood worms, but its pretty unlikely he will accept it as his base food.

If your newt is eating ants there is a good chance it would take to crickets. They are one of the easiest foods to get a hold of since pet stores readily carry them in all sizes all year round. "Small" (about 1/4 an inch) crickets are usually easier to find, but depending on your newts size/age/species you might need pin head crickets. Pin head crickets are harder to come by and you might have to ask your local pet store if they could order it for you, since many don't have them in that small of a size. If you do decide to go with crickets, they're not as nutritious as worms, but you do have the opportunity to gut load them with healthy foods prior to feeding which definitely has its benefits.

A good rule of thumb when sizing crickets or any other type of food: food should be no bigger than the length between your newts eyes.

Also, if your having a hard time finding worms (the best choice regarding the over all long term health of your pet) locally you could always order live food online.

Next time you try feeding your newt I would just put the food(s) in the cage where the newt can see it and leave him be for awhile. Giving him/her options is also a great idea. Don't get discouraged if you don't witness any eating action when introducing the food at first, he/she might be afraid to eat while a predator (you ) is watching.

Good luck. Hope this helps.

I agree with misslyss, except that I'm sure the newt in question is a terrestrial species (lung-less don't do too well without water), most likely a tiger sal or some local sal.

These will not eat frozen bloodworms and ants aren't enough to fill it up, it would need to eat several dozen ants daily to keep its body well stocked with fat, I would suggest that you try the crickets (as misslyss stated) as well as some wax worms & maggots, these will move around plenty and they will almost always be eaten by your animal.

however if your animal is a water loving newt I would highly suggest that you try it out in some water to see how it responds (not fully aqautic mind you, maybe a deeper+larger water bowl), etc).

If you could provide some physical description of your animal or maybe even where it was found (like near a marsh or near or a forest, etc) that would be greately appreciated by all of us here who are trying to help out your animal and you.

The Newt is a red spotted newt he's in between red and orange in color I found him in my flower garden I went hunting a few days ago for bug in that same area in my garden just to see what was their (Ants, small isopods, Small/tinny Slugs and I seen this little very tinny white thing??? I took it in and put that in his tank and he ate but I'm trying to get him to eat other stuff so that during the inter I have food for him.
his tank at first (from everything I read online) had about 4 inches of water with a big rock and flat area for him to walk on I took leafs from the year and sticks he was in the water but not to much at the moment he had a food dish and a bigger water dish that he can swim in as well and drink (he likes to hid under leaf's I have 2 rocks with a leaf on the bottom and top) he like's to hid in their => its cute

Ants as a feeder food have always concerned me. Other than the Horned Toad (Phrynosoma) I've never seen too many animals that will eat them consistently. They contain Formic Acid which is a component in many invertebrate venoms and also is a caustic. Some reptiles seem to tolerate these venoms well. In fact the Horned Toad actually REQUIRES formic acid in it's diet to be kept successfully (which is why I never kept any). I have a lot of personal observations regarding venomous feeders and Old World Chameleons, but they not very scientific so I won't bore you with them now. Amphibians have always seemed more delicate and I've never used ants for them except in one instance where a fruit fly culture crash left me in a lurch for a couple of days. Those animals seemed to (instinctively?) ignore them.
I am SO long winded sometimes.

He unfortunately is only eating ants at the moment I seen him this morning eating something, witch is good but I do want him eating something other then ants I'm not a big fan of having to catch them.

I will call around and see if anyone can order (or has got an order) of little crickets they would have to be really small if I go by the size of his eye, he's alone is only about 1 inch if not a tinny bit bigger so his eye's are really small, but I mean you gotta do what you gotta do.

I'll try crickets when they become available until then I guess I'm stuck looking around for bugs (lol I'll send my daughter on the hunt lol)

What size of crickets should I get if he's only 1 inch long ?

either micro crickets or at least the smallest crickets the shop has, here in scotland i am lucky and have a reptile shop around the corner - which do them in sizes 1,2,3 etc so for me it would be the size 1.

I have a red spotted newt too and he loves Zoo Med pellets are they the ones you tried ?

HBH Newt and Salamander Bites
that's what I tried,

And nothing yet with the cricks I put 2 (around noon) that are a bit smaller then 1/4 inch they are active and have a small peace of apple in the container (with the crickets and they are happy with it)

um what about food like carrots apples things like that anyone think he might try it (I know they are meat eaters)

They won't eat carrots and what not. You need Pinhead to 1 week instar crickets and you can typically get these only from a cricket farm (mail order) or have you shop get you some.
Tiny worms would be best. I'd probably put him back where he came from if he won't eat in captivity. :happy:

He was eating the worm this morning I cut up for him yesterday I read online that I can freeze fresh worms and when they are thawed out they are still alive its got something to do with their 5 harts ?? I don't know.

I will be calling the pet store today and see if they can order some pinhead crickets for me I just need a few to see if he's going to eat them

He is eating but vary little and he is looking healthier then a few days ago.

I couldn´t agree more with Mac.
Notophthalmus viridescens juveniles are notoriously difficult to raise. Given the fact that you have a lot to learn and that it´s a tiny wild juvenile, the most responsible thing to do would be to set it free where you found it. Otherwise, the poor fella will pay the price...
If you are trully interested in newts and wish to keep them, then you can do so, and have great results if you first do your research, have everything prepared, and choose a captive bred, easy species.

They are carnivorous, EXCLUSIVELY. It won´t touch vegetables, and even if it did, they won´t offer any nutrition (they can´t digest them) and in fact pose a threat of impaction.

BabyNewtSpotty said:

I put 2 (around noon)

Click to expand...

Newts will not chase down their foods. They're a bit on the slow side and crickets are difficult for them to catch. You need to offer him more crickets, and maybe even pull off their back legs so they aren't so quick and jittery (if you decide on keeping him).

Efts are difficult but an adult of the same species would be much easier to care for. They're fully aquatic so you would need a pre-cycled aquarium prior to catching one.