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Question: Help with Newt Eggs?

Jbradybvb

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I was cleaning my fire bellied newt tank this morning and noticed that there are eggs in there. Some of them are completely circle on the inside and some look like mini tadpoles inside the egg, so I'm guessing they were laid around different times. I took scissors and cut off the leaves with the eggs on them and put them in a betta fish bowl (the ones they're sold in).

When they hatch, what can I feed them? Can I go down to a pond and get water from there, making sure there's no predator bugs in the water? I know petco/petsmart don't sell live brine shrimp and I'm pretty sure they don't sell daphnia either. The only petstore that sold those around here closed down a couple years ago
 

Jennewt

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This will help you get started
Caudata Culture Articles - Raising Newts and Salamanders from Eggs

Pond water may be your best bet. Call all the small independent pet stores in your area and see if they sell brine shrimp eggs (not brine shrimp, those are too big) or live blackworms (sometimes incorrectly called "live bloodworms"). Live blackworms can be purchased online, but only in rather large amounts.
 

Jennewt

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I think the benefits of using (healthy) pond water/mud may outweigh the risks, particularly for someone who has limited access to other options. There are also risks from using hatched brine shrimp, blackworms, etc.
 

Jbradybvb

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Thanks, do you think there's living things in the pond because it's been just around freezing point lately. Also, when they start to look like a worm thing in the egg, about how long before they hatch?
 

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Jbradybvb

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I was thinking of feed them planaria, the tiny white worms that are found in fish tanks. One of my tanks has them so I figured it would be an easy source to get food from if it's okay for the baby newts
 

Jennewt

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I don't think they would eat planaria. They need food that wiggles. Something that glides slowly across a surface may not get their attention. You could certainly try, but you should have some backup in case they don't eat them.

There may not be daphnia in a pond in winter, but I suspect there will be other micro-foods in the mud in the pond. Do you have a good hand lens or magnifier or low-power microscope of some kind? If so, take a sample of pond muck and watch it for a few minutes to see if there is anything moving. Let the pond muck settle and don't disturb it, just watch for a while for any movement.
 

Jbradybvb

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I don't think I have any magnifying glasses or anything like that. I saw some people on other websites say that there's tiny bugs in aquariums that they could eat? I'm not sure of that's true but I have multiple fish tanks I could take water from of there is tiny bugs that live in there.

Some of the eggs will move (swim inside the egg) when I poke it so how long do you think it will take for them to hatch? I wasn't expecting these eggs at all but I want to give them a good chance of living
 

Asevernnnn

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I've heard you can take those Newt and Salamander pellets and smash those up so they're super tiny and feed those, I don't know how true this is though
 

Jbradybvb

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Can anyone help?

Does tank water from a cycled tank have bugs for the newt larvae to eat? Does crushed up newt food work to feed them? And how long until they hatch if I can poke the egg and it moves?
 

Jennewt

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Yes, aquarium water has microscopic foods in it. They are most abundant in the mulm (the brown gunk at the bottom of the gravel). However, this size/amount of food will only get them through the first few weeks.

You can try the pellets, but it's not a very sure method - the method is described here, near the bottom:
Caudata Culture Articles - Microfoods

What is your budget? If you are able to buy some things online, you can increase your odds of success. For example, brine shrimp eggs, or live blackworms.
 

Jbradybvb

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The problem is that I highly doubt my parents would let me order any of that type of stuff, especially worms that live in the fridge. As they get older could I chop up the frozen bloodworms into small pieces and move it around in front of them?
Again, I wasn't expecting these eggs at all, especially since 6 months ago I thought my newts would die of starvation. I I hope I'm able to raise them okay
 

Chinadog

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Maybe they would be better off left with the adults? That way at least some should survive on the micro food they could find on their own.
 

Dugnbeck

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My spotted sallie larvae was raised almost exclusively on snail eggs, just regular pond snails. I would also drop a couple sinking pellets in the tank when I added pond water. This allowed for colonies of small Protists, blood worms, etc to grow. Hope that helps!


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sde

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Well, I get large night crawlers from the pet store, and I don't keep them in the fridge. I just have them in the container in the basement, they do fine. However they are bigger than the ones mentioned, so I am not sure if it would work with those.

Snail eggs is a great idea. All you need to do is put snails in your tank and they will breed like crazy, eggs will appear on the glass, and all over the place.
 

Jbradybvb

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Snail eggs? That sounds like something I could do really easy :)
Now would they eat these right when they hatch or in a couple weeks after eating micro bugs?
 

Jbradybvb

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It's been around 3/4 days since the first newt egg hatched and I now have 15 tadpoles. They all still have yolk so I haven't fed them yet. I just filled up a container of water from a cycled fish tank and put a couple pieces of gravel in it. Once it gets to room temp I was gonna put the larvae in this container. This water has tiny micro bugs for them to eat right? I've had this tank for years and it's been healthy for almost the entire time. I just want to make sure I don't starve these little guys
 
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