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Spitting up undigested earth worm

eldaldo

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May 7, 2007
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Hi,

I've had triturus karelinii and marmoratus for several years now. The main diet I feed them is earthworms, with a about a week of blackworms a few times a year. Lately though, I have noticed that they will occasionally spit up a slimy stringy undigested glob of earth worm a day or two after I feed them. at the moment I am feeding them nightcrawlers bought online from a reptile supply co. I was wondering if anyone has seen this before and has any idea why they are not able to digest and poop out the worms.

I keep my worms in the fridge and after about a month and a half they die. I have a few hypotheses and maybe someone else has some insight.

My newts are throwing up their meals because:

1. the worms are unhealthy and somewhat toxic from being kept at less than optimal conditions (the typical worm dish you get at fish bait stores in my fridge).
2. the newts do not like particular parts of the nightcralwer (these are big worms mind you)
3. I am not breaking the worms into small enough pieces (when fully stretched out they are usually about .5in to 1in.)
4. there is something wrong with my newts.

If you have any ideas or insights into this let me know. I have had such a hard time lately finding a reliable food source for my newts because i moved and no longer have a good compost to find worms in. blackworms are too expensive, and when I tried an indoor worm bin i could not make a container that was free of escapees, and fruit flies, then I sealed up the container it became too moist and moldy drowning or killing my worms. in addition to that my newts often refused the worms even though i got the composting worm that was supposed to be less noxious. Thanks for everyone's help!
 

otolith

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Dec 16, 2009
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I had the same problem recently with one of my Lissotriton. This particular animal had been kept terrestrially through the summer and was very underweight when transferred to an aquatic set up. She would actively attack and swallow pieces of worm but the following day had spat them up. I began feeding smaller food items and worked gradually back up to normal feedings. Have not had any issues since. I would try smaller pieces and see if that makes a difference before changing worm suppliers.
 
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