C.orientalis morphs

[taper]

I now have all of my larva morphed. 27 all together . I have gotten them all to eat ( woo hoo ). I have noticed though that they eat only a quarter the amount of food that they did when in larvae stage. Is that normal? Could I start cutting back feeding to 2 or 3 times a week now like I do for the adults or should I keep up feeding daily with the ones that will eat.

I have been feeding thawed frozen blood worms from tweezers, and really small cut up earth worms that I dig up from my yard.

 

[Jennewt]

Congratulations on getting 27 morphs to hand-feed, that's quite an accomplishment! It is normal that morphs eat less than larvae. Metabolic needs are lower for a terrestrial animal compared to aquatic, and slow growth for the first year is fairly normal. It would be better to feed them daily whenever possible, although they could probably do OK with every other day.

 

[taper]

Thanks Jennewt . I have been tweezer feeding them all since I started feeding blood worms , about 2 weeks after they hatched, so I think they are really just used to it. I am also keeping them all semi aqautic with lots of land and lots of plants in the water. I haven't had any drownings so far and there are a few of them that still prefer the water to the land. Although the majoity of them stay on land, until I clean the slate. It does take alot longer to feed them now though as I really have to entice them to eat by wriggling the food in front of them.

I have to admit though that this will probably be the only time I raise them from eggs as it really is alot of work for me . I will keep a few of them and will give the rest away to good homes. That is the challenge right now finding people to give them too that will take good care of them.

I believe also that I would like to get a different more challenging species because I just find newts facinating and really enjoy my time taking care of them and setting up nice habitats.

 

[fishkeeper]

Great job taper...you sure did better than my attempts with this species. IME once the morphs went terrestrial it was very hard to get them to feed or to go aquatic. Earthworm chunks left in the enclosure worked pretty well though. I have 2 morphs currently, one that I kept on land for a year and a half or so, and the other I kept on land for 3 months. Both are now in the water and feed ravenously.