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Can red efts stay terrestrial forever? And what to feed them?

noodlenoo

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I have had two N. Viridescens efts for about 2 years now in a terrestrial setup. Neither of them look like they are changing color nor are they willing to go in the small water dish to get food, and generally avoid traversing the water dish in general.

Can they stay terrestrial for life, or will they start sitting in the water more often to signify that they wish to become aquatic? I wouldn't mind if they stay on land since they are doing well, but want to make sure to offer an aquatic environment if they start to need it. The one time I changed their environment to a 50:50 setup they freaked out when they accidentally ended up in the water so I changed it back the next day.

Besides blackworms and whiteworms, what else can I offer terrestrial efts? I live in the city so cannot dig for earthworms. All they have in the bait shops are gigantic nightcrawlers. Even when I cut them up they seem too big for the efts.
 

Lertsch

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If you wish they can be kept terrestrially as long as you want. You could add fruit flies to their diet. Easy to start culturing those. Earthworms are usually available in pet stores or sporting good stores.
 

noodlenoo

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If you wish they can be kept terrestrially as long as you want. You could add fruit flies to their diet. Easy to start culturing those. Earthworms are usually available in pet stores or sporting good stores.

I've given Efts the very small crickets sold at pet stores in boxes. Kind of expensive but in winter it might be all you can get.


That's good to know. Just wanted to make sure it wouldn't stress them or shorten their lives somehow if they never became aquatic.

One of my efts loves fruit flies, the other seems afraid of them! I've had limited success with the baby crickets in the past, but I'll try again with both to see if I can add some variety to their diet.

Thanks for the suggestions!
 

SunnyFox

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If you wish they can be kept terrestrially as long as you want. You could add fruit flies to their diet. Easy to start culturing those. Earthworms are usually available in pet stores or sporting good stores.
They can stay in this phase indefinitely? That's good to know. What causes them to become aquatic? Is there a stimulus?

What about appropriate sized meal or super worms? Would those be an acceptable food source?
 

Lertsch

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Avoid meal worms and super worms. Nutritionally deficient and hard for them to digest at any size
 
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