Cynops orientalis food

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mark

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Which of these would be best to feed to C.o.
-Frozen (thawed) blood worm cubes.
-Frozen (thawed) Daphina cubes.
-Frozen (thawed) brine shrimp cubes.
-Dried tubifex cubes.

~Thanks
 
Thanks, Any other opinions?... Please.
Like in order of which are okay. More info... please.

(Message edited by markmark6464 on December 06, 2004)
 
Freeze Dried Tubifex is of questionable nutritional value.

Frozen Daphnia release their bodily fluids straight into the tank water almost immediately on thawing, thus providing relatively little nutritional value, and making your tank stink in a short period of time.

Frozen adult brine shrimp suffer from the same problems as frozen Daphnia, and make your tank stinky in less time :p.

Once in the water, frozen bloodworm retain their nutritional value for a greater period of time than the shrimp and Daphnia.

Live brine shimp and Daphnia are perhaps the most nutritional foods you can feed your newts, but this isn't the case of the frozen versions.
 
I agree with frozen bloodworms. Brine shrimp is often referred to as "fish chips". Yes, its nutritious, and yes, fish like it, but feeding it as a staple isn't wise for many species-esp. those who aren't totally carnivorous. Returning to caudates, I think that bloodworms are most like what they would come across in the wild and for the above reasons I use bloodworms

Just a note that I found that Hikari Bio pure bloodworms are quite small compared to SF Bay brand. If you're looking to tweezer feeding adults SF Bay brand's size may be a better choice. The smaller Hikari worms work well for juvies and I've managed to get my larvae to accept them.
 
I get SF Bay and another brand that I can't remember. Each blister of SF Bay can vary from others in the size of the bloodworms quite dramatically, depending on the batch - from tiny bloodworms to mecha bloodworm (huge things). I've rarely seen the mecha ones, but they have shown up several times.
 
1. Live chopped earthworms
2. Frozen bloodworms

OK, I know that first one isn't on your list, but it's a food that is cheap, readily available (Walmart), and very nutritious. Worms are also convenient to store in the fridge. The only downside is having to chop them, but there's no way around that.

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms.shtml
 
Thanks for all your info! I'm sure I'm not the only one it will help.
Jennifer> I do occasionally feed my newts earthworms, but mostly bloodworms as their staple diet. Would it be better to feed mostly earthworms? P.S. What would they eat in the wild?
 
It isn't known what they eat in the wild. As stated on CC little is known about the general biology of these guys. They probably do eat bloodworms, perhaps some kind of tubifex things, and whatever else they find near the bottom. Totally guessing on all of this but they probably find earthworms when briefly terrestrial.

John: thats interesting. Maybe its seasonal. I've bought around 3 batches of SF Bay(one of hikari) and all of them were large enough that I could put them easily on a tweezer. The hikari ones are like threads-great for fish but not so much for newts.
 
Earthworms commonly fall into ponds. I consider them a perfectly natural food for aquatic newts. If I go out in the dark tonight and use a torch on my pond, I might even see one (a worm that is). People make blanket statements (one such person comes to mind) about earthworms not being a natural food for aquatic newts and salamanders. My observations down through the years convince me otherwise.

I don't have references, but I believe Griffiths may discuss what newts are actually eating in British ponds, or he may give references. I recall reading a paper once that said most adult Triturus in a pond were eating Daphnia for the bulk of their diet!

Joseph: I'm not sure about it being seasonal. I have medium-lareg and small right now at home, different blisters :/. I don't have mecha bloodworm right now though (they're good for newts over 7 cm and they seem to retain their fluids longer than the small ones, which makes sense).
 
Joseph, I don't know about C. orientalis, but it <u>is</u> known what C. pyrrhogaster eat in the wild. I have a herpetologist friend who studies just that. I took a photo record of his latest presentation on this subject, but sorry to say it's all in Japanese. I think I have a paper or two in English around somewhere though and will try to find them.
 
In the meantime...

This document is slightly off subject, as it is written in reference to terrestrial juveniles, but here's the abstract of it anyway:

Food habit of the juvenile of the Japanese newt Cynops pyrrhogaster.

Matsui K, Mochida K, Nakamura M.

Department of Biology, School of Education, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.

"The previous study showed that the red coloration of the ventral skin of the Japanese newt Cynops pyrrhogaster was associated with the number of carotenoid vesicles and the content of carotenoid in the pigment cell of the skin. To elucidate the mechanism for the red coloration of the skin of the newt, we studied the food habit of the juvenile from the Japanese newt Cynops pyrrhogaster. Sixty-two juveniles were collected in Fukue Island in Nagasaki Prefecture from November 2000 to May 2002 and divided into 2 groups according to the snout-vent length (SVL). Over 400 prey animals were obtained from the juveniles by stomach flushing. In the larger group (SVL>30.0mm), Collembola (45.4%) and Acari (12.6%), which are very common species of soil animals, were the prey animals dominant in number. In the group with the smaller SVL (<29.9mm), Collembola (30.4%) and Acari (25.4%) were in number as well. We also studied the food habit of the Japanese clouded salamander, Hynobius nebulosus. In the salamander, Doratodesmidae (56.5%) and Amphipoda (13%) were the prey animals dominant in number. Our results, taken together, suggest that the Japanese juvenile C. pyrrhogaster does not change its food habit as it grows, and that it eats soil animals common in its habitat. Moreover, the food habit of juvenile C. pyrrhogaster differs from that of H. nebulosus, although the juveniles of both species live in the same area."
 
Hi Tim,

Which journal is this in? If you could send me a copy to read, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

No, I am not getting in Cynops. *cough*
happy.gif
 
Sorry if somebody already asked this:
of the freezedried foods what is the most healthy?
I had been feeding live brine shrimp but im getting tired of keeping that extra bit of stinky water by the tank.
}I got a sample of the freezedried bloodworms and they <u>love</u> it! I know you cant beat the nutrition on the live food and thats why i wont take it completely out of their diet...
 
When i feed my other animals i will usually drop 1 or 2 crickets in with my COs. They come on land to hunt for them.
 
How about maggots? Ive been feeding my COs a couple every other day and they seem to enjoy bitting and shaking them before they swallow them. Can they hurt the digestive track of the newt like mealworms can?
 
I use the maggots of the house fly (musca domestica) for feeding small and juvenile newts. In the UK they are called "squats".
They are fine, if fed sparingly, otherwise they can be passed undigested, as their skin is quite tough.
I don't believe that they harm your newts digestive tract.
 
Thanks everyone, ny the way, does anyone know why my username shows up under my picture? It did not used to, how can I change it?
 
Mark - the forum was reconfigured. All new messages show up as you have observed. You can't change it.
 
ive been preparing my garden for spring and keep coming across baby earthworms, not too much bigger than a good sized bloodworm. oh my, do my c.o.'s LOVE the live food! i mean, these guys are PORKERS to begin with, but the live food really got them going.
 
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