Emperor Newt - juvenile feeding frequency

[Nickj10]

Hi everyone,

We have two tylototriton shanjing (Emperor Newt) that are around 5 months old. We have had them for about 2 and a half months. We are feeding them mostly mealworms with occasional wax worms and night crawlers. One of the newts eats daily, recognizes us when we walk by and sticks his head straight up when he wants food eating very quickly. The other one eats roughly every 5-6 days despite us trying daily she does not have the same head raise behavior that the other one does when she wants food, and she is not very good at grabbing the worm from the tweezers. She will often miss quite a few times, sometimes leading her to give up and no longer try for the food, whereas the other newt grabs the worm quickly. Both look healthy and move similar amounts. They are tweezer/fed.

We are somewhat worried as one newt is growing somewhat quicker as he is eating much more. We hope both newts will take to feeding more frequently as they are juveniles. Does anyone have any suggestions as to how we can facilitate this, and if we are doing anything wrong? Any tips for feeding to help the other newt get more accustomed? Is this within the realm of normal?

Thank you!
I have attached photos of the set up. They are primarily terrestrial with a permanent small pond in the center of the tank created by laying a dish in the stone and covering it with rocks.

 

[Nickj10]

Bump, any help would be much appreciated!!

 

[Roughskinned]

I really wish I could help you. With the limited numbers of this species anywhere, its so important we help their captive population. Tank looks beautiful. My only two thoughts are:

potential territoriality? I don’t know much about this species, but one time I had two Spotted salamanders and one was stressing the other out into not eating as often. A bigger tank pretty much solved the problem, but I’m not sure that’s what’s going on here.

another concern could be parasites, these can definitely make your animal less energetic and can even deprive them of molecules they need for proper brain and nerve function.

best of luck otherwise, sorry you ran into this issue.

otherwise, I’m sure general care info, temps, humidity levels etc would be helpful to those who know more than me.

 

[DartFrog180]

Hi NickJ10...sorry I just saw your May 30 post. I'm raising a number of metamorphs from my adults' breeding event just before the new year (all now between ~150-165 days since hatch and out of the water now for between ~60-105 days).

They are all now feeding primarily on chopped sections of small earthworms. I feed earthworms from a forceps so I can be sure the individuals are eating (more below).

I've also given them occasional small waxworms, very small mealworms, and have seen them take 1/8th inch crickets (though I rarely use those). The grow out cages (10G terraria and 15 quart Sterilite boxes with live vivarium plants and ABG mix as substrate; pic taken today is attached) are also seeded with orange P. scaber and dwarf white isopods, both of which I know shanjing will readily eat.

Just a few random thoughts on raising T. shanjing...My opinion is, once they start to eat earthworms, you should see rapid growth follow, and then you should make this the staple food (with the other things listed above for nutritional variety -especially the isopods since they can live and reproduce in the vivarium and provide a constant food source). I was feeding live blackworms from shallow porcelain saucer "feeding stations," but stopped about a month ago when the juvenile salamanders started eating earthworms. As to frequency, I feed earthworms about every 4-6 days, though I've also seen that the salamanders will eat every 2-3 days if given the chance. The metamorphs can handle relatively large earthworms in relation to their body size. By eyeball, when I dig worms from my garden, I look for ones that are about the same length as the juvenile salamanders (currently about 5cm/2 inches). I'll chop these in half and offer a half to each salamander when feeding by forceps. Because the vivaria are heavily planted, if the salamander starts to move off to hide after eating, I'll gently pick it up and place it in a holding container so I don't lose track and try feeding it again (letting me concentrate on ones that haven't yet eaten). As you noted, this is a highly "food motivated" species even when still juvenile. While feeding individually is more time consuming (on average I spend a minute or so feeding each juvenile shanjing), there are VERY few of this species in the U.S. hobby, so in my opinion they are worth the effort. Also, in nature, most juvenile amphibians have a period of very rapid growth (usually in their first year), and we should try to mimic that in captivity.

If they will eat earthworms (by the age you mention, I'm guessing yours are large enough to do so), and you have a ready supply (or a pesticide-free garden where you can dig), take advantage and feed them these at least once or twice per week...this is a perfect feeder for that period of rapid growth in shanjing.