French Runway Syndrome

[joan]

One of my newly acquired taricha (about to come out of quarantine, I'm excited!) has french runway model syndrome. Some days she eats like a pig, other days she totally snubs food. She's slightly skinny, but fatter than when I got her. I'm not terribly worried about it. It's just kind of funny. Occasionally she'll chase down a worm, and kind of poke at it, and test it, and then look at me like "what is this you think you're trying to feed me?" and snub it. She even snubbed butterworms. Must be too fattening.

 

[pin-pin]

Hey Joan,

Comparing Tarichas to the other urodeles I've kept(Pleurodeles, Triturus, Cynops), it seems that they are a little slow(er) at locating the prey, striking at the prey, and swallowing the prey. However, all of my Tarichas do show enthusiasm towards food--they just have a hard(er) time.

You could try collecting a stool sample and taking it into the vet for analysis, if you are worried about disease transmission to your other Tarichas.

It'd be interesting to hear from some other keepers.

(Message edited by apples on June 21, 2005)

 

[mark]

I have to say currently my taricha grans are the most hardy eaters of any caudates I've ever had. They literally seem to eat anything, and as soon as one piece of food hits the water all 4 of them are rushing to the scene. In fact, a lot of the time, they'll grab the nearest newt and start an amplexus when food is there because they get so excited. I've seen the 4 of them in a "newt ball" if I feed them their favorites like waxworms or nightcrawler bits. However, they've never injured each other.
I have had difficulty in the past with feeding them though. When I first got 2 of my newer ones and they were in quarantine, one of them was the pickiest eater and I thought for sure it wasn't going to live. I think about a month and a half went by and I only got it to eat one tiny cricket and a couple waxworms. The weird thing was that I decided after about 3 months that although it rarely ate that it appeared healthy otherwise, so I took a chance and tried it in the full tank with the others. Within 5 minutes it was eating worm bits with the the others. I have no idea why the sudden change to this day. Now that shy newt is probably my boldest newt, coming out of the water and attempting to bite my fingers, knowing that I am bringing the food...
But I am not advising to rush that newt out of quarantine. Like I said, I took 3 months, and even then sometimes you don't know that its safe.
Oh, and about locating food, especially faster moving prey, tarichas can be very clumsy and sometimes all the cheering them on in the world won't help them catch a piece of food. Thats why I'll hand feed them a lot of the time.
Just thought I would share because I've noticed that the same newt can have a totally different personality or attitude about food from time to time.

 

[joan]

The tankmate eats well, and is quite chubby. The one's really picky. She seems interested in food, and will swim toward it, but once it starts moving again, she doesn't want anything to do with it. She does eat on occasion, and isn't terribly skinny, so as long as she eats once in a while, I think she'll be okay.

I'm not too concerned with disease transmission, as all 3 are wildcaught (although undoubtably from different places, as they were acquired at 2 different times).

What do you guys think about moving one newt out of quarantine into the main tank while the other stays in the tank? I figure I'll leave the girl in her own tank, and move the boy into the main tank, as he looks pretty healthy.

 

[jeff]

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Mark Sobczak wrote on Tuesday, 21 June, 2005 - 03:43 :</font>

" one of them was the pickiest eater and I thought for sure it wasn't going to live. I think about a month and a half went by and I only got it to eat one tiny cricket and a couple waxworms. The weird thing was that I decided after about 3 months that although it rarely ate that it appeared healthy otherwise, so I took a chance and tried it in the full tank with the others. Within 5 minutes it was eating worm bits with the the others. I have no idea why the sudden change to this day."<!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Mark, I too have a skinny T.g. that refuses to eat when confined to it's own feeding tank. It will, however, begin to feed almost immediately after being placed back into the "community".

 

[joan]

So maybe the best medicine is to put her in with the others instead of trying to fatten her up first?

 

[mark]

Well, I don't know how long you've had that one exactly, but I wouldn't rush the quarantine.
(Those are from the store I was telling you about, right?)
I'd say it can't hurt to give it a little more time, especially if they are at least eating some food anyway

 

[joan]

Yeah. They're both from the same lot at the store. They've been in quarantine since June 1.