Having trouble feeding nightcrawlers

[oregon newt]

I've recently started feeding my t. grans nightcrawlers, but I'm having some trouble getting them to eat the worms. First, sometimes when I cut the worms, they die before I even put them in the water. If they do survive, I'll put them in the tank and wiggle them around in front of the newt to get them to notice it; and then I'll place down in front of them. Usually they won't pay attention to it or be to afraid to go near it because I was wiggling it in front of them. I usually cut them about an inch or so. I've gotten my female to eat them a couple times, but I can't get my male to eat them. Any advice?

 

[Kaysie]

Nightcrawlers should live for hours, if not days after being cut. Just drop them in front of them and let them hunt on their own. You may be scaring them by the over-exuberant wiggling.

 

[Jennewt]

Cut the pieces very small and feed them to the newts right away. The pieces might be too big. This assumes that the newts are living in the water, is this right? This might help:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/worms2.shtml

 

[oregon newt]

Thanks, but how long should I keep the worms in the aquarium if my newts don't eat them right away?

 

[Kaysie]

You can keep them in for a couple hours. If you feed at night, you can leave them in overnight, but I wouldn't leave them in much longer than that.

 

[oregon newt]

Sucess!!roud: I got my male to eat. Usually I wouldn't be this excited, but this is my newt that I've been having trouble feeding.

 

[Kaysie]

I've found boys are much pickier than girls (or more preoccupied).