Is sand really nutritious?

[Mark]

This larva thinks so! I've never seen so much sand in a larva before. This is an Ommatotriton larva kept on bog standard aquarium sand. None of it's siblings, of which there are hundreds, seem to have such a taste for it. After I took this photo I fed it a large bloodworm which it inhaled into the space behind it's front leg. I wonder if all that sand will pass through?

 

[Azhael]

O_O
Could it be that newts can get disorders like we do trichotillomania and the like?
That doesn´t look accidental to me...that looks more like that little fella knows what it´s doing and it takes it very seriously. There´s some goal trying to be achieved here.

Let´s hope it´s just a phase. Congrats on the small army of ophryticus that´s being developed in your headquarters, by the way. There´s going to be a looooot of ophryticus popping up this year.

 

[eljorgo]

I think so. The SiO4 can be really tasty and easy to digest sometimes!
Great looking larvae by the way. Wonder how it will behave after morphing.

 

[ShelbyFFS]

Maybe he was just taking on ballast!

 

[Italicus]

maybe he got the english phrase "****ting brick" a bit too literal