Larva Morphed into Eft, not eating

[randok]

I have a Noto (N.v.v.) that just morphed from larva to eft that isn't eating. When I noticed it out of the water on a piece of cork bark, I transferred it to a 5 gallon terrarium setup (Eco Earth, oak leaves, small cave, water dish with plants). It's been about 2.5 weeks and it still has not eaten. I've read that about a week of not eating is normal.

I started attempting to feed it about a week and a half ago. Here's what I've attempted:

-chopped up earthworms with a toothpick (while the eft is still inside the terrarium)
-blackworms on a moist paper in a separate shoebox
-blackworms left on a shallow plastic lid inside the eft's cave
-wingless fruitflies - Drosophila melanogaster loose in the cage with a banana slice in it (many of them crawled out of the cage).

So far nothing. Today I also picked up some "extra small" crickets but they seem too big for the eft. The eft is pretty tiny, about 1.5" long.

How long can it survive without eating? Is this just something that I will have to attempt almost every day until it starts eating? Any tips?

Here's a pic from last week:

Hopefully I am able to figure this out. I have a 2nd larva that is almost ready to crawl out of the water.

 

[Chinadog]

I don't have any experience with Noto's, but some of my Cynops and Ichthiosaura juveniles went nearly three weeks without feeding when they morphed. It looks like he was a well fed larva, so I wouldn't worry too much at the moment.
I used aphids to tempt any Cynops juvies that were slow to start feeding, they seem unable to resist them in the end and soon find their appetite again!

 

[Otterwoman]

Keep trying, like Chinadog said. However, this is a notoriously difficult species to raise and this is the trouble stage. Good luck.

 

[michael]

Try seeding the tank with springtails, whiteworms, and maybe dwarf isopods.

 

[slowfoot]

These guys cannot resist termites. You might be able to find them yourself, or there's a guy on dendroboard who sells them.

Also, does he stay hidden in one place or is he out and about occasionally?

 

[randok]

Thanks for all the advice.

I think I've sealed up the terrarium with fine mesh and duct tape well enough that I'm going to try the fruitflies again (I have alot) for now, and I'll look into springtails, aphids, whiteworms, dwarf isopods, or termites. Haha, that's quite the assortment (I'll start off with 1 or 2).

For the most part he is hiding in one place during the day and he walks around a bit during the night (I've seen him walk around and he's always in a different spot in the morning). Also, when I take him out he is very active.

When I try to get him to eat by hand with tweezers or toothpick, I try not to stress him out too much. If he's not interested within a handful of minutes I'll stop. Plus I don't do this more than once a day.

Also this morning the other one was well morphed and I moved it into the terrarium too. This one is about 2.25" and was always the more active of the 2 when I saw them as larvae.

Gah, yeah I've read about how tricky this species can be. I just want to make sure that I'm doing everything I can to increase their chances.

 

[slowfoot]

I would stop trying to toothpick feed. Instead, try leaving a small piece of worm - one that moves, but won't be able to get away - in front of him when he's in hiding for the day. Just lift the cover or whatever he's hiding under, put the piece down in front of his mouth, then replace the cover carefully. Check back a half hour or so later to see if it's eaten. You might have to dig small worms from somewhere safe because night crawler pieces are too big and efts will not eat red wigglers.