Larvae just morphed...So now what?

[hattori]

I have a larvae that I caught in a pond in North Carolina that just lost it's gills and morphed within the past few hours. I believe it's an Eastern, which is what I have been told before.

So what do I do now? He's currently chilling in a 2.5 gallon tank with a cm of water, some rocks, and a fake plant. He's on top of the plant, looking quite adorable.

Should I just silicone a little piece of plexiglass in to add a water area and then fill it with soil?

What about food? He was raised on tiny earthworms (not in abundance here) and dried Hikari bloodworms. Should I keep trying those?

Also - he has a weird hump like shape to his back. Is it normal/will it straighten out? Or is it a deformity of some kind?

Thanks for any and all help that you can give me! This is my first larvae!

 

[Greatwtehunter]

That is definitely an Eastern newt eft. It needs a totally terrestrial setup now with loads of little LIVE food. Your best option is to go out in the woods and collect some forest dirt to use as its substrate. This should have enough little organisms in it to buy you enough time to acquire some springtails or white worms. Some of mine have eaten chopped blackworms off of a papertowel so that could be worth a shot.

Just a heads up, efts are notorious for refusing to eat and wasting away until they die so don't be surprised if this happens.

 

[hattori]

I had it in a tank with some coconut fiber substrate that I use with my turtles, but it stuck to him and he started flipping out. Will just plain dirt do that?

The only place around here that sells blackworms no longer carries them, of course. I have a flightless fruit fly culture on the way, hopefully he'll be interested in those.

Any thoughts on the hump?

Thanks for your help!

 

[Otterwoman]

I had an Eastern newt like that once, he was my only morph to ever make it. I think he developed it when he was aquatic, not terrestrial. He had trouble navigating/ swimming around, but I always made sure to feed him specially (I'd put blackworms right in front of his face) . He was always runty, but lived for about two years. I don't know why he developed the hump, but I thought it was some nutritional deficiency. Why, I don't know. He was always fed blackworms and earthworm chunks, which I thought was adequate nutrition.

 

[slowfoot]

My efts like regular dirt from a pesticide-free area (not too much - you want to be able to find your eft again) and dried leaves to hide under. They mostly stay right on top of the soil, but under the leaves. He won't need any water source at all - just keep the substrate slightly moist. Termites and tiny, chopped earthworm pieces work well for food, too, if you can find them.

Good luck!