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Question: Tylototriton verrucosus

Asevernnnn

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I have a couple questions on my T. verrucosus that I bought a little more than 2 weeks ago.

1) Feeding: The first 2 days it ate a couple pieces of chopped nightcrawler and then stopped eating for the rest of the week. Last week it ate a couple of pieces again, a few like every 3 days. Earlier this week it tried to eat one, but its too big, so it gave up and swam away from it. So i cut it up, but it never touched it. It started to gain some weight last week, but since it hasn't touched food this week at all, its back where it was before it started to eat. And it doesn't have much weight on it, which concerns me. The first few days it ate on land, but now only eats underwater, so I tried pellets(HBH), which all my newts accept, but It doesn't touch it either. Any advice on feeding? Usually I leave out food at the front of the tank, but it usually spends time near the waters surface, which leads to my 2nd question, or at the back of the tank, where it would be harder to clean the uneaten food. The breeder also said that they were fed chopped earthworm every 2-3 days and always had dwarf isopods in the tank.

2) Floating: Previously it was housed terrestrially but I've been having it in a setup that has a few land areas, and at first had about 1" of water, but it has been increasing and its about at 4.5" currently. Anyway, whenever it like gulps up for air or just went in the water its always floating at the top of the water and is usually on or near the floating plants or the taller plants, probably to feel more secure. Since its floating its not near where the food it very often, and when its actually on the bottom of the tank its usually at the back(Picture of Setup Attached). So I was worried if there was an issue making it float all the time and if I could do anything to prevent it. A lot of my other species of newts/axolotls will gulp, float, but will release excess air almost right after it gulps so they can go to the bottom again. But it usually gets rid of that extra air when it gets scared of something, or sometimes just on its own. I was wondering why this happens so often and if theres anything I could do to prevent it.

3) Setup: About 4.5" of water, water temp is usually 68-72F, theres 2 terra-cotta pots in the setup, one that is upside down with a couple rocks on top that used to be a land area, and another on its side, sort of like a hide. I spot clean everyday, and usually put some new water in aswell. When the light is off, it usually gets on the land area and when the light is on, its usually in the water. It used to be the opposite of that until I got a new light for the tank.

4) Additional Info: It has always refused Waxworms, Currently the widest part of its body is the head and it just gets skinner from there, so I need to get some weight on it, it has only accepted chopped Canadian Nightcrawlers.

Any Advice would be appreciated because I get concerned about everything lol,
Aaron
 

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Asevernnnn

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Update - It has been spending a good amount of time actually under the water, so I'll see how that goes, any advice would still be appreciated though
Aaron
 

Asevernnnn

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I got it to eat a 2 like 1cm pieces of chopped nightcrawler, which is a start I guess. I think it just waits for me to worry about it a lot and then it starts eating and stops floating, I haven't seen it float at all today and I haven't seen it on land at all either.
 

Otterwoman

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It's not surprising that they don't want to eat every day. A few times a week is fine, more than mine eat. Worms are the best food for it so I'd stick with that. You can chop up a worm and put it in a jar on its side in the tank and then remove whatever it doesn't eat after a few hours.
 
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Asevernnnn

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It's not surprising that they don't want to eat every day. A few times a week is fine, more than mine eat. Worms are the best food for it so I'd stick with that. You can chop up a worm and put it in a jar on it's side in the tank and then remove whatever it doesn't eat after a few hours.

I usually just try offering everyday when it looks really skinny. I just chop them up place them in the front, and turkey baster out all the uneaten food. We don't have any jars, and I have no money right now, so I'll have to sick with what I've been doing, maybe putting the food in a different place in the tank but where I can still somewhat see it. I worry a lot because I spent like all of the money I had to buy it(40$ + Shipping). Anyway It pretty much doesn't float anymore(stopped like right after posting a thread) and ate 2 pieces of chopped nightcrawler yesterday. I haven't seen it on land since yesterday morning when it went on for like 5 minutes and went back into the water(but who knows what it does when I'm asleep), so I raised the water about an inch, so it is currently nearly 5.5".
Thanks for the Advice
Aaron
 

Chinadog

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My newts really love nightcrawlers, but some of them won't eat them when they are cut up for some reason. Maybe you could try offering whole smaller nightcrawlers rather than large ones cut up? Saying that, if Otterwoman says it's normal behavior for T. verrucosus then I wouldn't worry about it too much. :)
 

Asevernnnn

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My newts really love nightcrawlers, but some of them won't eat them when they are cut up for some reason. Maybe you could try offering whole smaller nightcrawlers rather than large ones cut up? Saying that, if Otterwoman says it's normal behavior for T. verrucosus then I wouldn't worry about it too much. :)

All of the Nightcrawler I find are way too huge. The ones from Walmart are a little smaller, still too big, and I often see my animals throwing them up. I may try cutting them differently next time though.
 

Chinadog

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If you have to cut them up the tail end seems more appealing for some reason, I feed my fussy ones the tail ends and the greedy ones get the rest.
 

Asevernnnn

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If you have to cut them up the tail end seems more appealing for some reason, I feed my fussy ones the tail ends and the greedy ones get the rest.

Assuming the tail is the flatter and lighter colored end, thats the part I usually cut up, the other darker, rougher half I usually feed whole to my Tiger Salamander or Axolotl. Whenever I try to cutup the dark rough end the insides start to like come out so I just don't cut that part up anymore.
 

Asevernnnn

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YOu can get free jars from other people's recycle bins.
Haha I'll probably look into that later.
Heres some pictures I took with my phone of the newt :p
 

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Chinadog

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Yep, you need to sneak through peoples bins and steal the jars, maybe some will still have jam in them!
Back to topic, Try and look at pictures of wild Tylototriton, apart from gravid females, they are almost always slender creatures, many pictures of captive newts are of spoiled and pampered adults who are a little overweight.
 

Asevernnnn

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Things are going pretty well, its staying underwater for the most part, usually coming up on land during the night and like sleeping under a pile of broken off java fern leaves. and usually eating a piece of worm or two(a little longer than 1cm) every couple of days.
 

Asevernnnn

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Quick Update: It has been spending quite an amount of time underwater w/o me having to do anything to get it in the water. Its been completely underwater for the past few days, besides when it comes out on land at like 1am. I added some more plants and java moss. The T. verr of course, decided it wanted to eat right when I ran out of worms, so its been hungry for a couple days. And I just found out that Walmart is selling Baby Nightcrawlers so I just have to cut those in half and feed them. The T. verr usually gets the lightly colored end, and the P. waltl get the darker half.
Aaron
 

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Asevernnnn

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I added some plants and a couple of ghost shrimp to the tank and since I added the shrimp the verr hasn't been entering the water very much, which makes it harder to feed. Even when I put it in the water to attempt to feed it stays on the floating elodea for a minute and eventually goes back on land. Any suggestions on feeding or getting it to enter the water? I almost decided to take the cork bark pieces out so it could just stay on the floating elodea while getting used to water again, but decided not to. Idk, any suggestions would be appreciated
 

sde

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I always feed my newt with forceps/tweezers, and it work great. That way you know exactly how much they eat. I just dangle it in front of them and they usually take it, weather it's moving or not.
 

Asevernnnn

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I always feed my newt with forceps/tweezers, and it work great. That way you know exactly how much they eat. I just dangle it in front of them and they usually take it, weather it's moving or not.
I fed with tongs when it was underwater, its just not very good at eating on land so
 

Sir Jagger

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I have some newts that are terrestrial at the moment and I've been feeding them worms. Most of them do not like to be hand fed so I have a shallow dish in the tank that I place them in and put the worms in there and they are more than happy to feed themselves. Most are little piggies but there is one that feeds sporadically similar to yours. This seems to be the only way to get him to eat.
 

Asevernnnn

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I have some newts that are terrestrial at the moment and I've been feeding them worms. Most of them do not like to be hand fed so I have a shallow dish in the tank that I place them in and put the worms in there and they are more than happy to feed themselves. Most are little piggies but there is one that feeds sporadically similar to yours. This seems to be the only way to get him to eat.

Yeah but I can't exactly put a dish on a piece of floating cork bark unless its like the cap of a water bottle lol
 

Asevernnnn

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I think Im going to remove the cork bark, because I can get it to eat but only when he's in the water(small chopped worm). And theres plenty of Elodea and stuff to hang on to thats like right at the surface, and since I basically have no life right now I can just be in my room all the time keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't drown lol
 
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