Warty newts question

[chaimdov]

Hello, my son (10) was selling amphibians at a reptile expo (Whiteplains) and he traded some ribbed newts for a group of five warty newts. They looked a bit emaciated but he figured had dealt with worse. He gave them frozen blood worms, they did not eat. He gave them earth worms they did not eat. He gave them live black worms and they are not eating. Housed in fifty five gallon tank, half full with water. Water is pristine. All aquatic setup. Temperature is 68. Lighting is low. Any ideas?

 

[Admm92]

I had warty newts about 5 in total. When we first got ours they seemed to be skinny a well. It took them a while at first to start eating also. Maybe they need to warm up to their new surroundings. But when I sold mine after having them for a couple years. They were as fat as could be. I kept they in a 10 -30 gal long. 55gal might be a little overwhelming for them.
Mine ate mainly bloodworms. Also fed them ghost shrimp, feeder fish(guppies), comet goldfish, & as a treat they loved lunch meat, turkey and chicken. Try putting them in something smaller? But be careful tho, I had 2 males that would fight daily. Put lots of hides (big rocks, plants, etc.) oh you can also try this, I did this with my warty newts, get a small cup. Fill with couple frozen cubes of bloodworms. Fill with warm water. Let it sit for a minute or so. Pick up one of your warty newts. Stick only their heads in the cup until they start eating. My fattest newt love when I did this and would swim up for me to pick him up when he seen I had the cup of bloodworms lol. He Would take big gulps. Haha good luck