What should my eft newt eat?

[Sythum]

Hello everyone, I recently got a female alpine newt eft. She is doing fine but I was wondering if she needed to eat other stuff than the chopped up earthworms I give her. Another question, does she need an aquatic setup now or not? She is in a terrestrial tank with a water pool right now and I have seen other people raising them in almost FULLY aquatic tanks. What should I do? THX

 

[stanleyc]

About how large is she? Alpine newts can be kept fully aquatic as they mature. Earthworms are considered a very good food source, but it is always good to provide a variety of nutritious foods. I'm not very versed in the terrestrial side of things, but some other good foods that can be fed aquatically are tubifex/black worms, frozen bloodworms, and daphnia. The worms can also be fed terrestrially either by tweezers or on a plate or even just paper towels. It may just be more difficult than the chunks of earthworms because they are smaller.

 

[Sythum]

About how large is she? Alpine newts can be kept fully aquatic as they mature. Earthworms are considered a very good food source, but it is always good to provide a variety of nutritious foods. I'm not very versed in the terrestrial side of things, but some other good foods that can be fed aquatically are tubifex/black worms, frozen bloodworms, and daphnia. The worms can also be fed terrestrially either by tweezers or on a plate or even just paper towels. It may just be more difficult than the chunks of earthworms because they are smaller.

She is about 4 cm from tail to head and weighs approximately 2grams. I’m afraid she might drown if I switch to an aquatic setup as she doesn’t seem to go to the water much

 

[stanleyc]

Oh yeah at that size she might not be ready yet. You can try later when she’s larger or shows more interest in the water. When you do want to switch her to aquatic, make sure water levels are low and that there are still easily accessible land areas. Lots of floating plants will also help her avoid drowning.

There’s no rush at all, I think in the wild they can spend years as terrestrial morphs before going back to water. Hobbyists usually just want to get them aquatic again as soon as possible because it’s easier to keep them aquatic than terrestrial for most.

 

[Sythum]

Oh yeah at that size she might not be ready yet. You can try later when she’s larger or shows more interest in the water. When you do want to switch her to aquatic, make sure water levels are low and that there are still easily accessible land areas. Lots of floating plants will also help her avoid drowning.

There’s no rush at all, I think in the wild they can spend years as terrestrial morphs before going back to water. Hobbyists usually just want to get them aquatic again as soon as possible because it’s easier to keep them aquatic than terrestrial for most.

Ok I will keep that in mind thank you