DUMBEST newt of LIFE.

[Emmilyy]

yep thats right. Harold, (sister names it..) is the dumbest newt of life. like seriously, i don't think he even has a brain in there..

Today, i dropped a black of frozen bloodworm in for him.. it melten and spread all over the tank (the only way he'll eat it....) .. he crawls painfully slow around the tank eating every worm in his path, and then searches for more.. Well, for a little while he couldn't find anymore and then you could just SEE something caught his attention, and he swam over to check it out.. it was a single worm trapped under a rock.. He sits on another rock, and for 5 minutes straight, attempts to get the work out from under the rock...

Why is he stupid? the rock he was sitting on while tryin got get to the single bloodworm was COVERED in other bloodworms. But, he apparently thought the one UNDER the rock was better, and more worth his time.. I dont get it..

I guess the fact that he was able to push the rock off the bloodworm in order to get it proves he does at least have *some* brain, but still..

I always end up laughing when i watch him.. it was better when there were two of them, but NOO, Harold had to eat the other one *sigh*

[Ashling]

Lol he sounds cute- the one under the rock was probably a challenge and maybe he just likes challenges? ;) Oh man... newts, salamanders- never again! One of my salamanders ate the other's leg and he got an infection and died, then she stopped eating and died too! I'll stick to greedy birds and dogs!

[jenseits]

Maybe the newt was foraging? I know they've shown that birds will often prefer to work for their food, even if there is an easier food source available. ;)

[hsmoscout]

Originally Posted by Emmilyy

yep thats right. Harold, (sister names it..) is the dumbest newt of life. like seriously, i don't think he even has a brain in there..

Today, i dropped a black of frozen bloodworm in for him.. it melten and spread all over the tank (the only way he'll eat it....) .. he crawls painfully slow around the tank eating every worm in his path, and then searches for more.. Well, for a little while he couldn't find anymore and then you could just SEE something caught his attention, and he swam over to check it out.. it was a single worm trapped under a rock.. He sits on another rock, and for 5 minutes straight, attempts to get the work out from under the rock...

Why is he stupid? the rock he was sitting on while tryin got get to the single bloodworm was COVERED in other bloodworms. But, he apparently thought the one UNDER the rock was better, and more worth his time.. I dont get it..

I guess the fact that he was able to push the rock off the bloodworm in order to get it proves he does at least have *some* brain, but still..

I always end up laughing when i watch him.. it was better when there were two of them, but NOO, Harold had to eat the other one *sigh*

That really got me laughing! I almost started crying! Thanks, I needed that.

[perchingbird]

Amphibians are very instinctual critters. Was the bloodworm under the rock wriggling more in the water current? Movement attracts more attention. :)

He's not dumb... he's just a newt!

"She turned me into a newt!"

...

I love newts and salamanders. :D

[Ashling]

Originally Posted by perchingbird

"She turned me into a newt!"

...

"I got better..."

[Emmilyy]

haha i dont know what it was about that one worm... wasn't moving at all :P oh, well. he's a funny little guy.. except for when he ate the smaller one *tear*

Mel, same here. never another newt again. sometimes he goes weeks without touching food - its like he doesn't even see it. i end up having to hand feed him! *sigh* it was worse with the smaller one. The bigger one wouldn't let him eat (ge would bite his hole head in his mouth!) and i used to have to hand feed him all of his meals! :P . .

[perchingbird]

They do go through periods of low activity in the wild, akin to hibernation, so maybe that's his problem when he starts refusing to eat. Seasonal triggers making him think he should be digging into dirt and taking a snooze.

Live food might help stimulate his life, too. :) Movement and scent trigger their feeding responses. At a Metropark I used to work for we had a spotted salamander in the ranger station for educational purposes. We fed him worms and mealworms. He had a half soil/half water habitat, with a tunnel made in the soil. He learned to come to the surface of the tunnel with his head sticking out so we could feed him his yummies. :D

They do learn... a little bit. :x

[Ashling]

My salamander ate a goldfish whole. It was funny. This was before she bit off her mate's legs... sigh...