Tricking Newts to eat cereal

Tricking Newts to eat cereal

I've been feeding my fish with all kinds of live food. 

Here you can see my Endlers go after Grindal worms. 

And my wild caught Eastern newts get very excited too. 

Newts eat worms and probably at a young age they may even taste Grindal worms in the wild.

 Though, I doubt newts have ever seen so many Grindals in one place :) 

The female newt named SheShy senses worms everywhere and goes eagerly after the smell.

 Naturally, she follows the movements of fish that pick worms. 

My newt-a-girl is very frustrated and chasing the fish smelling the worms. 

Grindal worms are too small for feeding adult newts. 

Well, I get an idea how to use the smell of Grindal worms to feed newts with something else.

 But first thing first, let's feed newts with sizable size worms.

 Red wigglers, isopods, snails and scuds are the primary live food I've been feeding my newts. 

One of the newts attacked the leg of another newt! 

And another attack! 

I guess those legs do look like a worm :) 

Alright, let's drop one more worm for the other newt. 

Oh yes, that settles it.

 Well, not exactly...the newt-a-girl is still looking for worms.

 She bit the boy!

 SheShy really wants her worm. 

No worry - I have enough worms in my worm farm for all my newts and some more. 

My wild caught newts do not eat dry food or any dead food for that matter. 

I offer a flake of cereal to my newts - newts are not interested in cereal at all. 

I use Cheerios for feeding Springtails and Grindal worms. 

Drop a flake and moist the culture. 

Let the flake get soaked and saturated with Grindal worms. 

The flakes with Grindal worms should smell attractively for my newts.

 Drop the flake in the aquarium. 

Fish get very excited. 

Newts are just observing from afar what's going on.

 Let's try it on some other day. 

Newts come to check on the flake.

 Left the flake untouched for fish to pick on. 

I keep trying to feed newts soaked in worm flakes for the following couple weeks. 

And finally, one day a newt took a bite! 

The same newt is eating a soaked cereal flake on the following feeding. 

Another newt is watching it closely.

 SheShy decided to try cereal too after another week or so. 

Eventually newts get accustomed to soaked cereal flakes. 

I feed newts with cereal only occasionally as an addition to their diet.

 Remember- newts' primary diet is live food. 

Newts are hunters.

Also, you may have noticed that soaked flakes are messy food for newts. 

Not all flakes get eaten all the time. 

I skip feeding my fish on the days when I feed newts.

 Fish and snails clean all food mess left after newts. 

And here you can see a rare occasion when SheShy picks a floating flake. 

Watching my carnivorous newts eating cereal made of plants makes me wonder and admire the adaptive power of Nature. 

Everything is possible! 

We are creators of the world we want to live in. 

Have fun and happy aquarium gardens :)