Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a little plastic tree stump for my newt to hide in, thinking he'd enjoy that-- and I was right, but he likes it almost too much. He doesn't seem to come out of it, in fact (unless he just darts in there when he hears me coming).He's small enough to fit in tiny nooks and crannies in the stump and I can't get him out of the stump without some prodding and poking, which I doubt he enjoys. This wouldn't be a problem, except I can't offer him food because I can never get the tweezers with the food close enough to his face for him to see it. I've left worms and crickets in the cage just hoping he'd find them and eat it, but he never seemed to. He's probably pretty stressed out already, and I imagine yanking him out of his hidey hole everytime I need to feed him isn't a particularly appetizing prelude to a meal. What should I do?

My salamanders come out of their hiding spots when I open the lid to the cage, even if its just to clean it, because they think I'm going to feed them. I've been cleaning and have my largest tiger come and bite my hand thinking it was food. Operant conditioning, I suppose. Leave a few crickets in there. He will eat them when he's hungry. After a few weeks, if you want to feed him worms and other such creatures that disappear into the substrate when left alone, go ahead and pull him out. Most likely, he will come out anyways because he's hungry.

You could also wait until he's out of his hiding spot to feed him, because most likely he's out to forage.

And how's the humidity in the cage. If its too low, I've found my salamaders don't like to come out.

Thanks for the help. I wish my newt came running out everytime he heard me open the tank, but, understandably, he doesn't seem to like me much as I'm always prying him out of his little nirvana and shoving bugs in his face. I put some of the smallest crickets I have in there and left them, hoping that the size was what prevented him from eating them last time. He's pretty small-- a japanese fire belly newt, according to the store, and maybe an inch and a half long exclusing the tail. When I got him I had seen him a couple of times in the tank at the pet store and noticed that he was always housed on top of the filter, away from the other newts and never in the water. I figured he didn't want to be in the water (maybe he's an eft? he doesn't have a stripe down his back, though)and constructed a semiaquatic tank with a very shallow and small water area. I don't know about the humidity of the tank, but there are two problems with the water: one, it has a lot of current from the filter, and two, the temperature of the water is always somewhere between 75- 76 F. I've tried to cool down the water by blowing a fan on mid-to-high speed about three feet from his tank, but it only cooled the water a degree or so and I'm worried that the air flow is bothersome to him, and that's why he won't come out. However, everytime I turn off the fan the water temp. goes up to 77-78 F, which is not good (I live in Savannah, GA, and it's extremely hot and humid here and it's impossible to keep the house any lower than about 77 without pouring money into the electric bill every month.Yay, for fall.). So I have two main problems: how do I cool the water even more and keep it cool, and how do I slow down the water flow of the water area? The filter is variable speed and it's on the lowest it can go, but the water area being so shallow it kicks up a strong current anyway. I also put a couple of water plants in front of the filter, but that didn't slow it down much either. Suggestions, please? I want him to have the ideal environment so he won't have to hide in there unless he just wants to.

Remove the hidey-hole. Newts will often choose "cover" over food, but he needs to eat. Good luck.

I removed the hidey-hole, but he still won't eat. I got a new filter to slow down the water and I'm working on something to cool down the water and the tank in general, in hopes that a more ideal environment will encourage eating. Thus far I've offered him frozen bloodworms, live waxworms, live mealworms, live chopped earthworms, and crickets. When I wiggle food in front of his face he moves so it's not in his face or he buries his head in the sphagnum. I've left all of the mentioned food items in the tank with him alone, with the lights off and no one in there watching or bugging him, but he still never ate any of them. It seems that every time I dangle food in front of him he gets smacked in the face by the food, so maybe he just doesn't want to get slapped? What do I try next?

I dont' have any magic answer. I'd say continue trying the bits of earthworm from a tweezers. Cut the piece VERY small and wiggle it slowly on the ground in front of him. Dont lower it down over his head or hit him with it, which makes him feel threatened. He still might not eat, but I think that's your best shot.

I don't know much about newts. But why not start by giving him a different sort of hide, one that doesn't have a lot of nooks and crannies where he can be hard to reach? Maybe one of those half-tube wooden things? That way you could just lift it up and expose him without having to try to drag him out by the scruff of his neck. (Do newts even have scruffs?)
You're right, being wrestled out cannot be a good introduction to dinner! Or to you!

I did everything I could with the resources I had available. Thanks to everyone for the help that I received.