Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, my firebellied newt died last night. Under his belly he/she had these like spots where it looked like the red "fire" was absent. It wasn't filled in with the black pigment either, It just looked like a scab or some kind of scrape. My other newt that I got with him is doing great tho. I only had them for about a week. The live newt was eating the second day and the one that died didnt want anything to do with the food. I could tell he was sick. I mean i did buy them from Petsmart, which i usually never buy any animal from there. But i read that fire bellied newts were very hardy and so i figured what the heck. One more question, my healty newt has only been eating chopped worms since ive had him, ive fed him about 3 times so far. I want to mix up the diet but i dont know how to feed him those messy freeze dried bloodworms. He usually sits half way out of the water, and only live things realy get his atention. How do i feed him that stuff? Sorry for the long post.

'chris

almost all fire belly newts are wild caught imports, sounds like yours just couldn't deal with captivity. Try feeding small crickets to vary the diet, mine love then

hey thanks fot the quick response! One more question for ya if u dont mind. I fed him more chopped worms tonite, he at a total of 3 small worms i found in my backyard. He is lookin a little pudgy, and i know that its easier to over feed then underfeed. I think im going ot feed him every 3 days or so, is that ok? So are worms and small crix a staple diet until i can get him to take some raw meat. What raw meats are good? thanks again

'chris

i have never tried raw meats. I feed mine every 2-4 days, or twice a week. I have also noticet my larger firebelly likes the occasional slug. good luck