Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
Is it ok to keep fire belly toads and fire belly newts together in a 20 gallon?
Thanks
Steve

yes, some people say you should never mix any species, but i have found that even some of those people will list these 2 as an exception. they usually dont bother eachother and can be fed properly without competition from eachother. the newts will frequently eat the drowned crickets, helping you clean up.

No, you can not. Firebelly toads are tropical, while firebelly newts are temperate. The newts will suffer heat stress and die if kept at temperatures adequate for the toads. They're also both fairly toxic. Their toxins are not compatible and they will slowly poison each other.

For more valid reasons, read: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

both should be kept at temperatures around 70, the toads may appreciate a slightly warmer area(75 tops) on the land area, but the newts will be in the water, so they wont be affected by this. if you want to be extra careful than dont mix them. but these two species are fine to keep together, at least every single time i have seen it done, time after time after time. i read most of those horror stories, FBTs are aggressive eaters and will go for anything that moves when crickets are present, that includes eachother. so should every FBT be kept by itself? i have never had FBTs attack FBNs when crickets are kept in the tank at all times, not just fed a few daily. this way they stay full and dont go into a feeding frenzy when a few crickets are popped into a tank. and of course these forums are going to be full of problems, nobody gets on and says, my FBT and FBN get along great. so you will only hear about the bad cases, not the many more cases where things work out fine. again; if you want to be safest, keep them all separate.

i have to agree with kaysie... the firebelly toads are far more aggressive than the newts.. regardless of whether you keep crickets in the tank at all times or not (which is difficult to do anyway because the crickets will continuously jump in the water and drown) the toads will still not differentiate between the newts and other food sources.. if it is smaller, it is food. also from what i have read the temperatures are different.. firebelly toads should be kept around 78 and the newts no higher than 72...

in addition to that, it seems like the newts would constantly be stressed by the activity and threat (of being eaten) by the toads...

i have seen this mixing of species turn out disasterously.. i am not one to discourage any mixing, in fact i have 3 mixed species tanks at home.. just this one particularly... ive seen newts missing legs, and even juvenile toads attempting to eat newts almost the same size as them.

imo its a bad idea to try this combination...
-----
my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, chameleon treefrogs?, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, veiled chameleon, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, four cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

i had mine mixed over the summer but seperated them but one of the newts got sick.they wree fine.and im going to do it again once iget them all off quarentine.so i say go for it but,like the other guy sed,if you want to be the safest keep them seperate.

just leting you no i have done it with no problems

ps.the newt that was sick was sick 2 days after i got him.i didnt quarentine him wen i got him

I also have combined my firebelly toads and my firebelly newts. They do fine together, in fact I am more concerned about newt on newt violence than toad on newt. hehe The toads really keep to themselves along with the newts. Just my two cents!
Chad