Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My pet firebelly newt has a bone jutting out of where its leg should be(i bought it this way and it was the only one at the pet store...). Will it shed the bone and grow back its leg? I dont want to have him spend the rest of his life as a disfigured freak newt.

Please e-mail me as soon as possible!
(beetleguy@comcast.net)

Newts are masters of regeneration. It will grow its leg back.

Actually I do not think that fire-bellies are one of the species of caudates that can easily regenerate limbs. If you do not want a pet with a missing leg, you should not have bought it in the first place.

I am not exactly clear on what your fbns condition is, I couldn't tell from your post, but it sounds like it could be a broken leg? In that case you should take it to a vet, if it is not already irreperable by now. You could also attempt to fix it yourself, but since I'm not even sure if we are dealing with a break than I won't go into all that now.

Or are we just talking about a missing limb? If the limb is missing, your newt will heal and just have a stub. This will make it a bit akward when he is swimming and walking but will result in no serious problems in captivity.

All caudates regenerate limbs/tails/unessential organs pretty readily. It's leg will grow back.