Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently rescued two amphibians from my cousin, who had abandoned them at my Grandma's house. I have identified them as a fire-bellied toad and a paddle tail newt. They are in seperate tanks, and I've got some crickets for the toad (the newt likes the pellets) but the tanks are small, and before I got the toad he almost drowned because there was too much water in the tank and nothing but a small area of gravel to sit on. I've drained most of the water and given him a nice flat rock, and he seems much happier.

I'm already in love with theses guys, and want them to live long, happy, lives. My plan is to move the newt into a 10 gallon tank with sand on the bottom and rocks as well as aquatic plants and a filter. I was thinking of modifying my brother's old hampster cage by laying down astro-turf and putting a screen over top to stop the crickets from getting out- this would be the frog's new home. The crickets would then go into the frog's old tank. I've already bought a shallow bowl for the frog and am waiting for a deeper one to come in.

Is what I'm planning ok? Is there anything that I've forgotten? I've never cared for amphibians before so any advice would be more than welcome.

it was good of you to take them in. i have three fire bellied toads in a 10 gallon tank with lots of plants and a large waterdish, you could do this or have a semi-aquatic set up with a few inches of water and a lot of rocks. i use the waterdish in a mostly terrestrial set up because i very rarely see them in the water dish, they are very hardy pets and will thrive if taken care of properly. the hampster cage should work as long as it doesn't have any cracks, water tends to build up on the bottom, i don't know why. a 10 gallon will work for the newt, heres a pic of my newts set up: