hello, I am relatively new to owning newts, I have a newt that I have had for 7 months now. At first I kept her in my fish tank with a piece of drift wood that stuck out of the water for her to climb on, uneducated to the care of newts (thanks petco for the sale but the lack of information) I didn't feed her anything specifically and she seemed to keep her weight on. Recently I purchased a floating dock thing for amphibians for her to climb on. The problem is that she does not leave the dock, is losing weight, and is not eating the brine shrimp, newt pellets, or worms I bought for her, water temp is at 72 degrees F, which I know is a little high for her but not extremely high. I am purchasing a little plastic tank for her to stay in until I get weight on her but does anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on what is going on? Could it really be too warm for her? she is under the aquarium light but only for 8-10 hours a day, then I turn the aquarium light off. thanks for the help! she is my favorite animal in the fishtank and I would hate to loose her.
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fire bellied newt health
Replies (2)
What exactly do you mean by "I did not feed her anything specifically?" Do you mean you did not feed it anything?
Petstores are generally really [bleep]ty places to get quality info, and I remember when I got my newt they told me to feed it frozen bloodworms. I have over a dozen newts now, and none of them eat bloodworms. Newts have really terrible eye sight, and they see things based on movement, so if something is not moving they may not even know it is there. I also don't use bloodworms because they foul the water easily and are not healthy for the plants.
I feed all my caudates crickets and small earthworms. If your guy has been eating I would suggest hand feeding with tweesers to ensure the crickets are not just drowning.
Your temps...too warm, newts, especially Cycnops like it in the high fifties to mid sixties ideally. While temps in the 70's are ok for short periods of time, they are bad for longterm health.
And what do you mean "its my favorite animal in the fishtank?" Do you house other animals in the same tank?
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A room of herps.
www.freewebs.com/kapoktree
hi if your newt is mostly on land it wants to live on land when a newt grows up it has a choice it can pick always in water or mostly land and occasionly water.
