Fire-belly scared of water

help! my newt hates the water. I have two fire-bellied newts in a 10 gallon tank with about 4 gallons of water in it. it has a large island on one side with a cave on top. my water is 70-72 degrees farenheit, PH =7, is filtered with only a slow current, and no airstone. they are fed frozen bloodworms every 2 or 3 days. I bought my newts from a petstore 7 weeks ago. one little newt is almost always in the water and quite active she is an active eater and looking great. my second little guy however, spends all his time on land in the cave and never in the water. he gets very dry looking and i've even thought he was dead a couple of times. I suspect however he comes down occasionally at night otherwise he should be dead. he looks good though except for being kinda skinny. he's only been seen eating twice but he's probably eating at night. when i do put him in the water he freaks out like he's drowning or something and zooms to the nearest land. even if I put him on my hand half in the water he'll move higher up my hand. is he still stressed? or what else could it be? he's really worrying me. help anyone.

I think he is still stress. Maybe you can try to lower the light a bit.
I have the same problem with one of my C.O. before when I first purchased her. I sometime was able to feed her frozen bloodwormby handfeeding on land. I think it took about 2 months for her to get used to water.

I think I added the water a bit higher each time gradually. And that might helped her to get used to water. Maybe you can try the same as well.

A newt CAN live for 7 weeks w/o food, so there is no guarantee he is eating. I would guess he isn't. There are additional suggestions for getting him aquatic here:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

The C. orientalis caresheet Jen referred to says "most individuals eventually make their way back to the water." I noted the word "most" since I have 3 suspected C. orientalis that have never entered the water since I got them all at once over a year ago <font size="-2">(I say "suspected" as I didn't get them as C. orientalis but the consensus is that they are)</font>. I find this to be very odd, as I would think at least one would have entered water by now. My previous experience with C. orientalis is the newts quickly took to water. Then again, the same sentence also contains the word "eventually"

I haven't yet tried the suggested technique of denying my stubbornly terrestrial ones full access to land, but I have tried keeping them for months at a time in half-land, half-water setups, and even in 80% water, 20% land setups --with no success. They indeed "freak out" when in water. They're otherwise healthy, and these days, I've been keeping them on land only.

So long as your land-loving newt declines to enter the water and refuses to accept handfed frozen bloodworm, I'd recommend feeding it small wax worms, bite-sized crickets or some other manageable live food. Suggestion: put the newt in a separate small feeding enclosure with some moss and perhaps a shelter, add a few crickets or worms, and check back in a couple of hours to see how many, if any, have been consumed. That what works for me at least.

Also, the newt's terrestrial environment should not be allowed to become too dry, especially if the newt is weak. Instead, allow it access to moist areas. I used java moss with mine. Ed discusses the importance of moist substrate and the idea of providing a moisture gradient in his caresheet for tiger salamanders at:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Ambystoma/A_tigrinum.shtml

(Message edited by tj on December 07, 2005)

Another possibility that is keeping the newts out of the water is the water quality. If the tank was not cycled before aquiring the newts then the tank may still be cycling and bloodworms can pollute the water fairly well and in smaller volumes of water require more frequent water changes.
See http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Ed

gosh, I was half joking when i said he was actually scared of the water but I think this is in fact the correct diagnosis. he has been seen eating a few times, but to be sure I'm gonna handfeed him for a bit then try the separate feeding box that Tim suggested to make sure all is well. I've lowered the light already but I'll lower it a bit more. Water quality sounds like the most noteworthy idea but in this case the water is "top-notch" as said by a successful fish keeper. thanks everybody! knowledge is the key to peace of mind. and I'm sure Deiago and Sasha will thank you as well.

...can't believe I gotta teach my water lizard how to swim...how embarrasing.

HEY!!! That is not a lizard! Not Reptile, Amphibian.

I had expirance with one of my orientalis where she was very active in water, and then I moved, and after that she was very opposed to the water. I have no evidence to back this up, but due to the fact the setup was changed and the water changes and it was filled form a diffrent source, a combination of smell and sight change contributed to her hiding and day and not eating. I tried many times to get her used to water again by puttin her in a small tub with just soem moss and bloodworms, but had no real success. I also think that it had somethign to do with a small wound on her tail, and somehow the water irritated her through that. Well, good luck.

yes yes ok Ian...It's a....frog with a tail lookin' thing which is amphibian like. kinda a...stick looking thing...with eyes..and very cute. a cutie! thats what it is, a CUTIE!

You too huh Jeff? we're gonna have to start a support group for people with water-phobic newts. anonymous of course.
I think you could be onto something about the wound on her tail. My little scaredy cat has 3 little wounds on his tail. he had them when I got him from the pet shop.

Petshops are basically newt hell. The one I bought from a petshop I regreted greatly beacuse she died after a few days of isolation, she may have even drowned. You should try salt baths with the poor little guy. There are links withen caudata culture that deal with that. Neosporin will help too, but not the kind with pain killer, thats deadly to them.

Also, an airstone might be worth a try, you can shove one into a foam insert that you poke a hole through to make it less scary and it will filter stuff too.

(Message edited by newtsrfun on December 14, 2005)

When I got my newt Neptune, he had a large missing hunk of tail which has never regrown. The newts at the pet shop were in the same water as some sort of little red crabs. I wonder if there was a connection...

unbelievable! it's amazing how pet stores don't care about the welfare of their animals. I can actually understand such things as overcrowding, but putting a crab, claws and all, with delicate newts? do they even attempt to educate themselves?