Uh, what happened to my...

Alright, so a little back story. I've had for CFB newts for over a year now, and right before I went back to college, I moved them into a 20 gall tank.

Apparently, my mother forgot about them, and they hadnt been fed in the better part of a month. She alerts me of this when I get home, so I go to check out... and I only see two of them.

I took the plants out of the tank, and I still only see two - the top was intact, and I know no one removed them from the tank. Assuming they did not crawl out (let's just assume this is fact), is it possible they ate eachother?

Prior to my leaving for school, I had watched two of them frequent a corner of the cage by a rock cliff, so I guess it's possible they burrowed (though the rocks/gravel are quite big, almost to the point where I would say it's impossible).

So, which is more likely... did they eat eachother (and is this possible?), or is it possible CFBs burrowed somewhere in the heavy gravel?

*Four, geez.

There are several possibilities. You've ruled out escape, but newts are expert escape artists. If there is the slightest gap anywhere, then I would say this is the most likely scenario. What kind of lid and filter do you have?

It's also possible they died and their bodies already decomposed to where you can't see any remains. This is possible, but unlikely.

If there are large size differences, or species differences, then cannibalism is possible. But if they were similar sizes, this is pretty unlikely.

I don't think they'd burrow into the rocks. They have to come up to breathe occasionally.

hm

Escape is a possibility, as I was not the one who was taking care of them; there is a slight (oh so very slight) gap where the power cable to the filter goes through, but I would be terribly surprised if they could fit through there (I would guess the gap is less than a fifth of an inch).

Around the rest of the cage is a wiremesh top that rests on top of the cage, it has a one inch lip or so that drops down around the side of the cage; I had them in a similar enclosure for over a year with no incidents - they are also fully aquatic, and I've never once seem them venture up onto the land section (where the small gap is) that would have been required for them to get out.

I just tore the rock face apart, and neither of the missing newts was there.

I suppose that they are either STILL in the cage (unlikely), they escaped (I'll grill my family, see if anyone had ever had the top off), they got into the filter, or died and their remains were eaten/decayed.

Greaaaaat.

EDIT: they were NOT in the filter *sigh*

The same thing happened to me. By the time I graduated highschool I only had one newt, a Japanese firebelly, and since I didn't have room in my dorm, I left him at home and had my parents feed him. When I came back for thanksgiving he was gone. Definitely escaped, even though I had had him for 9 years and he had never once left the water for more than a minute, or tried to escape. I am certain now to have good lids, even if it looks like they never escape.

The fact that they hadn't been fed might have been part of the problem. I think I recall Jen saying that if they are healthy and comfortable with their setup, they don't attempt too much escape. Which was probably why they never tried before.

I was in a similar situation to yours a few months ago- i came home to find 1 newt instead of 2. I have a hollow tank ornament with a small gap on the bottom.I guess somehow an airbubble got into it which lifted the ornament just enough for the hole to be visible and little Ted decided to crawl in there. It was a full week before I got him out. Do you have any ornaments or anything you haven't checked out yet?

Hope you find the little guy if he's still around...
xx

If you have a power cord that goes under a screen lid, then I would say with near-certainty that this is how they escaped. For alternatives, see:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/escape.shtml