New fire belly newt

I have had froogle, my fire belly newt for about 6 months now and has been doing great. Ive since modified her tank to have a floating island to maximize the water space. She loves it !( She laid eggs so i knew it was a she, but she ate them) So i felt bad for her being all alone so when i went to a petshop they had alot of new newt but they were small a little under 2.5 inches. Froggle wasnt that small when i got her. Anyways, the people at the store said they were paddle tail fire belly newts. some newts looked a little more rough in skin and lighter in color than the froogle but alot of them look just like froogle including the one i choose. At a little under 2.5 inches is he considered a juvenile or not anymore ? The people at the store said they were probably only a few months old, but knowing they didnt know what they were talking about, Im sure thats not true. At an estimate is he at least a few years old ? How big do they grow in a year ? Froogle is about 3.5 inches big but looks like the new newt, bart is about 1/3 the size of froogle. Is bart too young for me to determine its sex ? Also from the pictures below, does he look like a paddle tail newt or what kind of fire belly newt ? If he is a paddle tail, how much bigger will he get from froogle ? I dont exactly know what kind of fire belly froogle is, but i think she is a chinese. The new newt is extremely skinny and i put food as soon as i brought him home and he ate right away. Is this a good sign ? I remember froogle didnt eat for about a week from when i brought him home. Bart however just sits on the land and wont go in the water. If i put him in the water he will frantikly swim onto the floating island. Is this normal for him to just stay in one spot and not move at all? He will move very rarely on the land but wont enter the water at all. ANy other info on having 2 newts would be helpful.

Picture of Froogle (My first newt):
[IMG]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...8/DSC03938.jpg[/IMG]

Pictures of Bart (new newt):
[IMG]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...8/DSC05009.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...8/DSC05002.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...8/DSC05001.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...8/DSC04999.jpg[/IMG]

Picture of tank set up:
[IMG]http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...8/DSC05014.jpg[/IMG]

I have two chinese fire belly newts (new, only got them about 2 weeks ago). One of the little guys did what your Bart seems to be doing up until recently. He didnt go into the water, and when he did he would swim frantically. Eitherway, 2 days ago i saw him go into the water on his own, and have a little walk around. So hopefully your guy just needs some time like mine did.

[Ryan]

I like the name of your newt, Bart, that is the name of my mudpuppy (even though its a she).

Update: Today in the morning first thing i looked at my tank and bart was in the water, not on the bottom but on the floating plants so he was almost fully submerged on his own. Im glad hes slowly coming around and entered the water even if he hasnt made it to the bottom of the tank yet. I also left some freeze dried bloodworms on the dry floating island since he wont go to the bottom where i feed them live bloodworms, and today there is not trace of them. Im happy he is getting some food since he is extremely skinny.

Hi I am new to this forum and recently returning to the hobby after many years. I just got some chinese fire belly newts as well, and am having the same problem. I'm glad I found this posting, hopefully my little guys will follow the trend.

I highly recommend using thawed frozen bloodworms as they have much more nutritional value than freeze dried. Try blackworms too, they are very healthy. Congratulations to all of you on your entries and re-entries to the hobby!

So bart, still wont go into the water. When i put him in there he will frantically start swimming to land. I try to put him in the water at least one time a day becuse i noticed his skin is getting extremely dry from being out of the water for a long time. As for the food, I have been trying to feed him live blackworms that I feed Froogle, but he wont eat them, he tends to have a prefference of food that is on land or food that floats where he can easily grab it. I tried feeding him today, but he did not eat today. He is still really thin though. Ive also tried feeding him small pieces of shrimp unsuccessfully.

Why don't you try earthworms? I had the same problem with one of my fire bellies when I bought it, but he accepted earthworms until he put on weight and one day moved into the water.

Good luck

Sandra, by putting him in the water, you're just scaring/stressing him, and he's more apt to avoid it. Try just gently misting him while he's on land.

Keep trying with various live or frozen food, and hopefully he will take it.

I would suggest you to increase water level so that the water will gradually cover up the land portion. Eventually the newt will partially be in the water and no other dry land to high. They might crawl up the glass, but eventually they will get use to the water, especially when you are not increasing the water level all of the sudden.

I have induced all my chinese fire belly newts larvae to go into water this way. Since you are using some sort of floating island, I will suggest you to use some other land alternative or try to sank the floating island in some way for this method.

By looking at your photos, I think you might be playing around with your newts too much. BY stressing them like this, they will definately reject food and reject living like a newt. I personally never touch my newt more than once a year, if any at all. I believe this has helped my newts to become stable with all the new environment.

If you are scare the newt is too dry, dont be. Since if you force it into the water, it will just be even worse. Your newts seem to be still at the juvenile stage, so maybe they are still not used to water (depend on how they grew up). I have juvenile newts that never get in the water, and they are still pretty healthy. If you are really concerned, you may spray some dechorinated water at the land portion once a day to give some moisture.

(Message edited by achiinto on April 20, 2007)

It's been a few days and still my newts have yet to eat or venture very far into the water. I am starting to worry. I already raised the water level and kept the light off for a few days, and today bought some frozen bloodworms to try to feed them but with no luck. I am using a toothpick to offer them a couple of the small worms but they just turn there heads away. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am at a loss, the previous newts I kept back a few years ago never had any reluctantly like this.

You might have to be patient and wait. It might be the water quality or the temperature. But if all condition are good, it should eventually go to the water and take food. Or maybe it is just too late for the newt.

If you provide more shelter and plant so that the water area more secure and ideal, maybe the newt will love it more.
Newt that spent time on land, will have more difficult to stay in water initially. Since teh dry skin tend to hold bubble and maybe the starved newt has bubble in teh stomach, making sinking more difficult.