Advice needed and no one to phone

Hi, I have so many questions with regards to my newt and housing etc, I have looked everywhere and cannot find anyone to phone that can give me information, I have phoned my vets and local aquarium places with no luck. Does anyone know of any newt experts. I have a spotted tailed warty newt. Many thanks.

There are quite a few people here who could probably answer your questions. Just post them and see what happens.

Did you check out the warty newt section of the forum? http://www.caudata.org/forum/messages/13/27446.html?1152283322

Hi, and thanks for the link but I cannot seem to find everything I need to know. What it is, is that last year we were given a newt that we were told we could put in our pond he survived the winter fine and decided to find out what he is and he is a Spotted tailed warty newt, we have brought him in and have a tank set up, with gravel in the bottom, some presoaked bog wood, some rocks and have planted some plants, have a fluval 2 (do we need bigger) filter running in water that is measuring approx 37" x 18" x 9", which we currently are running the carbon filter in. We have an area where he can get out of the water but has not found it, and all he has done is come to the top then go down again fairly constantly, up until now it looks like he is sleeping on the bottom. We have lighting in there (do we need it?) and the temp is higher than it should be from what i have read (can you buy a cooler?). I have spoken to two people today who have recommended that I put him back in the pond, which I know is illegal!! Can I get another newt of the same to go in there and where would I get one from? I gave him some frozen blood worm and he has not touched it!! So many questions and still probably forgotten some, but I need to know asap incase I am doing something wrong and he dies, but that is the problem, there is no one to phone to get immediate help.
Many thanks.

Donna, the first thing we'll need to know is the exact species of the newt. You should go here http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Paramesotriton/P_caudopunctatus.shtml and see if that is positively your newt.

Then we can tell you more about care.

I might need to try some live food. Since that newt has been living in the wild (pond) most recently.

Yes, you may try to get a cooler. But they can be very expensive. There are some alternative. Such as screen top, a small fan, ice water bottle, basement. All of these can help a little.

The constant up and down is normal as long as it is not too frequent. Do you have any live plant? How high is the water level? Do you think the tank is oxygenated enough (probably is not just want to make sure)?

Hi. Yes he is definately a spotted tail warty newt, infact it was a couple of you from this forum that helped me identify him a few months ago. Think he is male, from what I have read today as he has the spotting on his tail. I did look back on this help page but I think it has been wiped off already as I put a picture on my posting. Thanks.Donna

Sorry for posting again so soon , as I typed the last one, Ian's posting came through. The water is 9 inches high, and I have the top of the filter out of the water with the accessory on it so it blows bubbles on the surface which creates the oxygen. I have just planted some plants in the gravel and am going to buy some of the pond oxygenating plant to go on the surface also. Will this be ok?

Okay, Donna, I'll try to give you some helpful links on here. I hope that you haven't already seen them all! Caudata Culture has tons of great information. Take a quick read through this stuff, and then let us know what questions you still have (at least that's what I would recommend doing). Here we go:

Chillers can be VERY expensive (several hundred dollars) and aren't really intended for smaller tanks. (Your tank doesn't sound too small though.) Here is the FAQ page, which offers some alternative cooling methods (and maybe answers to some more of your questions):
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml

My favorite link to give is the one to the articles section. There you can find tons of information. I refer back to it regularly:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

Many of those articles have excellent photos that help (and make the articles a really quick read).

I would make one recommendation about your tank. I would go with a bare bottom (no gravel). I've recently switched from gravel to bare bottom and feel pretty redundant telling everyone on here to give it a try, but it really makes life so much easier (and the newts don't care). Most of my plants are free floating. It makes "cleaning a breeze" (I think that's someone else's advertising slogan or something.)

Anyway, at cleaning time, it takes me about fifteen minutes to clean my two newt tanks, and that's it. My water quality is better too. Good luck and let us know what questions you still have.

Fantastic, I will get reading. Thanks for all your help. But I'm sure I will be back for more.