Is this normal

I have moist eco earth piled on one side of my 10 gal, with a plastic barrier type thing (fake bamboo fence looking stuff) to stop it from all washing over to the water side. I bought one of those "floating islands" that they sell in the fish shop (it's a plastic island with 2 poles made to look like palms), and placed it like a diving board, half over water, half on land.

My FB Newt has taken to burrowing under the island. Is that normal? There are no other signs of illness, and I think he's eating (I put food in the bowl, and there is usually less of it). I thought he/she might just be bored, so I bought a 2nd one the other day, but there is no change. None of them seem to go swimming, although I saw the 2nd one hanging out on a rock in the shallow water.

Nicole, new newts are often slow to going into the water, especially if they're young. What your newt is doing is normal. Do you have any other hiding places for it? They like to hide and feel safe sometimes.

Your habitat is okay, there is nothing "wrong" with it. However, I would suggest a change (for a few reasons, which I will mention in a minute).

I suggest making the aquarium more aquatic. Many firebelly owners on this forum (myself included) don't really have a "land" area. Instead, we use lots of things poking out of the water, like plants, driftwood, and even free floating island typed things. This provides all the land they really need.

This would be easier to clean, easier to feed your newts in, and it would allow them to adjust to the water easier.

Is your food dish in the water or on the land portion?

It's on the land portion.

What type of hiding spots would you suggest?

put ALOT of plants in the water live or fake (preferably live but fake are good too)they love to just hang on them and crawl through them Also you should feed the newt in the water try hand feeding him with tweezers and make sure to take what ever they dont eat out of the water beacause it can be harmfull to your newts. I use this for my newts to get out of the water http://www.zoomed.com/html/docks.php It works really good.
Good luck!
Juston

(Message edited by hank on July 13, 2006)

(Message edited by hank on July 14, 2006)

Here's the problem: if you give a firebelly a nice eco-earth land area, they will almost always choose to stay there (especially if they can hide or burrow) rather than go in the water. The reason this is a problem is that it's hard to get them to eat on land. So... you either need to find an effective way to feed them on land (not easy), or get them aquatic.

The other problem with the eco-earth setup is that you'll always be getting bits of coco-fiber in the water and you'll get tired of cleaning it out.

Ditto to both of those. I'd highly recommend a more aquatic setup. WAY easier to clean. As Juston said, the only hiding places I use are lots of hiding aquatic plants. You could use rocks or broken bits of terracotta (or just a small pot on its side).

Anything they can crawl under or around.

Look at these pages of setup ideas, and you can see what kinds of things other people use.

Lots of these include pots or something just at the water's edge to make a land area. Personally, I don't like to do that. If I stick my arm in the water to do something, it floods the land area. If I lower it just a tiny bit, then they can't use the land area. And when it floods dirt gets all over the tank. Just hasn't worked out well for me, so I'd stay out of that.