A Newbie on Cynops Orientalis

Hi everyone,
Am I glad to have stumbled upon this forum! I'm a new proud owner of 4 cynops orientalis (orientali? -plural). We set up a glass tank that is about one and a half foot long, about 1/2 land, 1/2 water. The newts looks rather small, each slightly longer than an inch. I'm a little worried because only 2 of them seem to be eating - we're feeding them with frozen bloodworms. They don't seem to be able to detect the worms - unless I dangle the worms in front of them. Does anyone else face similar difficulties in feeding? Any tips to share as to how to "persuade" them to eat?

Thanks in advance and have a nice, newty day!
Amidala

I'm sorry to bother people, but how do we post pictures on this forum? I've got pics of my darlings that I would love to share!

Thanks
Amidala

Hey Amidala,

Go to the photo section. I believe you have to be a registered member though. At the top of the photo page it explains how to do it.

As for your new pets congratulations. They're alot of fun but that species is fragile. Make sure to read the caresheet on them found on www.caudata.org/caudatecentral/

They should be fully aquatic when they're adults, so if they're staying to the land they could be young. Eventually you won't need that much land...mine just have one branch that breaks the water and only one of them uses it regularly (I have 6).

For feeding mine have never had problems finding food...they smell it and go crazy looking for it. It's quite funny actually. Are you feeding them in the water part or the land part? I'm feed mine int he water. On land they can't see well and they won't smell it, so that would be harder. Try live earthworm chopped up. That's a really good food.

Hope it helps,
Rob

Hi Rob,

Thanks for your help! You're probably right about their age - they tend to rest on the log especially at night, but they do go into the water every now and then. I throw in about 10 frozen bloodworms in the water, but not all four of them would be able to detect the worms. That's usually because they're on land. Maybe I will try getting them all to enter the water before feeding. Hope it works!

Live earthworms...sorry but it sounds a little ikky to me! Where do you get them anyway? We don't seem to have them in our pet shops where I live.

Thanks again!
Amidala

Ah! Hope this works! I've managed to catch one of my newts in a really fun pose!

Ah! Hope this works! I've managed to catch one of my newts in a really fun pose!

Yikes, hope this one loads properly! My apologies, mods!

There ya go. That looks like a nice setup. Maybe give them some more water depth though?

As for earthworms you can buy them at any fishing bait shops, or online through a whole bunchs of places. I'm not in the US so I can't say them all, but I'm sure others on the forum can.

They're really not any worse then crickets or mealworms. Some people get squimish when cutting them up though. If that will bother you, live whiteworms/blackworms would do well. White worms would probably work perfect for both the aquatic and terrestrial, but you'd have to be careful to get them to eat other things as well as white worms are very high in fat.

Hope that helps,
Rob

OH..also fruit flies may work for the terrestrial ones.

Thanks Rob for your suggestions! Will try scouting around for those worms. But I'll probably get hubby to feed them though, *grin*
I'll stick to the frozen bloodworms!

I was browsing this forum but noticed that there are relatively few hobbyists who are keeping cynops orientalis. Is there any reason for this? E.g are they too difficult to keep? too easy to obtain? are the other newt species prettier? more expensive? cheaper? not challenging enough as pets? not as responsive as the others?

Just wondering! Have a newty day!
Amidala

Hey Amidala,

C. orientalis is probably the most commonly found newt worldwide. They're a fairly fragile species, and very small. I think the reason most people don't keep them is that they are so common. Most people like to keep uncommon things is my guess. What I think makes it worse is it's usually sold as the first newt or salamander anyone owns, but it's not best suited for that because it's fairly fragile.

They're a good species to have around if you take care of them properly.

Where in the US are you? I'm sure some people on these forums can suggest good places to buy any/all of the food items I suggested.

Hope that helps,
Rob

As Rob says, I think most people on the forums here are more advanced keepers and don't keep them because they are so common. They prefer to keep something more exotic I guess.

I've been keeping a colony for a long time now and I love them. I've considered giving them away to make room for more challenging species, but I've never been able to actually do it.

Amidala,


If you have small C. orientalis can I recommend Daphnia... mine love it! (Can you get live "water fleas" where you are, say from a petshop or maybe raise your own culture at home?)

Also, re worms, if you don't like to chop up earthworms get a whiteworm culture, like Rob mentioned. I know these are often used for larvae and can be a little on the fatty side perhaps, but for small reluctant feeders, you can't beat a bag of Daphnia and a little ball of whiteworm on the end of some tweezers. They'll have the wriggle factor your frozen bloodworms lack. Being so aquatic these newts should be easier to feed.

Watch the water quality coz they are fragile as Nate says (I have noticed in the world of reptiles that the commonest / cheapest species eg Senegal chameleons are often the most fragile and that seems to be apply to this newt species, with shops taking the attitude that they are "disposably" cheap / replaceable... I'll stop there before I get on my soapbox)... and above all, good luck with this delightful species!!!

Hey thanks so much guys, for all that information! So sorry I took so long to get back to all of you.

To Rob: I guessed as much - that the C. orientalis is a common pet, but did you know that it has been disallowed to be sold where I live? Surprise - I'm not in the US, I'm from Singapore!

My husband and I were walking around out local market one weekend morning and visited the little quiet aquarium in the vicinity - and there they were - c. orientalis, about 15 of them. They are rarely seen around here, hence we've never even had the opportunity to see any other salamanders or newts on sale - pet shops here are heavily fined if they bring them in.

My husband wanted to try feeding the newts with live red mealworms - are these okay? (I'm still squirmish but oh well, if they're nutritious...) The shops around here do not bring in earthworms - but I'm pretty sure we'll be able to catch some when it rains.

To Nate: Hi! You're right about how attached you grow to the newts! Did you know, one of them actually managed to escape and we found it on the floor near the tank one morning, still crawling about happily! Gosh, we were horrified! Now we've learnt our lesson by covering the top of the tank - do you have any ideas as to how to keep the newts in?

To Matt: Thanks for your suggestions! I haven't seen live Daphnia in pet shops here but we could try to raise a culture. We had a microworm culture some time ago - we used them to feed baby betta splendons - so I know what those are, but white worms? Are they about the size of the regular frozen bloodworms? Don't see them very much around here.

Regarding water quality, I have a query - how frequently should we change water for the newts? I have a small piece of log which leaches into the water, turning it brownish each day. So far I've changed half the water with day-old water every day - will this be harmful to the newts?

I know from all your responses that most of you are experts in the field - so I'd like to say a big THANKS to all you friendly people out there who are so patient in explaining things to me!

Hey Amidala,

If the mealworms are small enough they can eat them, but some people worry about the mealworm's mandibles. They like to squish the head so that after it's been eaten it won't start to eat at the gut. I personally don't do this, but I also do not feed mealworms often.

White worms are about 1inch long and as thick as a sewing needle. They're very good...but fatty so only use part of the time.

As for the escaping...get a screen door repair kit and use it to make a screen top for your tank that fits TIGHTLY. That should help.

Microworms would be good for baby CFBNs.

I would do a partial water change every week or two..depending on how many you have and in what size tank. The tanins that are in the water (that make it brown) shouldn't bother the animals and are good for plants...so if you ahve any live plants in there they should grow like weeds.

Rob

Hi,
If were to get some orientalis how much land would they need? Also, what are the best temps for them? I have a 2ft tank, so any suggestions of either habitat designs or sources (not pet shops) would be welcome.
Chris

Hey Chris,

Where are you located? If you're in Canada I may have a source for you.

2' tank would be great for C. orientalis...you could even have a little breeding colony setup in that. As for land, I do not provide mine with any 'land sections' per se....I have a large peice of driftwood that breaks the surface and that's about it. Only one of my young ones really uses it at all, and even he or she doesn't use it much anymore.

Temps you want it UNDER 68F. Don't let it go over. If you keep it below that, then they should do great.

Habitat designs, I would recommend bare bottom with a few hiding places (large rock, fish tank decorations or similar things) and heavily planted tank. Some people prefer silk plants because you don't need to setup a light (which the newts don't need). I setup a light just for my plants and have found it to be working well so far. It's really a personal call on which. I also used a peice of cut plastic to try and give them different amounts of water depth..ranging from about 1 foot up to about 1 inch at the shallow point. It also ended up creating a sort of underwater cave because of it.

There are many good tank design ideas on Caudate Central..check out there for more ideas.

Rob

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the info. I've tried searching around in pet shops here but there are no white worms. Maybe they're not commonly used as pet food. Salamanders and amphibians are generally not very popular with Singaporeans as a whole, it seems!

I'm quite concerned about one of my 4 newts - he's the smallest (looks like a male - short tail) and thinnest of them and he tends to rest on the log unlike the others which are taking to the water most of the time. He also eats very little (by the way he's the one that escaped the other time) - we wonder whether he's suffering from depression or something! He's almost suicidal! We were happy to see him molt and take a bite of his skin - but he did not finish it up. What might be wrong with him? Is there anything we can do to help, like keep him separately from the others?

Thanks for your help.

Rob,
thanks for info. Unfortunately I'm in england.
Chris