Can I use Spirulina?

Hi there,
I have a wild smooth newt, on trying to make him feel more at home, I sprinkled a little of my spirulina, I usually take, in the hope he may like it!, well I thought because its an algae and newts like pond like environments, then maybe it would work, I found he went into the water and swam a little then he investigated and climbed on several new things I put in his tank, a bit of everything, I gave him a rock to sit on, he has some stones,leaves live and dead some aquarium plants, gravel,coco husk and some sphagnum moss, I used the outside water to soak the sphagnum, I have a temp gauge reading 70 degrees, is this too cold?, I added ice to make to temp more like outside, and so it has stayed at 70!.
Since 4 days ago he ate a big earthworm for me underwater, he has not been that bothered to eat again, I did put worms in a dish and he snapped at them, but then lost interest!.
I was wondering, since he liked the spirulina, could i put a whole tablet in his water?or would this be too much, Im researching like mad here on the best way to help the little guy feel at home, I read you can boil lettus, but i have none, so will Spirulina be ok?

This species is carnivorous. Spirulina will just pollute the water. See: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods.shtml

Well, spirulina tablets will not do much good as newts and salamanders are carnivores and prefer invertebrate prey like worms and insects. Adding spirulina or algae tablets or vegetable products will just foul the water as they rot so they should be avoided. Food like frozen bloodworms, earthworms and maybe insects like crickets would be good choices for food. These can all be found at pet stores.

I'm guessing you decided to keep the little guy? I didn't want to respond on the other thread because I don't know much about smooth newts Lissotriton vulgaris but I think it is entirely possible that he was just migrating through your backyard and that if you released him he will go on his way. You just can't expect him to start running the second he hits the ground.

If you are interested in keeping him, this caresheet is for a similar species of newt and most of the information should be quite similar. You can also find a lot of articles on newt care here. These guys really do like it cool and 70F is usually a maximum so if you can't keep them under this temperature you may want to consider releasing him.

Thank you for the replies*

AJC: Thank you for your article, that is handy!
Magustrate: You have been very kind and helpful to me, I appreciate how you have cared about my posts, I dont mean to be a pest, I am only trying to find out what anyone may know about these cute little guys
I only sprinkled a little spirulina in the water,so luckily i did not pop whole tablet in!,Im glad I asked if that was ok to be on the safe side.
No it was not for him to eat lol:lol:,I know he eats bugs, ive been catching all kinds of worms and other bugs in my garden for him,I also have a lid with frozen bloodworm, he only seems bothered about live foods,although that does not surprise me!. As I said,I was only hoping to create a little pond effect,but now i know better!.
I have tried releasing him several times, but he either stays still and seems clueless, or gets stuck in between rocks that are too tight for him, he panicked and wiggled and needed my help to get him out, I tested if he could climb up my dogs water bowl, it seems he cant, so only other way he could have got in there, a bird may have dropped him?.
should I keep the little guy?, well I dont know I go by an animals actions on how they feel, he has stopped climbing up the tank since I made his environment more appealing, he is sleeping on the leaves I brought in for him, what temp should the tank be for him, do you mean like 60 degrees?
I was very surprised when I first found him, next day he ate a worm for me, as I thought it would take him a lot longer to want to settle in!,I felt that was a good sign, I have grown very attched to little Pistaza, and it is getting more and more painful the thought of letting him go, I swear he even likes to sit on my fingers and let me trinkle water down his back!.
IF I keep him:
Do newts need company?I worry he may miss his own kind
How can you tell if a newt is not well?he sleeps in the day and is active at night, is this normal?
I am not using a filter, I just refresh his water every day, is that good enough?,he does not poo a lot!
Would putting some live bloodworms in the water be a good idea?I could feed the rest to my fish!:lol:
IF I release him:
I dont know any other species of newt you can get captive least toxic like he is
I know he is wild, but I would never forgive myself if he got ate by a frog!
Only if I could put him in a pond with other smooth newts would I be as happy I did the right thing!
Well I hope you can help, thank you for all the help you have gave so far, may I ask, in my situation, do you think you would keep him?, how do you release something that seems to want to be with you!

if you want to keep him theres no reason not to its perfectly legal and if he's happy enough why not.
live blood worm is a good food but earth worm is probably better ,anyway being wild caught he will probably need to see the food moving but will get used to frozen blood worm after a time if he's in the aquatic phase if he's on land he will need to see it move..you don't really need a filter just carry on with 30% water changes every so often and he should be ok.

gecko said:

Magustrate: You have been very kind and helpful to me, I appreciate how you have cared about my posts, I dont mean to be a pest, I am only trying to find out what anyone may know about these cute little guys

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You can call me Abrahm and we are here to answer questions. Asking questions (and listening to the answers) means that you want to learn and do the right thing for your animal.

I have tried releasing him several times, but he either stays still and seems clueless, or gets stuck in between rocks that are too tight for him, he panicked and wiggled and needed my help to get him out.

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I would imagine that his not moving is caused by two factors

• He doesn't know his location and is trying to home in on where he is, especially if he is migrating to a certain pool as relocated newts are often quite good about finding a certain pond.
• Is engaging in predator evasion behavior. Namely, he does not want to be eaten by you and is trying not to be noticed.

Newts can climb the glass of aquarium walls so I wouldn't be surprised that the newt climbed into the dog bowl. It is certainly possible that he arrived in some other way also.

As for your other questions, Like Ian said it will probably take some training before your newt will eat frozen food. In the wild newts tend to be stimulated to feed by visual cues. Waving bloodworms in front of them on a toothpick or in some other way could entice them to eat. Once they begin to associate the smell of bloodworms with food they may begin eating non-moving bloodworms. Live bloodworms would be good food too.

Newts do not need company so you do not need to purchase/find a new companion for him as he will be fine alone. Identifying sick newts can be difficult as you usually need to know their normal behaviors. But constantly going to the surface and excessive, rapid swimming are two common symptoms of illness. Refreshing his water is fine as long as you keep up on it. Frequent water changes are more important than (mechanical and chemical) filters in my eyes. Since you keep fish you should know about the nitrogen cycle, keep that in mind with your newt also. Something that provides biological filtration would not be bad.

I should mention that handling your newt is not a good thing. They can easily pick up oils and other contaminants from your hand and get ill. Also your hand is quite warm which can also stress them out. Only handle them as much as necessary.

Heat tolerance is something I can't really answer with this newt as I don't know much about it. Some species are much more intolerant of high temperatures than others and I don't know if this species is one of those. Hopefully someone can answer that for you.

As for letting him go, that's up to you. I think I would have just released him from the bowl, but that is my decision. Also note that if you do release him into a newt pond he may leave immediately as it is not "his" pond. Releasing him close to where you are is probably going to be best. If you are going to release him you should do it quickly as the longer he spends in captivity the better his chance of being exposed to a novel pathogen that he could spread to wild populations.

Thanks again for replies*

Hello there*
Rigsby: I appreciate you letting me know that it is not a bad thing to keep a smooth newt, I thought you were not really allowed to with wild ones!,but thats good to know its ok*I do want to keep him, I have decided due to my experience with so many exotic animals, I keep a lot of lizards,and fish,I will be a good newt owner and the fact he ate some frozen bloodworm from tweezers for me, makes me feel he must be reasonabily comfortable with the enviornment i made him.
I do give him mainly earthworms,but he is not bothered at the moment, he had some bloodworm so im not too concerned.
I think I have been getting carried away with water changes,I would everyday cyphin out all the water,then use water from outside,then pop a few ice cubes and a frozen bottle in.On closer inspection of the tank I noticed all kinds of little life forms in there,from worm like things to disc like things,things that jump along the glass and even what looks like migie lavae,I read here its a good sign if the tank has little creatures,so im happy with that!.
I am confused as to if he is more in the terrestial phase now, as he seems to be happy to just climb the plant ornaments and sit on cork bark and rock,what do you make of that?
thanks for your help*
Abrahm: I have decided to keep little Pistaza,he does seem happy enough,cozy in his mixed leaves and sphagnum moss bed, as I said to Rigsby, I was also worried I could not keep him by law, but now thats cleared I am happy enough, and I know he will have a better life with me, than being ate by the MANY frogs in our area!.
The issue with newts climbing glass, I truly believe they do that IF something does not feel right to them in the tank, he climbed the glass everynight at first,then I changed his water temps and environment and he has not wanted to since!.From experience of Geckos,they will try to climb glass if they are not happy with something in their environment either,then when you solve the problem they dont do it anymore,how else are animals able to let us know a problem than to get our attention!
So I can give my newt live bloodworms?, Im having a dilema water wise, I think he is changing to more terrestrial,as he does not seem as bothered with swimming now,he likes to climb the ornaments though,and he loves his cork bark hide.Should I change his environment to more terrestrial?,if so, what substrate would be best?Also how can I cool his tank this way?
How long do newts stop eating all together for it to be a concern?
Its funny Im learning so much about newts now, when at first, i had no idea they could climb glass like geckos!,and that they shed their skin too!.Pistaza shed his skin first day i found him, he hasnt since, how often do they shed?
I dont feel so bad he is on his own now, its just as well he does not need company I dont know how I would have found him another newt!.
Yes I do know about nitrates and nitrite, we have ehiem filters for our tropical fish,they work GREAT*
I know you dont handle newts too much, I only handled him to give him a little outdoor swim about in a bigger tank, then I popped him back,I know they have toxins in their skin, but my little guy is not as toxic as some!.
Heat tolerance, well so far I have found if it gets too cold he seems to want to move,I dont know if that means he is not happy with that temp or he likes it, its when I get the temp to 67 degrees?,it has been no more than 72 degrees if the temp goes up, and from observing him, he seems ok with this, although I try and make sure the temp is further down instead.
I did not know that being captive then released could cause harm!, he has been with me for about a week now, and it was not really just my decision to keep him, i based it on his behaviour being captive,are they are meant to have poor eye sight?!, Im sure he watches animal planet with us,as he cant miss the TV!if not that then he is definately interested in our fishtank! LOL
You may have read I have little tank critters?Im hoping that is ok?, I read they are safe.
Thank you for the care sheets, Im kinda confused though, I was given a Boscai care sheet from someone saying they have similar needs too!?, does this mean smooth newts have same needs as both Boscai and crested newts?
I hope someone here that keeps smooth newts too, can help me, so far im doing right for him, but I need help to keep it going!.
Thanks again*
Gillian