Baby Newt Habitat

"For fire-bellies, the best setup after metamorphosis is a very shallow aquatic tank with a large island area."-Caudata.org

Hi, all!


I'm confused about the set up for the larvae that I have. Some places have suggested that soil is the way to go, while others are saying that a shallow tank with an island is sufficient. I am planning on setting up the tank with about an inch of water to start, some plants ( hopefully live), and a couple of big rocks. Does this sound about right? Is soil necessary? For feeding, should the larvae want to stay on the rocks most of the time, can I keep a small dish of live blackworms in a bit of water on the rock?


I'm so worried about doing the wrong thing! Thanks again for all the help!

For my fire belly morphs, I transfered them to a land set up as soon as they crawled out of the water. I had about a 1/4 inch of coco fiber bedding, lots of hides, and a very shallow water dish to offer black worms in. I also kept this water dish covered so the babies would be more likely to come into contact with the black worms. I also offered spring tails and white worms. After they had grown and were several months older, I then transfered the babies to the type of set up you have described below.
I hope that is helpful to you, and good luck with your morphs (they are sure fun to watch grow up!).
Heather

Thanks for your reply!

I'm not too sure what it means to keep the water dish covered? Also, the firebellies don't need any water to swim in? Just put soil down along the whole tank?

Sorry I wasn't more clear - I kept the water dish hidden under a shard of terra cotta, I thought if it was more like a hide than the morphs would be more likely to spend time there and thus find and eat the black worms in the dish. I never saw any of the terrestrial morphs in the water unless they were eating so I don't think they would use any deep swimming spaces. They are just too content to be on land to utilize water. I did use soil along half my container, but half I kept bare of any substrate. This was where I kept the water dishes with the black worms. If the black worms crawl out of the water and get into the soil, the soil can go foul and create an unhealthy environment for your animals. By not using a substrate where the worms were, I could more easily keep the soil clean and find any wayward worms. This is how I housed my morphs. I did have a few die, but very few and I thought it worked pretty well.

Thank-you!

I'm about to head out to buy some live plants.

I've decided that I'm going to fill the tank with a very small amount of water and have a large island area of rocks. I'm just wondering what to do about the live plants...the woman at the pet store said the plants need to be submersed in water, but if I can only use a bit of water in the tank because of the baby juveniles, how will the plants survive?

Also, how long can I expect the baby newts to stay in that juvenile stage? I'm just not sure of what to expect now...they're not quite there, but they will be within a few weeks. I believe they are growing nicely now that I'm feeding them the live food.

Thanks!