Fire belly newt

Hi all!

I have a question about my firebelly newt. We had a breeding pair, that we've had for about 6 years. Every year they lay eggs, and we've tried to raise the babies, but they always die after 2 years or so (very hard to raise!)

And now...tragedy struck. One of the newts is missing. I suspect it managed to escape and...one of the cats may have gotten to it. I can't find a trace of it, and it's been over a week. I know even if I find it now it almost certainly will be dried up and dead.

The remaining newt seems pretty forlorn. Those two were inseparable, and always lay next to each other. I'm very heartbroken about all this. I have called all the pet stores in the city, and they only have baby newts (about 2 inches long).

Should I buy a baby newt and add it anyway? I know mine ate their babies if we left them in the tank, but they were much smaller than the ones in the stores. Alternatively, does anyone have any idea where I can find an adult newt in Montreal, Canada?

Thanks for your help!

wellred@videotron.ca

Since this is mostly a question, not an intro, I'll move it to the Newt Help section.

If you buy a pet shop newt, you'd need to keep it separately from your established one for at least a month (due to disease quarantine issues) and probably for a longer time due to the size difference. Also, newly-imported wild-caught newts have a high mortality and may be too young to sex, so you might need to buy several in order to get one survivor of the right sex.

As for your difficulties raising the young, you were clearly able to get them through the larval period. There are several different things you could try to help get them through the juvenile period more successfully. On this note, you may be able to get someone in Canada to share some eggs that you could raise.

Don't worry about "loneliness" in your newt. This isn't really a problem for newts. It's mainly just a problem for newt owners, as we tend to attribute human feelings to our pets.