Question: New to Newts.. Some advice please

Hello all...

I'm after some advice, I'll go ahead an explain the situation and await your advice.

My son asked (out of the blue) for a pet newt, his first ever pet. So we rang around and found a shop with some. Got a fire bellied newt, tank, filter and some food. Also got some rocks to have him something to sit on. He has a tank that is 18x18x40cm with a solid lid with no light in it. I punched some small holes in the lid to stop condensation. It is half filled with water.

My problem is the conflicting information I've been given from different pet shops about what is best for them, what they like, how much to feed them etc. So here are my questions.

How much/often should I feed him?
I have Frozen Blood Worms and some Tetra Freash Delica Brine Shrimp in packets.

What should be in his tank? Right now it's very sparse with a pile of round rocks in one corner, and a large cliff like rock in the other, both coming a bit above water level for him to climb on.

Should I add plants, will I then need a light? What type?

There is nothing on the bottom of the tank, should I add gravel/sand.. etc? I was told he might try and eat it(?).

Now this next question is kinda stupid. The pet shop owner gave us a bit of polystyrene sheet to float on the water for him to sit on, I took it out today when I added the cliff rock. He appears to have gotten a small bit of polystyrene stuck on his head. I have considered that it is some kind of injury but his head was perfect yesterday and now this thing on it. It does look A LOT like a bit of polystyrene, I tried to brush it off with my finger but I couldn't. I'm wondering how I should go about getting it off. He looks really quite stupid and I'm worried it might do him some damage. I shall post a picture in a bit.

Thanks in advance for your advice, I shall no doubt be here quite often worried about my new little pal.

Here's Clank, with the thing on his head.

OK, we can ignore that thing on his head, I got it off by making it a bit wet and nudging it. I think I pissed him off a bit but he looks much less stupid now! Just my less stupid questions need answering now!

I'll start things off by giving you a link to the Caudata Culture care-sheet for Chinese Fire-belly newts (Cynops orientalis)- http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

Pet shop employees are often clueless when it comes to newts and salamanders, so information from them isn't to be trusted in most cases. The care-sheet should provide you with a resource for reliable and accurate information.

As for feeding, I would stick to bloodworms- but augment his diet with foods such as earthworm which are highly nutritious- Newts enjoy having varied diets. He probably will only need to be fed once or twice per week- although that can vary.

Chinese Fire-bellies like having heavily planted tanks. Plastic or silk plants are fine, although you can also use live plants such as Java fern or elodea. If live plant's are used, you will need a light.

Bare bottom tanks are fine and make spot cleaning easy, so adding substrate is up to personal preference- if substrate is used, sand is probably best.

If you have any other questions, feel free to post! Good luck!

Thanks for the quick reply!

How much/many blood worms should he be fed, do I just drop them in the tank? put them on his rock?

Should I chuck away the packets of Brine Shrimp?

Will a light not make him too warm?

Sorry for sounding like a clueless new parent, but I am both of those things!

Flare said:

Sorry for sounding like a clueless new parent, but I am both of those things!

Click to expand...

Don't worry about that, you're not the only one!

You could probably feed him one cube of bloodworms (I'm assuming that they are frozen?) Drop them in the aquatic part of the tank. I don't think brine shrimp are the best food source for him, but don't quote me on that.

For light, you are right in that (for instance) a heat lamp would be bad. A normal flourescent tank light or a lamp near the tank should suffice. Additionally, you could put the tank near a window for natural light. In that case, however, you'd have to be careful about algae growth and the tank becoming to hot on warm days.

again, Good Luck!

So Clank seems to be ok, not doing much but I'll be prettying up his tank with some sand and plants at the weekend. Maybe a bigger tank with a light.

He's not eaten yet, tried some of the packaged brine shrimp just now but I don't think he's interested. Offered him some on my finger and I think he pee'd himself. So I left him to his sitting about feeling bad that I'd scared him.

His tank is misting up a bit so I put some holes in the lid, it's not helped much. Maybe a new tank with a better lid is a good plan.

just be careful what tank u get newts are excellent escape artists and many people find this out the hard way. just make sure the lid/hood of the tank is well fitting and there are no big gaps down the edges of big holes for filter wires etc

So a quick update from me.

I got Clank a new tank today, larger with a built in light and filter. Some plants and a model castle (my son insisted!) type thing that comes over the surface of the water for some 'basking space'.

I've put aquarium sand in the bottom and setup and filled the tank about half way. I need to play about with the pipes for the return of filtered water as it's above the water level and is very 'splashy'.

I'm leaving the tank to settle before moving him as it's all cloudy with the sand.

You'll need to cycle it. Here is an article on cycling http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

I'll need to cycle it to get rid of the cloudyness?

Read this article http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Yeah, I read through that when you posted it before.

I'm wondering if you mean I will need to do that because of the cloudy water, or that I just need to do it anyway.

You need to do it anyway. Any new aquarium setup will need to be cycled to get the correct bacteria in place.

Sorry. I didn't realize I posted it twice.:crazy:

Turns out the new tank was not suitable, the built in filter didn't work if the tank wasn't full of water, no use to my wee pal Clank.

So, swapped it out for yet another one. This kit came with all I should need, including adatives and test kits to get on with the cycling.

It's all laid out now and the sand is settling, Clank is still in his original tank that is getting kinda smelly, I guess because I never cycled that tank, the pet shop owner didn't mention it when asked.

So I'm thinking he will be better off in this new tank as soon as possible as the old one won't be doing him any good. I'll run tests tomorrow to be sure it is at least save for him, after that I'll continue the cycling tests with him in it to make sure it stays safe.

Does that sound like a decent plan?