Hi fellow amphibian friends

Hi, my name is Gwen, live in NY. I think newts are very interesting and cute, so I set up a 20 gallon land water tank, with water fall...so pretty. of course i can only find fire belly newts and some times eastern, but its frustrating because there are sooooo many types of newts, but cant find them. So thats why I joined this site and it would be fun to talk to experiences newt people lol. My friends think they are weird animals, so its nice to talk to people who like newts like I do. Also, my newts spend so much time in the water and I set up some cool climbing and basking areas, but they rarely come out...so this part frustrates me a little. I dont really love salamanders, but was curious if the land dwelling red efts would be ok with my other newts...I have sooo many questions. . Nice meeting everyone.

Very nice to meet you, and welcome aboard! I know as a general rule they say not to mix species, but I don't know in this case.

I have not had firebellies that were interested in the water much unless it was very shallow, so I find this very interesting. I have tried many types of set-ups from 3/4 water to 1/3 land with a water pump, to a living vivarium which got over-run with tiny white bugs so I had to dismantle and disinfect it, to what they live in now, which is a medium smooth river rock bed with a shallow dish of dechlorinated water that I change every day with some rocks in it, and some places to hide, and a fake plant. This seems to work the best right now. I don't think I have any real swimmers because if in deeper water they seem to panic and swim around the surface really trying to get out and cling to the sides and plow over each other or cling to the tops of each other. Go figure. I have Chinese firebellies (C. Orientalis). Perhaps yours are the other ones (C. Pyrroghaster)?

It sounds neat what you have going on. I would love to see pictures!:happy: