CFBN might be dying. Please help

Hi. I just got two Chinese Fire Belly Newts about two weeks ago. I cannot get one of them to eat at all no matter what I try. It's about 2.5 inches long and very skinny and I am extremely worried he's not gonna make it. Ican see his hip bones and his spine is pretty well defined. My other newt is about twice the size and will eat whatever I offer.
Neither of them swim much. I've seen the bigger one under water a few times now but the little one has never gone under water, he only stays on floating plants if he goes in the water at all. That I'm not as worried about being that I've only had them a couple of weeks and I know it takes time for new newts to get comfortable with their new surroundings. But I'm very worried about the fact that he refuses all food since he is so skinny. And since he doesn't go in the water I have to try to feed everything by tweezers or leave it on the land by him

Here is a list of everything I have tried:
Frozen bloodworms(thawed and held by tweezers)
Very small chopped eatheworms
Live mealworms
Soaked newts bite pellets
Floating newt/turtle pellets
Live blackworms(by tweezers)

Can anybody please suggest anything else I could do or try to get this little guys to eat?

Hi Goose,

I think the best thing to do for now is to have your newt separated from the other one. For many of these little guys, the transportation causes a lot of stress and it takes some time for them to adjust especially if they're from the market since those are wild caught. I also know that when a CFBN is young they tend to avoid water, this might be a factor (or not). Here is a link that might help you.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f47-newt-salamander-help/91274-chinese-fire-belly-newt-not-eating.html

Here are a few photos of my little guy.

Some further ideas. Put some live blackworms right there on the wet rock with him, and leave the room. Keep trying the bloodworm and earthworm bits from a toothpick or tweezers. Try to buy some live small waxworms or pinhead crickets.

i would spoon some water over him not much just to keep him moist if you have live blood worm or live black worm try that first good luck

I tried leaving some black works on the rock by him last night and left the room for about 10 minutes. When I got back they were gone but since I have two newts I can't be sure which one ate them.

If I separate him from the other newt would a 2.5 gallon critter keeper type thing be big enough? Should I set it up mostly land since he doesn't really go in water much, or mostly water like the tank they're in now?

When my T. yangi first came in and didn't eat I had her in a similar type critter keeper but it was a bit larger and round; just like the ones on this link

Petco Pet Keeper for Reptiles, Amphibians and Insects at PETCO

it was filled moist paper towels(and made a small hut for her to hide) and a water bowl. I was very diligent in making sure the paper towel was kept moist. It took about two weeks until she finally ate. I know the type of newt that I have is very different, but I hope the advice can help you out.

If you're going to separate them, remove the healthy one and leave the non-eater in the tank. This will be much less stressful on it.

My fire-belly has had some problems with eating and being inactive. I believe that the water issue is because of his age. I have read that Juveniles tend to stay out of the water, regardless of the temp or quality of water. Keep him (if you can) on damped land, like the rock in the water so he doesn't dry out and (at the same time) get him used to the feel of water. Now the feeding.... after you separate the two of them, I recently found that the cut earthworms are great. The width of the worms are more important when digging. If they are the right width, just cut them into pieces and leave one with him. LEAVE. I hope the little guy would see active pray, with no one looking, can take his time getting ahold of it. I really wanna know how he does, keep us posted.

I've separated him from the other newt. He's now in a critter keeper with land and about one inch of water with fake plants to hide in and crawl on. I moved him instead of the healtier newt because I also have some tetras in the main tank and I wanted the little one to be alone to be more comfortable and hopefully less stressed. He still has not eaten that I know of but he was mostly submerged in his water instead of staying on the land. I left some pieces of chopped earthworm in the tank with him earlier. Yesterday I took him to see someone who has experience with sick newts and he said that the little guy is still strong and does not appear to be sick in any way. He also suggested that I separate him for a while to see if that helps to lower his stress level.