Rocks sticking to my little newt!

I just got a chinese firebelly newt about two days ago and I have some questions.

1. I just bought the sand/gravel that the store recommended, it's about 1-3 mm and when the newt goes over to the "land" area, the rocks stick to it and as it walks, I'm scared they might scrape its belly. Should I buy bigger gravel? or smoother sand?

2.What do I NEED to have in the tank? the girl at the store said I only needed 5-8 cm of water, accessible dry land and a hiding spot...

3. It wouldn't eat the bloodworms I bought. Should I try other foods? or try again in like two days?

I'm totally new to this, so any help is good help

1. I don't think that the sand sticking to the newt is anything unusual or cause for concern. Maybe send a picture of the newt on the sand here on the thread and we can make sure?

2. Newts need much more than a few centimeters of water. The recommended depth is at least 6 inches, and I have mine living in a tank more than a foot deep. They are primarily aquatic creatures and should be spending most of their time in the water. You should be housing him in at least a 10 gallon tank that is about 3/4 full of water. Having a land area is important, but the size of it is not. It does not even have to be dry, in fact it's best to never allow the newt to completely dry his skin. As long as the newt has an easily accessed place that he can rest with his head out of the water he'll be fine. In fact, one of the difficulty with these species, is that the store bought individuals are wild caught and extremely stressed from their ordeal. This leads to a "fear" of water which should be corrected. The problem can be solved by leaving no place where the newt can be completely dry. As long as his feet at least are always soaked in water, he will revert to being fully aquatic soon. This will also work in case your newt is a juvenile that is still not ready to go fully aquatic. To make the water more enticing to the newt, put in a LOT of live plants, like java moss and java fern. Put as many as you can, the more the better. MOST IMPORTANTLY, ensure the water temperature is always below 22C. The water needs no filter and if you have enough plants, only a weekly water change is necessary. These are the optimum conditions for keeping a Chines Fire Belly newt. If you provide these, he will soon recover and be on his way to a long happy life!

3. Feeding the newts on land is complicated. They are used to eating in the water and feeding on land must involve tweezers holding the worms near the newts face. This can be stressful and might reduce the appetite of the newt even further. For feeding these newts, aquatic is the way to go. They are good hunters underwater and will quickly find the food you leave for them. Follow the set-up instructions and leave some bloodworms in a small dish in shallow waters. Don't bother the newt, let him find it himself. You can leave them in for as long as it takes him to find them. Eventually you should try feeding earthworms. They are the very best staple food for newts.

Best of luck to you! Keep us updated on how the little guy is doing

It's definitely a juvenile, so should I raise the water level bit by bit during the next month or so?
Also, where do I get a turkey baster?
I went outside, found a smooth rock, took it home and boiled it and put it in the tank once it cooled down and lowered the sand level so that it shouldn't stick to him as much

how big is your current tank? Also how sure are you that the newt is a juvenile? These newts are pretty small so even a 2-inch newt can be an adult. As for lowering the water level, I suggest to get him used to the water as soon as possible as it will be a lot easier to feed I would raise the water level so that his sand island is quite wet, don't leave him anywhere where he can get completey dry

my tank is 27 x 16 x 16 cm ( lenght x width x depth ) but i plan on getting a bigger one when i have money
the newt is about 5 cm with the tail and it's quite skinny and small in every way...
I placed the rock near the corner where he would climb up, and he just hangs out on the rock now for hours. the rock is about a cm above water and doesn't get dry.

That's good, maybe you can post a pic of your set-up?
Your tank would be about 5gallons. 10 is the recommended because it's a lot easier to keep the water quality maintained in larger volumes. For now try and maximize your water volume and STUFF it with live plants, as this will greatly improve the water quality and make the newt more comfortable.

At 5cm, your newt is likely an adult. He should be aquatic but is still stressed from being caught and shipped. All you can do is provide optimal conditions, and I promise the rest will follow and caring for him will be the easiest thing in the world.
Caudata Culture Species Entry - Cynops orientalis - Chinese firebelly read this if you haven't.

Has he been feeding yet?

He seems to freak out in deep water so I don't want to increase the water level too fast.
I went and bought plenty of plants (the thin, floating ones?) and put them right in the tank.




He doesn't seem to have eaten, at least not during the day.

You need a larger tank as soon as possible. As Aeon said the minimum would be 10 gallons/ 40l although more is always better.
Get rid of the gravel, it could be accidentally ingested plus it will trap huge amounts of debris.
You need A LOT more plants.
The newt freaks out on deep water because it is very highly stressed and, most likely, because your water conditions are inadequate. These newts are caught from the wild and imported in terrible conditions. As a result, the ones that survive are very stressed and usually go terrestrial in order to scape bad water conditions. They usually reabsorb their tail fin which makes them inefficient swimmers. This is the reason why it freaks out on deeper water, it knows it can´t swim well and there is a risk of drowning. To avoid this, you should fill the water with plants so that it can rest on top of them near the surface and feel safe. The plants will also maintain good water conditions while the tank cycles. For this to work, though, you need to provide enough light for the plants.

For food, try earthworms, they are the best staple. Bloodworms are nutritionally incomplete anyway and uneaten ones quickly foul the water.

Make sure to read the caresheet and all the other relevant articles which you can find through the links in my signature.

I realize the tank is way too small. As I mentioned before, I am planning on getting a bigger one when I get the chance.
What should I put instead of the gravel then?
I am also waiting for more money to fx. get more plants. Money doesn't come easy to unemployed students. As well as the only pet store in my town doesn't have many plants available for sale, at least not many at a time.
What's the best way to "keep" earthworms? I live in Iceland and soon the ground will start freezing, so I'd need to start gathering them asap. Maybe I should also mention that I live in an apartment building on 2nd floor, so keeping them out of the house (garage) wouldn't be possible.

Instead of that gravel you can use sand, or soil, (if you want a planted tank). You'd want to get something either small enough that it can pass through their system without causing harm if accidentally ingested, or something to large for them to swallow in the first place. I personally use large river rocks that are about the size of the newts. I like this choice of substrate because it looks good and natural, poses no dangers to the newts, and are the easiest things to clean. I just vaccum between the spaces, and if the need arises, it's easy to move then ones you need to without affecting the rest of the aquascape.

Good job with buying the plants and increasing the water level! You should definitely get more when you can, and your ten gallon set up should literally have about 20X that amount of plant life. If possible find varying species as it will give your tank a interesting look. It's also important to find a tall sturdy plant that they can use to hang out in near the surface. Cabomba and Sprites are what I use in my tank but I'm sure you can find others.

In your current container I would remove all the gravel as it will trap waste and use up water volume. Go bare bottomed for now, and as it will allow you to see the poops, be very diligent and clean them all up as soon as you see them to keep your water clean (a difficult task in such a small unfiltered volume). The newt will have more water to swim in but still be able to access his rock. Change about a 3rd of the water daily. Soon he should be more and more comfortable in the water. After some time you should increase the water volume as much as possible. Maybe double what you already have or even triple it. Then find something you can use as a floating island. Next put in something that slopes from the bottom of the container to the top that the newt can use to easily access the surface, be it a plate or tile or some plastic mesh( a piece of driftwood would do great too, but research first about sanitizing it for tank use.). Try to avoid using the large rocks since they eat up a lot of water volume, and stacking them might pose a risk to the newt if they fall.

For earthworms, I keep mine in my apartment as well. You just need a small bin, about 2ft by 2f with a one foot depth is adequate. Nothing fancy, any plastic bin will do. Fill it up with soil, cardboard, dead leaves, and drill holes in the bottom and sides ( small enough to drain water but too small for worms to escape). Make sure to keep this mixture moist, but never soggy. Put the worms in here and feed them vegetable scraps every few days. They should be fine as long as it doesn't freeze

Aeon´s advice is good but i would recommend smaller water changes than what he said. You want bacteria to flourish and colonize the tank and significant water changes will prevent this. You should be fine with 10-20% water changes and remember to use dechlorinated or aged water (and if your water has chloramines, treat that).

I understand plants can be expensive. Try looking for other hobbyists in your country that may be offering their excess trimmings. People who keep shrimp are usually selling or trading stuff. You can get lucky and find whole bunches of plants for very little money.

There are threads in this forum discussing indoor worm culturing, check them out.

What CAN I use in the tank? Can't some items make the water dangerous for the newt? Fx. painted items?
I have had yellow rocks in small vases as a decoration in my room, they are probably the right size.. But should I treat them if I'd put them in the tank? In case of dangerous pigments...? They're also not too many, so they would just about cover the plastic bottom.

I would strongly recommend going barebottom. It´s the most practical option. It will make cleaning and feeding much easier.
Once you get the hang of it and the parametres are stable and the animal is doing well, you might want to consider some substrate, although it really is not necessary.

So just, barebottom, loads of plants, and things coming up on the surface?

Yes, that's all you need to keep the newts happy! once you see their behavior change and see how happy and greedy they become as they settle down it will be well worth the outlay on a few plants and a piece of cork bark!

Cork barks are hard to find! at least for a tank as small as my current one :/

I finally successfully fed him! As I don't have spare tweezers, I just used a toothpick and caught the guy when he was not far from the surface, and basically placed the worm ON his nose and he ate it He ate about 4 bloodworms and then freaked out every time I got one close to him. I'm satisfied for now.

Good job, he's on the way to recovery Make sure to keep the water super clean by removing the waste, since your tank is so small conditions can quickly change. You should move him to a 10 gallon asap. The good news though is that with a ten gallon you can also house a variety of different animals as well, such as shrimp and snails. My personal favorites are Red cherry shrimp, ramshorn and mystery snails, though you can try ghost shrimp or other snails as well. These animals are highly beneficial and will do a lot in terms of keeping the tank clean. You can even house another newt if you feel like it, just make sure to observe quarantine first!

If you consider acquiring any more newts in the future, you should know that pet-shop ones are ALL wild-caught and imported in terrible conditions. I ould advice you to not support this market anymore, it´s exploitative and it means the deaths of hundreds (thousands?) of animals every year.
The best option both ethically and as a consumer is to acquire captive bred animals directly from a breeder, you´ll get healthy, already accostumed to captivity newts without impacting wild populations.

I have already found a tank thats not too expensive, but way bigger than 10gal. Now i just need to find someone to move it for me
Could you help me find out if I'm right about his gender? I have a picture that i can post when I'm no longer on my phone...