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Question: Pachytriton Labiatus (Paddletail) Temperature, Food and other advice

Alex Dow

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Sep 28, 2012
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Hello everyone,

I'm a frequent question poster on this site, and can't thank you all enough for your past advice, I'm starting to get a bit more advanced in my understandings of keeping a newt, and these past 10 months have been a great learning curve for me. Sadly, I'll be moving to Birmingham for uni in September, and I've decided to keep my newt with mum for the first year, before I move into my own apartment in the second year.

I want to make it as easy as possible for my mum to look after my newt, so I was just hoping for some all round advice on improving my set up. Firstly, my main worry is temperature, right now I just can't get the temperature consistently below 21C, even with my bedroom windows open, a fan running across the water, and ice bottles in my heat lamp space where I run a tube from my filter and also a water change. If anyone could give me anything else I could do it would be much appreciated. My max recorded temp was 22.5 earlier this morning, but my regular temperatures in the past have been between 20.5C and 22C, with the current being 21.5C.

Food wise I've always fed my Paddletail ReptoFrog pellets, which have always kept him at a healthy weight, and he's always eaten them, I've also never encountered any illnesses thus far (touch wood). I was planning to start feeding him Earthworms, as I've done so once and he definitely enjoyed them. I was going to start a worm farm, but my mum doesn't like the idea of feeding him live food, and I don't want to have to add to her load by getting her to purge them, when she already has to feed and change water.

Any other advice is welcome, my Newt's male, and I believe he's coming up to a year old, as he was still growing substantially for a couple of months after I rescued him.

Thank you all for your continued support.
 

AngieD

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Sep 20, 2011
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The only thing I can think which would add to this is:
Can you not move the tank to a cooler room? If there's a heat lamp in there it's bound to add to the ambient temperature. On hot days I keep my curtains mostly closed (just a little bit open to let in enough light to show its daytime), and if I'm in the house I have the window open. The closed curtains keep the room surprisingly cool.
Hope this helps.
 
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