First Newt Question

Hi everyone. I've been reading up on newts left and right and finally got myself a Firebelly newt yesterday. Now the only pet store I found that carried newts had these very tiny ones, which I deduced was a recently morphed. (It's probably an inch long). I had an adult tank set up, but decided to set up a smaller tank for it with a smaller amount of water so it wouldn't drown (as some website told me.) It has a small cave to hide in and its mostly land with a decent water side (but it is probably 1-2 cm deep since the rocks keep it mostly above the water).

My questions are....

1.) Is this setup perfect/fine/needs improvement in some way?

2.) I bought it a whole array of foods, one being flightless flies (which to my amazement can hop very far). Are these flies good foods? How do I feed them to my newt? And how do I get them into the tank without having them all hop out of the jar before doing anything?

Thanks for the help

Congratulations on your first newt. It is very unusual to find a captive bred juvenile in a pet shop. Are you certain it's not just a small adult? (An inch sounds tiny though.)

Your set up sounds similar to how I kept my morphs. Make sure you always have a tight fitting lid on the tank. You could always post a picture here if you're unsure of something.
I have very little experience with flies as food so I can't really comment on that. I would recommend small worms as a very healthy and easy to handle alternative. You can buy worms or find your own (somewhere pesticide- and fertiliser-free). If they're too big, chop them up. They will still move which attracts the newt. There are different types of worms and many have distasteful secretions so you'll have to find the right type and the most suitable way to feed them. I've always used garden worms (light greyish pink ones, don't move much), cut into pieces and served on a piece of damp paper towel. You can put this into a jar lid if the worms are quite mobile. You could also try live or defrosted bloodworms (you will probably have to start with a toothpick first to make them look alive) and lesser waxworms. Check out the articles about feeding here for more ideas.

Thanks Eva. I've had him for almost a week. And he is still very skittish whenever i look into the tank to see how he is doing ? Is this normal? He also hasn't eaten anything. I heard it's normal, but I don't know if I should start getting worried or not?

I agree with evut, shallower water, and trying small worms and bloodworms is probably the best option. White worms are also an option (a lot of people don't like using them, but I find they're best for getting newts eating before switching to thawed bloodworms or similar, as they wriggle continually and live in the water for a fair few days). Having daphnia in the water may also be an option.

Wingless fruit flies are a pain, and will drown easily in your water area. I only recommend flies if you're raising in a terrestrial environment. Also you would need to have a pretty much air tight lid to keep the flied from crawling out of the tank. You'd have to use a piece of fine meshed cloth or something as a lid.

If you're still intent on using flies then the key is to keep tapping the pot sharply that the flies are in, this makes them all fall to the bottom for around 5 seconds. Tap the pot again, and again, and again, until you've completed adding flies or doing whatever you're doing. It takes some time to become proficient at this.

Don't forget, it can take weeks for newts to settle, especially if they're alone as yours is. In larger groups they tend to settle more quickly. But also remember that as it is such a tiny creature it considers itself as prey and will be much more shy than an adult fire belly.