Question: Could i....

Personally, I wouldn't put any bugs in a newt's tank, exactly for the reason you stated. You don't know if they're carrying anything. I also have removed any small snails from the tank that may have come from live plants or moss that I've bought from the store. Not sure if they would cause damage, I'm just leery about anything "foreign" in my tank that I don't know the origins of.

I have fed found bugs (mostly worms, ants, pill bugs, and small flies) to my newts without a problem. I use common sense not to collect them from places where there are chemicals/pesticides. never spiders, so I don't know if it would be ok. I feel like this is an area where alot of people use caution, and that is understandable. I sometimes like feeding my newts variety that i don't have to pay for.

As for snails, I have kept the livebearing ones in my tanks for two years now without any problems. the newts don't eat them. They definitely slowly cut down on algae (they just cleaned off the algae covered leaves of my anubias recently).

There is alot of advice against species mixing, but I haven't heard alot of people strongly disagree with snails. I have heard that snails can carry chitryid. So there is a risk involved. I don't know how big it is. Karen's advice is probably the safest to follow. I just felt I should share my experiences as well.

Ok, ill try feeding them eathworms! going to pick some live bloodworm up from the bait shop, so they can feed like they would in the wild! (Sort of!)

Thanks!