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Illness/Sickness: Yellow Patch on Fire-Belly Newt

A Weird Sister

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I recently purchased a fire-belly newt from a well-known pet store chain. He seemed to be in good health, but several days later, I noticed a small yellow patch on his side/underbelly. Since it was in such an obscure spot, I'm not sure how long he has had it. After a lot of research, I concluded that it may be a fungal infection, though it doesn't seem necessarily fuzzy in appearance. Maybe I've caught it in the very early stages? I've been swabbing him with a diluted hydrogen peroxide solution on the area every day for several days now. It hasn't seemed to have grown or shrunk in size. Honestly, I'm not sure what it may be. It looks more like a scar than anything else, though I know that newts are famous for healing well and not scarring. Perhaps an old wound? I'd love some input on this, as I am a newbie with amphibians.
Do newts scar? If so, what do they look like?
Is this a fungal infection? Am I treating it correctly? How long should it take a small fungal infection to heal?
Thanks muchly!
 

evut

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Could you take a photo?
In the meantime, have a look through the help section (you can browse or use the search function). There are many threads about similar problems in pet shop bought newts and you might find some answers in them. Some have photos so you'll see if it's similar to any other cases.
How is the newt otherwise? Eating well? Is it in water or on land?
Also, check out the Health/Illness section here: http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml
 

A Weird Sister

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I'm not sure if it would be feasible to take a photo, mostly because it's very difficult to actually even get a good look at his underside, as well as that I'm trying not to stress him. He's been eating fine, but spends most of his time on the land-area of his tank. That area is quite moist though, and he usually sits with most of his body in the water and his upper half on land. He's young though, and I know juvenile newts are more terrestrial. All the ones in the pet shop were sitting on dry land when I purchased him. I've looked through the help section, and am still searching for a solution! If I snap a good shot, I'll try to post it. :)
 

A Weird Sister

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I've been monitoring him for a couple weeks and it turns out the yellow patch is...
just a yellow patch. It's just a small discoloration in his orange skin. It has not grown, or shrunk, or changed in any way, and he is not acting ill at all. Thanks for the help, though!
 

evut

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It's good to hear the newt is not sick.
Regarding the animal's age, if it's shop bought, it's probably wild caught and it's impossible to tell the age. The fact that the newts in the shop weren't in water is most likely caused by bad conditions and/or stress from transport and poor husbandry. A healthy adult newt should spend most time in water.
 

A Weird Sister

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I know the newt is young because he is still very small and smooth and has not yet reached the normal length of an adult. He's actually grown some since I first posted this question. His behavior doesn't worry me because he's put on weight (always shows interest in his food!) and wanders around his tank quite a bit (sitting in different places, climbing plants etc.) The first couple days I got him he tried to climb out of the tank (no fear, it has a mesh top) but since then has seemed quite content with his existence. He sheds regularly and otherwise seems quite normal and not stressed. He just doesn't swim a whole lot, but his skin is never dry looking.
 

A Weird Sister

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Last weekend, my friend who also owns a young firebelly was going out of town and asked me to take care of her's for the weekend. Since my tank was big enough for two, we put her's in with mine. They got along quite well, and her newt definitely swam a lot more than mine. However, after a little bit, he started swimming quite a bit with the other newt and even now that the other has been returned to his owner, he is swimming on his own! He spends a large amount of time in the water. It's curious that he didn't until he had a visitor to stay?
 

Jennewt

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Although they aren't exactly social animals, newts do "interact" when there are others around. Interesting observation.
 
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