Question: Firebellied Newts in SoCal?

Hi all,

I've been trying to find pet shops that carry firebelly newts (Japanese or Chinese; doesn't matter) here in Southern California (specifically Orange County/Irvine) but I can't seem to come by any at all. Are any of you from down here and would you be able to point me in the right direction? Even if you know of breeders (since that seems to be a better way). I've owned a couple pairs of these little guys back when I used to live in the Bay Area and was much younger They were neat to watch and feed. I'll be getting a 20gal aquarium soon from a buddy of mine so I wanted to start prepping it.

Any words of caution for keeping newts down in the SoCal climate? I know for one the water issue with chloramines is something to remember - I got a free bottle of declorinator for that purpose though. Should I buy a filtration/pump unit for the tank? Other than that, any other tips are welcomed!


Thank you,
Jeremy

Hi and welcome to the forum
Petshop animals are WC and may be ill, but they are adult. CB animals will be juveniles and small, but healthy. So it´s really up to you. I´d recomend CB because it´s in your best interest and the specie´s. Might require more patience though.

Living in California you are probably going to have problems with temperature. This species should ideally be kept always under 22ºC. Higher than that they will be stressed. Above 25ºC they may become terrestrial, or even get ill and die. They can tolerate low temps but as you can see they cannot tolerate high temps, so if you want to keep these, you need to make sure you can provide the right conditions.

If healthy and properly housed, this newts are active, and very rewarding, breeding easily, eagerly accepting a large variety of foods, etc...fun species indeed.

azhael said:

Hi and welcome to the forum
Petshop animals are WC and may be ill, but they are adult. CB animals will be juveniles and small, but healthy. So it´s really up to you. I´d recomend CB because it´s in your best interest and the specie´s. Might require more patience though.

Living in California you are probably going to have problems with temperature. This species should ideally be kept always under 22ºC. Higher than that they will be stressed. Above 25ºC they may become terrestrial, or even get ill and die. They can tolerate low temps but as you can see they cannot tolerate high temps, so if you want to keep these, you need to make sure you can provide the right conditions.

If healthy and properly housed, this newts are active, and very rewarding, breeding easily, eagerly accepting a large variety of foods, etc...fun species indeed.

Click to expand...

Thanks. During the winter months and even now, my condo easily falls under 72 degrees F. I actually have the heater keeping it at 72 degrees because it gets cold for me (haha I'm a wimp and spoiled by the SoCal weather), so I'm thinking it wouldn't be such a huge issue. But during the summer, things can heat up a tad. Of course, I am on the first floor so it tends to stay pretty cool in my house near the garage entrance and 2nd bedroom.

I guess the tricky part in all this is finding a breeder who lives near me. Do people here who are selling/giving away amphibians in this forum ever ship them? I'm assuming that wouldn't be very safe, but I am also pretty clueless in general

I´m sure there has to be some breeder able to ship to you.
Once you´ve participated a bit more in the forum, you can place an advert in the Wated section asking for some, and you can also check the For Sale section and see if you find anything.

As long as you can keep them cool, even in the summer months you should be ok, these animals are very hardy when they are healthy.

azhael said:

I´m sure there has to be some breeder able to ship to you.
Once you´ve participated a bit more in the forum, you can place an advert in the Wated section asking for some, and you can also check the For Sale section and see if you find anything.

As long as you can keep them cool, even in the summer months you should be ok, these animals are very hardy when they are healthy.

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'm actually reading up on shipping - though it seems a bit risky, I'm sure it's not usually a huge deal. So I'll prob go that route if I have to. I'm mainly just researching and prepping now. It's probably not a bad idea to work on setting the aquarium up prior to introducing any newts to it, right?

Just to let you know that as I live in AZ, a notoriously caudate poor state, I have most of my amphibians shipped in. Frogs, axolotls, newts, worms as food - it all makes it in fantastic condition unless the POSTOFFICE screws up.

Overnight shipping is best. Two day guaranteed is good during cold spells.

Yes a filtration unit a good thing. In small animal tanks, I tend to use air driven filters. There are some options here for making good ones that I need to look into because I'm not sure the commercial ones I've purchased are very good.

Good luck & enjoy!

Setting up the tank well ahead of time is an excellent approach, particularly in an area with chloramine in the water. I'd especially recommend having some live plants, as they do good things for water quality (assuming that they don't die!)