Chinese FBN has passed...

Hello all.

I'd like to start off by thanking you for hosting this vB forum. It has been extremely helpful to me and my wife.

Unfortunately, we were victims of a new craft. We went to a PetCo and saw CFBN's hanging out in a fish tank with fish. I had never seen or heard of a CFBN and was in awe. I spoke with the Aquatics "specialist" who told me "CFBN's can live in a freshwater fish tank with your fish!"

I asked about land masses and they recommended a turtle dock, which we added to our brand new 55 gallon fish tank we put together.

Our new newt was housed in 78 degree water for two days sitting on the turtle dock until I became suspicious and began my own research. I ran into Caudata.org and realized just what we'd done. I ran out to "Scales 'N Tails", a local specialty shop and spent $200+ on a ZooMed Terrarium and the required accessories and built him a suitable habitat. I also went back to PetCo and scolded the entire staff for housing the newts incorrectly and bought the remaining CFBN in stock to save him from the Pet Store.

We continued to read care sheets and learn more and more. I suspect these boys were "wild caught" and are susceptible to a lot more problems, due to their voyage from China. We had one medium size male and one small juvenile. Our medium sized guy seemed to be active until yesterday when we noticed his right foot was white and a toe appeared to be missing. I began heavy observation of him and today we decided to quarantine him from the smaller guy and a small American Green Tree Frog who is thriving.

He degraded rapidly and unfortunately he passed away a few minutes ago. My wife and I cried, which is something I don't typically do... ever.

I guess I just wanted to vent a little... and thank you all for a great resource which we will continue to utilize.

Our little newt seems to be active and healthy with no white spots. I'm worried cause we never see him eat. We follow the recommended feeding as well...

We'll see how he does. Thanks again all!

Jason, what a way to find the forum.

I'm sorry for your loss. It's unfortunate how often this happens.

I wish you the best of luck with your little guy. Don't hesitate to ask any questions whatsoever. We're a friendly bunch.

Hey Jason; I'm very sorry to hear about your newt.
I'm certain that he was much more comfortable passing away in your care rather than that of the pet shop; if that's any consolation.
Like you, I also purchased my first CFBNs from a pet shop. At the time, I was unaware of the issues regarding WC animals. Upon asking the shopkeeper how many I could keep in a 10-gallon tank, he replied 'Probably about eight'. It's certainly upsetting that pet shops don't really know how to care for these animals.
Best of luck with your little newt; he's lucky to have an owner who can take great care of him.

i also house two Cynops Orientalis in a 20 gal and it seems as if my smallest one will not go into the water the temperarure is not high at all room temp and my other C.Orientalis spemds most of its time in the water anyone know possibly why this is happening thanks?

Sorry to hear about it. Are you still keeping the one CFB with the Green Tree Frog?

Salamandrae said:

i also house two Cynops Orientalis in a 20 gal and it seems as if my smallest one will not go into the water the temperarure is not high at all room temp and my other C.Orientalis spemds most of its time in the water anyone know possibly why this is happening thanks?

Click to expand...

Probably not aquatic yet, It may still be In Its terrestrial phase, In your case If your aquarium Is fully aquatic your smaller newt could drown. So you should move It to a terrestrial tank. GOOD LUCK

Sorry about your loss. Good luck with the little one you have! :happy:

Sorry about your loss. I know how hard it is to lose one of your little guys! I hope the Petco has learned from you coming in. Unfortunately, I have learned the way these places house a lot of their animals come from a map that dictates which animals go into what enclosure and with what in them, so even when you do get knowledgeable staff, they are not always allowed to implement what they know. With that said, do not hold the staff too accountable when you go back and see that the enclosure is the same the next time you go in. Maybe if they get enough complaints to corporate, they will actually DO something about it! Always inform the staff though. Sometimes corporate does give a little leeway on things, and employees can make suggestions too when armed with knowledge. If enough of us see things like this and complain or tactfully inform, that is when real change happens!:happy:

Thank you for finding us,
Critter Mom

I am very sorry for your loss, I just previously bought a african dwarf frog from petsmart, in the tank which they kept the frogs, were 2 dead frogs, and a bunch of tropical fish, I am sick of their animal cruelty.
again I say I am sorry for your loss.


-Collin


p.s the little frog i bought died on saturday.

Hello NewGuy,

Your recent participation in the thread about a newt passing has been deleted. In the future you may feel free to disagree with posters but it will suit you better to use more tact and not get into slinging personal attacks.

People place a lot of value on newts on this website, equivalent to the value many place on dogs or cats and belittling their legitimate view point will earn you no friends. Please try to empathize with the other side here even if you do not agree.

For your final post and the attitude in that thread you have been given a two week ban. Feel free to constructively post again in two weeks.

-Abrahm
Caudata.org Moderator

I'm sorry Collin for your loss too. To hear of such animal cruelty makes me both sad and angry. I don't know why your Petsmart is so badly run. The one by me is run really well. The staff is actually knowledgeable, and has been waiting for the go-ahead from corporate to implement a few things, like updating the enclosures, but they are doing a really good job. They even advise that the plants in the tubes they sell (that mostly are bog plants) may not really do well in aquariums, though they are marked as terrarium/aquarium plants. Even our veterinarian shops there, and it is a half hour drive for her...and there are tons of other pet stores she could have stopped at along the way! Our Petsmart has things kept very clean, does not mix species except fish with other fish, and I have never seen dead things in with living things, and I go about every week to two weeks. I had no idea they could be managed so differently! I hope yours undergoes new management and training or gets shut down!!

Again, I am sorry for your loss,
Critter Mom

Sorry to hear that, my nearest tropical fish store keep at least 20 chinese fb's in a tank simular to my size (60l). I've often been in and noticed the temperature to be above 20 degrees C. The owner assures me they are not wild caught, but I'm not so sure. I don't want to be buying sick or injured newts and adding to the problem.:shocked: