Erinony
New member
Hi all
My name is Erin and I am so glad to have found this site. I've always been a small furry animal lover but have always admired amphibians and lizards. I never thought that I had the capabilities to properly house an animal such as a newt until now, as the weather where I am varies and I wanted to make sure I could properly care for these animals. I recently "saved" a friendly newt from a familiy member who didn't want it anymore. He was living in sludge, didn't have enough space or water but seemed to be doing just fine. I offered to take him off their hands as I did admire the little fellow and I thought I could do a much better job looking after him. I must admit I've probably read all of the posts throught this site, as I love to read up on different creatures and find them fascinating. So, from all the reading I have done, I am certain that my little newt is a T. Granulosa. He is looking plump, but not overly, and he is quite the little entertainer. He sure knows what's up when you come to the side of his tank. He loves his pellets. He currently is living with a bunch of feeder fish which have outgrown him. He simply cannot eat them, so my problem is now trying to find a new home for these fish. Every time I drop a newt pellet in they just eat it. So, now I hand feed my newt. I have tried frozen foods and such for my newt, but he isn't interested. I have yet to try live food, and would love any tips on what I should try first. His tank is mainly aquatic, so I am a little confused as to how I should approach the whole, feeding him live food thing. Any advice on this would be great. I believe the tank is 25 gallons. I wanted to give him a lot of space. He has smooth rocks which he likes to climb on in the water, as well as two larger ones which stick out of the water. He also has a few softer plastic plants which he loves to hid behind and swim in. I recently bought a floating island which I will soon be adding in. Lately I've noticed he has been spending a lot of time out of the water. I know this usually means the temp is wrong or the water condition is bad. I do not check the level of the water and such, as he was living in sludge, but I hope to soon be able to find devices to help with that. He does have a couple aquatic plants in the water as well as a small filter. He seems happy, but is not moving around a lot. So, my big question for everyone would be:
I noticed he just shed, I don't know whether it was all of him or just partly. Soon after I noticed the shedding, I noticed the lower half of his jaw had some odd discoloration but it wasn't raised or inflamed or anything. It basically looks like his brown colour from the top of his body is moving towards the orange half. He seems fine, although he hasn't been moving around a lot. From all the reading I've done, it looks like this should go away after he sheds, but I'm not sure. Any help figuring out what this could be would be greatly appreciated. Anyway, the pictures of him I have attached are older, and him without the brown around his mouth. I hope to be able to get some other pictures up here soon. Oh, by the way, the previous owners believe he is around 16 years old. Could this not moving thing just be him slowing down? To anyone who has taken the time to read through this, thank you. I would appreciate any comments and look forward to being a part of this site
I hope that I am doing this little guy justice and that his conditions are good.
My name is Erin and I am so glad to have found this site. I've always been a small furry animal lover but have always admired amphibians and lizards. I never thought that I had the capabilities to properly house an animal such as a newt until now, as the weather where I am varies and I wanted to make sure I could properly care for these animals. I recently "saved" a friendly newt from a familiy member who didn't want it anymore. He was living in sludge, didn't have enough space or water but seemed to be doing just fine. I offered to take him off their hands as I did admire the little fellow and I thought I could do a much better job looking after him. I must admit I've probably read all of the posts throught this site, as I love to read up on different creatures and find them fascinating. So, from all the reading I have done, I am certain that my little newt is a T. Granulosa. He is looking plump, but not overly, and he is quite the little entertainer. He sure knows what's up when you come to the side of his tank. He loves his pellets. He currently is living with a bunch of feeder fish which have outgrown him. He simply cannot eat them, so my problem is now trying to find a new home for these fish. Every time I drop a newt pellet in they just eat it. So, now I hand feed my newt. I have tried frozen foods and such for my newt, but he isn't interested. I have yet to try live food, and would love any tips on what I should try first. His tank is mainly aquatic, so I am a little confused as to how I should approach the whole, feeding him live food thing. Any advice on this would be great. I believe the tank is 25 gallons. I wanted to give him a lot of space. He has smooth rocks which he likes to climb on in the water, as well as two larger ones which stick out of the water. He also has a few softer plastic plants which he loves to hid behind and swim in. I recently bought a floating island which I will soon be adding in. Lately I've noticed he has been spending a lot of time out of the water. I know this usually means the temp is wrong or the water condition is bad. I do not check the level of the water and such, as he was living in sludge, but I hope to soon be able to find devices to help with that. He does have a couple aquatic plants in the water as well as a small filter. He seems happy, but is not moving around a lot. So, my big question for everyone would be:
I noticed he just shed, I don't know whether it was all of him or just partly. Soon after I noticed the shedding, I noticed the lower half of his jaw had some odd discoloration but it wasn't raised or inflamed or anything. It basically looks like his brown colour from the top of his body is moving towards the orange half. He seems fine, although he hasn't been moving around a lot. From all the reading I've done, it looks like this should go away after he sheds, but I'm not sure. Any help figuring out what this could be would be greatly appreciated. Anyway, the pictures of him I have attached are older, and him without the brown around his mouth. I hope to be able to get some other pictures up here soon. Oh, by the way, the previous owners believe he is around 16 years old. Could this not moving thing just be him slowing down? To anyone who has taken the time to read through this, thank you. I would appreciate any comments and look forward to being a part of this site
I hope that I am doing this little guy justice and that his conditions are good.
