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CFB newt eft won't eat

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I just received my CFB newt (I was told it was Japanese but from what I've read it doesn't appear to be so). I thought he was going to be an adult and I only have adult food for him. I've tried feeding him newt pellets (I don't know where to buy live food) but he won't eat it. What do I do? He's also not moving a lot, he's walking around slowly every few minutes. Is he going to be okay?
 

Asevernnnn

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Photos would help, as would additional information. Doesn't sound like a very good breeder if they don't know what specie they have, I feel they may even be wild-caught.
-Is it terrestrial or aquatic?
-Whats the setup like? (Temps, plants, etc)
-Have you checked water quality?

Also, newts may not eat the first few days of being in a new environment, I would also try keeping it dark and not bothering it often and try later.
Some newts may also refuse pellets entirely.
 
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Well, I tried to put him in the 10gal semi aquatic tank set up but he freaked out when he got into the water. So I switched to a much smaller tank with a wet paper towel as substrate. There is some type of plant that came with him in the container and a rock. The water is from a bottle. I am thinking that I can feed him some pinhead crickets, which I am going to get within the hour. Should I even bother trying that?
 

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Asevernnnn

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Yes it looks like H. orientalis, and I don't believe it is an eft, it looks too large to be a juvenile. Theres a good chance that it is not CB too. Housing I would keep it cool, in a very shallow (approx. 1" of water) filled with plants like java moss with no dry solid land to get it used to the water. I would ditch the moss too, unless you want to test it to see if its acidic or not. This shallow tank can have a papertowel substrate or just be left bare bottomed.
Feeding I would suggest chopped or small whole earthworm or nightcrawler for the staple diet. If you try crickets, don't leave them unsupervised in the tank with the newt, the crickets could bite, and they aren't even that good nutritionally. You could try leaving pieces of worm in the tank in the dark and see if it eats any.
And when it is aquatic and healthy, a semi-aquatic tank is a waste, it won't use a dedicated land area often if ever. They are fully aquatic given good conditions, a permanent tank should have a minimum of 10 gallons of water, lots of plants, and just a small floating piece of land.
 

Chinadog

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