Illness/Sickness: Depressed Newt?

[Alfredo21]

Hello,

I am new here and also new to having a Newt. well heres the scoop, as of now i have 1 male chinese fire belly Newt, i had another but he commited suicide....
for the last month since my newt has been alone, he has stopped eating and stays out of the water on land most of the time. very unuasual for him.
i have tried pellets, crickets, bloodworms, and brine shrimp. he is not interested in anything. he has not been droping weight to fast, he seems like he slightly lost weight.
i am not sure what else to do.... i am working on getting him another male friend. i just found a connection to hopefully get a healthy one. the one pet store that does have them around here does not keep them in sanitary good conditions and all of them are as skinny as a toothe pick! it is just horrible.... and no matter what i say nobody takes action.

but anyway any help to get my Alfredo to start eating agian would be great. as a responsible Newt parent i was to do what it takes to provide the best life for him.

Thank you
Alfredo21

 

[Azhael]

I hope you now have a 100% scape proof lid. You can´t take any chances with these guys...
If it´s spendig most of its time on land there are mainly two possible reasons. One is inadequate water quality, and the other is high temperature. Check that the temps are appropriate as well as the water conditons.
If conditions are optimal, they are fully aquatic, year-round. Some individuals may not leave the water at all for years and years on end.

Try earthworms and waxworms, those are the most likely to atract the newt´s attention.

The situation of these poor imports at the shops is terribly sad. I strongly suggest not to participate of the WC market, as it only condemns more animals to a similar fate.

Have you read the CC articles? If you haven´t yet, you can find them in my signature.

 

[Alfredo21]

If its one thing i have learned it is to have an escape proof lid, so yes i now have that covered... unfortunitly to late. i got them in febuary.
also i had figured it out that the temp wasnt adiquate, i moved the tank to a cooler airconditioned room, and i replace frozen water bottles acouple times a day.
i also added a filter to keep the water filtered, as he can foul up the water pretty fast.
thank you for the suggestions i will try the diifferent foods. do i chop up the worms to make them smaller?

 

[Azhael]

Mmm..i think i have spotted the probable cause of the issues. How large is the volume of water? Even for a single newt of this species, Hypselotriton orientalis, the minimum volume recommended is about 10 gallons. Smaller volumes can´t offer sufficient thermal stability as well as buffering for pH, the accumulation of nitrogen compounds, etc.
The fact that you say the water fouls quickly, makes me think that probably the volume is insufficient.
Also, filters are not a good idea with this species. They much prefer completely still water and strong currents will stress them, even causing them to leave the water.
If the volume of water is sufficiently large, you can completely dispense with the filter and substitute its function by using large amounts of live plants. They will accomplish the same results, but with no currents or heat, plus this species LOVES to hang out in very densely planted areas.

About chopping up the worms, it depends on their size. Small, entire worms, are better choices if it´s one of the Eisenia/Dendrobaena species. You can still train the newt to accept portions of larger worms, but you´ll probably need to wash them first to get rid of most of the secretions.


If you want the newt to go back to an aquatic life, water quality needs to be optimal. They get very picky with water conditions once they undergo the physiological changes to go terrestrial. The more plants you have, specially if they are close to the surface, the better, as they have a huge impact in making the animals feel safe in the water as well as maintaining water quality.

 

[Alfredo21]

Well thats the one thing i am really embarrassed to say is the size, it is a 5 gal tank. and the filter in it is one for a 3-5 gal tank, it barley makes a current at all. i also must atmit that i have only started using the filter recently. after he stoped eating.
i do have one big ball of moss that he loves to sleep in. but i do agree i need to get more live plants.

 

[Azhael]

Well, at least now you know what you have to change. Get a 10gallon as soon as possible, larger, always better, of course. If money is an issue, you can find very large tupperwares, well over 10gallons, very cheap and perfectly functional.
The plants, i must insist, really make a HUGE difference. Your best bet at getting your newt to settle down and de-stress is to have optimal conditions, and plants will go a long way in ensuring that.

Read the CC articles regarding water quality, etc, they´ll be helpful in planning the future for your little newt.

 

[Alfredo21]

thank you sooo much. the original plan was to have them in the 5 gal until i could set up my 75 gal tank for my hermit crabs. and then the newts would have the 10 gall that some of my crabs are in. but plans have changed and well i still live in my parents house and they are being very fussy about letting me set it up. still working on it tho.