Question: Eft Help!!

[Dreamliss]

Hi there!

First question:
I have 4 Chinese Firebelly Newts and some time ago, I discovered that a baby had hatched. He has his own little enclosure and has done quite well. He's recently lost his gills and climbed onto land (though sometimes he dips back into the water), but I notice he's not eating the little soft heaps of baby brine shrimp I'm leaving for him. I want to make sure he's happy and healthy!

What should I feed him? Will he still eat in the water?

A second question:
I know these guys don't like strong light too much, but my light burned out on my baby newt tank. I'll replace it of course, once I find the type of bulb. He gets light from the rest of the house, but how important is it for him to have good overhead lighting?

Thank you so much!
<3

~Dreamliss

 

[Nathan050793]

Once metamorphosis has occurred, juvenile C.orientalis become entirely terrestrial, so he probably won't eat in the water any longer. Brine shrimp are no longer an appropriate food source for him; depending on how large he is you should probably be feeding tiny chopped earth worm, pinhead crickets, or wingless fruit flies, etc. You will probably have much better luck with these.

As for the light, he should be fine with or without it. Light is only really important if your tank has live plants or you are trying to have a proper day/night cycle. Good luck!

Also, try these links, it should be helpful for anything I haven't answered- http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising.shtml

 

[Dreamliss]

Thank you very much for the info! I'll get some of that right away! He's still really small (about the size of a male dwarf feeder guppy) so I'll have to figure on the smaller varieties of food.

 

[rigsby]

if you keep him in very shallow water, just enough to cover him with a place to climb out he will enter the water to feed but at first the food must be moving ie live blood worm or black worm. I find its easier to feed them this way as i've found this type of newt are bad feeders on land.

 

[Dreamliss]

Thanks! I'll try that too and see what he likes best.