Legs function? Chinese fire bellied newt trouble

[carissa]

Hey, I'm new to this forum

I just got my first reptile on tuesday, and it's a little cutie. Unfortunately, it hasn't eaten the freeze dried bloodworms I tried to feed him, and I'm going to the petstore tomorrow to find some live food.
Problem right now is that when i watch him...sometimes he wont use one foot...and sometimes he will. The foot he wont use switches up, so at one point or another he's refused to use all of his feet!

I wanted to just make sure that this is totally normal?

and he's really small, so I have him in a little cary-on type aquarium. Since he's probably like ..an inch long, does that matter?

thanks...

carissa

 

[carissa]

okay, i guess it was a silly question. just had me worried after reading numerous posts about legs falling off and toes growing out of their tails!

hopefully i'm right and he's supposed to ignore all but one of his feet most time. he loves hiding in the water though. that's a good sign according to the other posts.
he only comes up for air. but he's soooo small and skinny! i'm afraid the live food will eat HIM!

 

[tara]

It may be difficult (depending on where you live)to get live food for a newt so small. Many of us end up having to culture our own food. One thing you can do is instead of using freeze dried bloodworm use vitamin fortified frozen bloodworm. Most newts readily gobble this stuff up.

Also because you are in Miami you will have to try methods to keep your animal cool. Most caudates prefer temperatures below 70F, and it may be that he does not want to eat because he is too warm. Keep a screen top on your aquarium to allow for increased evaporation and either place bottles of frozen water in the tank or let a fan blow over the top of the water to cool it down. Keep your tank away from direct sunlight, basement locations are best.

Also Newts are amphibians, not reptiles.

 

[kaysie]

Mine occasionally just push themselves around while one foot gets dragged along, and it changes. I chalk it up to low muscle mass (or they're just lazy). You should probably not handle him, as you have lots of bacteria in your skin which would be harmful to your little guy.

good luck!

PS: they're amphibians, not reptiles (Sorry, I didn't see Tara's post at the time I posted!).
PS2: see www.caudata.org/cc for helpful articles on food, housing, and care

(Message edited by kaysie on March 26, 2004)

 

[carissa]

oh gee, i knew they were amphibians not reptiles! i'm just not used to this yet. Thanks so much for the response...i keep him in front of the air conditioner, which i think should keep him below 70degrees. miami is very hot, and i'm a little worried about the summer. I'm thinking about taking him to my office once i make sure the air is on all the time.

we don't have basements here though, we're below water level

i wish we did, that's kinda cool.

thanks again very much, sorry for the silly questions, never had a ..pet like this before!

carissa

Oh, btw, I got him live crickets and he LOVES them! he's acting completely different now that he's eaten one, and i'm going to go check up on that link on how many i should feed him a day.

cute note: I got Newt & Salamander bites just in case he would like them and the directions included this quote "Do not overfeed as overindulgence may occur"

hehe, thought it was funny! he didn't even look at them by the way.

(Message edited by carissa on March 27, 2004)

 

[shannon]

My newt has some type of flesh eating bacteria and the pet stores no absolutely nothing! Can someone help me out?



cruickshank@comcast.net

(Message approved by admin)

 

[kaysie]

flesh-eating bacteria? Doubtful.

Giving a list of symptoms and such would be much more helpful in trying to tell you what's happening.

 

[jesper]

Kaysie the cynic

.
You are probably describing a growing ulcer caused by bacterial infection. The infection can be local or systemic, hopefully it is only local.

 

[kaysie]

Well, flesh-eating bacteria really isn't all that common.

Shannon, try neosporin WITHOUT pain reliever.

PS: pet stores almost always know absolutely nothing