New Fire Bellied Newt Condition

[haleychristen]

Hello! I'm new to this forum and was hoping you could take a look at my new newt and tell me if you think it is gravid, bloated, or fat. It is very active, swimming, climbing and perching on fake plants. I picked out the largest newt in the group at a small neighborhood pet shop, and in the shop it was perched above the water filter, out of the water. Here are a couple of pictures, hoping you can get the idea of its body shape! If possible, could you tell me if this is a Japanese or Chinese FBN? Is it female or male? Thank you for your time and help

 

[sde]

Welcome to the forum :happy:

Heh heh, it looks like a male to me so.....i don't think its gravid. Just fat

 

[Aplestris]

Hi :happy:
It looks healthy for a pet shop newt! I'm not sure about the sex, some of the pictures make it look like a male to me and some of them a female. Oh and I'm quite sure it's a Chinese Fire Belly Newt.

 

[haleychristen]

Thanks for the replies! After waking up to this newt perched with most of its body out of the water for the longest time, I'm interested in getting or making a "turtle dock" of very small proportions. Also going to try some food more appealing than newt pellets.. It doesn't seem to be eating yet. Still an active little guy, although I heard newts are supposed to be mostly still.

 

[sde]

I would suggest chopped or small earthworms, or blood worms. Newts are usually decently active, but it depends on the species.

 

[Azhael]

Get some earthworms, they are the best staple.
Even though it looks quite healthy, it's still necessary to take into account the terrible conditions it has been through. Recently bought WC animals are always stressed and need excellent conditions to be able to adapt well to captivity. I would strongly recommend substituting the fake plants for real, live plants. They will be of huge help maintaining adequate water conditions until the tank has a chance to cycle completely.
It's most likely that the water conditions right now are not optimal, which added to the pre-existing stress of the animal is driving it to "perch" on land. You really want to correct that with copious amounts of live plants.
Newts are not that active....in fact, well stablished newts kept in excellent conditions are really quite inactive. They will spend most of their time near the surface with the head poking out or hiding between thick masses of vegetation (they LOVE that). Excessive activity is not a good sign, unless it's a male in breeding season. Typically it means the animal is stressed and the conditions are not very adequate. Keep an eye on it to see if it continues to get out of the water or seems restless.

By the way the gender is not quite clear. I would go with female based on the last couple of pictures.

 

[haleychristen]

Thanks for the advice! I'm hoping to finally get out and buy some live plants this weekend. My family just so happens to keep a worm bin, so a few days ago I tried feeding the newt a chopped up small worm. It loved it! I like that you can tell that the newt ate the food; it doesn't disappear into the gravel like pellets do. How often or how many thin, one inch or so long worms should I feed this newt? I've been sticking to one per day. Thanks again for the help!