New Newts and a Tiger Salamander

[Dennis Cada]

Early yesterday morning, like 2:15 AM in fact, I bought a Mexican Red Kneed tarantula from an ad on Kijiji. The seller was a rather delightful 18-20 year old kid who also gave me a tiger salamander and two tiny newts. I haven't yet seen the salamander, but I see here that they burrow and he has likely done that. The two newts were in a shallow Rubbermaid container on a wet paper towel with holes in the lid.
I just created a better (I think!) habitat for the newts, a bigger Rubbermaid container with a shallow water dish and wet moss. I thought I lost them because I didn't put the lid on it and I now see that they can climb up the sides but after checking really closely I found that they had burrowed into the moss. I just hope they can get out again!
I got something called ReptoMin Floating Food Sticks for aquatic turtles, newts, and frogs but they don't seem to be interested in it. I don't know if they find them as nasty as I would or if they just aren't hungry.
Is there any special substrate they need? Right now I have just the water dish and the moss. I should learn as I go along but I don't want the poor things to die in the meantime.

 

[jewett]

Hi Dennis, and welcome to the forum!

If you can post some pictures of the newts we may be able to identify the species (or you can peruse through these care sheets and find your species here: Caudata Culture Species Database - Salamandridae), and then we will be better able to recommend appropriate care. But as a general rule, worms are the best food, regardless of species. So you can try offering some size appropriate worms. This link may come in handy: Caudata Culture Articles - Worms

Also, most species of caudate need cool temperatures, so it would not be amiss to keep them under 70F.

Be cautious of moss - sphagnum is acidic and can cause some problems for newts and salamanders, so if you are unsure of the species of moss it may be best to remove it. Java moss is safe, if you have access to it.

There is a ton of information on proper caudate care, but these articles will give you an excellent start: Caudata Culture Newcomer Articles.

Best of luck! As you learn more and questions arise please continue to ask as needed!

HJ

 

[Dennis Cada]

This is the moss I got: ZOO MED™ Reptile Terrarium Moss | Substrate & Bedding | PetSmart It looks like the moss that the salamander and tarantula came with. I'm wondering if I should use some sort of substrate along with the moss, I have potting soil, sand, and that stuff that comes as a brick and needs to be soaked in water to be used.

I did notice that they require cooler temperatures, which is different from the tarantulas. I'll put them in my bedroom since I have the AC on when it's too hot outside.

I'll attempt to do pictures tomorrow or Sunday.

 

[Sith the turtle]

Hey, sounds like you're doing pretty good so far, but I'd still be careful with those fairly small pieces of moss, as they could accidentally ingest some and become impacted. Hope this helps!

 

[Dennis Cada]

OK, you guys wanted pictures? How about these?
First, the salamander. She looks sweet, but I don't know about being a tiger. Since she and the terrarium was free I can't argue. The water dish appears to be from a small frozen entree with a flat piece of stone in it.

Is this a tiger salamander? How would I know if it is male or female?

 

[Dennis Cada]

OK, now here are the newts, one of them actually, the other was hiding, but they both look the same. Each is about the size of one of my baby fingers.

In this case, I did do the terrarium, actually an old plastic box with holes drilled in the lid, myself. The moss is what I mentioned above, and the water dish is also from PetSmart. I hope the water dish is good because it cost me $20!! :-( It was just a bit too big to fit at the end so I had to set it as I did.

Note that the newt looks white in the second picture. I did it with a close up attachment on my DSLR and it is likely showing too much flash. I'm surprised the picture came out as well as it did considering I had to manually focus and the image stabilizer wouldn't be working.

The last picture shows how there is a space under the water dish. I'm wondering if I should use some potting soil or similar substrate at the bottom to fill in that space. Since the box gets wider as it goes up I might be able to put the water dish at the end too that way.

 

[ANash96]

Definently a tiger salamander, not sure about the sex. Judging by the tail length maybe female but i'm no expert.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Sith the turtle]

Hello, like has already been said, you do have a Tiger salamander, and Chinese fire-bellied newts. There are multiple care-sheets for this species, like these for example: Caudata Culture Species Entry - Cynops orientalis - Chinese firebelly Caudata Culture Articles - How to Feed a Large Worm to a Small Newt Caudata Culture Articles - Raising Juvenile Newts (And yes, the last one is perfectly acceptable for terrestrial adults as well ) I hope you the best, and if you need any help at all, don't be afraid to ask!

 

[Dennis Cada]

I got a pack of frozen bloodworms and fed two cubes to the salamander and two to the newts. I'll watch and see what happens. The cubes are rather tiny so I may need to feed more in a few days. I also reorganized the box for the newts as I said I would try, putting potting soil on the bottom, the water dish at one end, and moss on the other end.

Note in the picture one of the newts is in the middle of the left side on the moss and the other is in the upper right corner of the picture and the water dish. The melting cubes of bloodworms are in the lower lef corner. I could add a few of the ReptoMin Food Sticks I got a few days ago to the bloodworms too.

 

[Dennis Cada]

ARRRRGH!! I don't know what is going on. The salamander appears to be doing fine but the poor newts appear to be starving! I've tried feeding them some ReptoMin sticks (Tetrafauna Reptomin Aquatic Turtle, Newt and Frog Floating Food Sticks | Food | PetSmart), frozen bloodworms, mealworms, and small crickets but thet don't appear to be eating anything. Does anyone have any suggestions?

The salamander appears to love live hornworms but the newts are way too small for them.

 

[Chinadog]

As Heather has already said, you need to offer the newts some nightcrawlers (Chopped or whole small ones) or pinhead crickets. The pellets you have are intended for newts that are aquatic, and even then many newts won't touch them. Frozen bloodworms are also for use in the water. Most newts hunt by sight on land, so its important to feed therm something that's moving, in the water they will sometimes hunt by smell, so that's when you can try pellets or frozen stuff.

 

[Dennis Cada]

Now, where to get these pinhead crickets and nightcrawlers?? I have fed them small crickets but either they are too fast for the newts, too big, or the newts just don't notice them.

Is there anything terribly wrong with my setup?

 

[Canecorsonewt]

I have no problem getting my juvenile c oriental or my juvenile n.v.l to eat white worms. Just throw a some in and they find them

 

[Canecorsonewt]

I have no problem getting my juvenile c oriental or my juvenile n.v.l to eat white worms. Just throw a some in and they find them

Here are some pictures

 

[Chinadog]

There's nothing wrong with the set up if you can provide terrestrial food. If you can't, you could move them to an aquatic set up where they are easy to feed and easier to keep an eye on. Although they may spend time on land in the wild, the vast majority, if not all keepers of Chinese firebellies keep them in a weedy aquarium all year round, they have no problems at all and the newts will usually breed in such a set up.
When they are in water it is normally not so important to provide moving prey as they will hunt for food with their sense of smell. They should eat defrosted bloodworms and *might* eat the pellets as well. It would be best if they eat the pellets because they are a very good staple and contain all the vitamins and minerals that they need, but some newts just don't recognise the pellets as food and refuse them point blank.
Defrosted bloodworms are ok in the short term, but shouldn't be used as a staple because they are very low in Calcium and the other minerals the newts require to be healthy.
Nightcrawlers make the very best staple for newts,I dig them out the ground in my garden, Do you have access to someplace where you could dig for them, or even a Walmart that sells them as bait to anglers?

 

[Dennis Cada]

So I should get rid of the water dish and set up the terrarium so 50%-75% of the substrate is under water? How often would I need to change the water? I can imagine uneaten bloodworms and/or sticks would make it nasty rather quickly. Maybe use what the salamander has for water with them instead because it would be easy to remove, clean, and refill?

How about the moss? They seem to like to hide under it but I'm not sure if that is just because they can't get on top of it or stay there.

 

[Chinadog]

Most of the info you need is in this sticky thread below, but briefly, they tend to stay in the water almost 100% of the time when happy so a turtle dock or floating cork bark is all they'll need in the end. Start with very shallow water that's crammed full of live plants, enough that they can almost walk on them across the surface. You can provide small Islands with pebbles etc, but make sure there is nowhere they completely dry their skins. They will probably climb the sides and try to escape to begin with, but after a week or so they should start spending more and more time in the water, so at that point you can raise the water level gradually until the aquarium is almost full.
Don't underestimate the importance of the plants, apart from helping hugely with water quality, they give terrestrial adapted newts something to hang on to until they regrow their tail fins. Any fast growing plants will do, the pondweed looking ones they sell in bunches at petstores are ideal, but, there are lots to choose from on ebay etc.
You should be ok changing about half the water every couple of days while it's shallow, then, once the plants get established and the water is deeper I'd recommend about 30 % every fortnight or so, but you can spot clean any uneaten food with a turkey baster or a siphon hose.

http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-new-chinese-fire-belly-newts-not-eating.html

You can use the search function to find thread after thread about newly acquired Chinese firebellies not eating or refusing to get wet, but if there's anything you are unsure of ask away and I'll help if I can.

 

[Dennis Cada]

Although I have some water there I have never actually seen them in it. I did get a plastic terrarium intended for sea turtles where water can be added so most of it is under water. Would this work better? I'm kind of reluctant to use it because it looks like a child's toy. I'm at work right now so I can't get any details but it is new and still in its packaging.

 

[Dennis Cada]

This is the product I was thinking of using: Backyard Safari™ Lighted Land and Water Habitat : Cabela's
It is probably too small, among other things.

 

[Dennis Cada]

This appears to be from the manufacturer: Backyard Safari Land and Water Lighted Habitat - AlexBrands.com
As I thought, it IS for children, but it might work at least temporarily.