Newts in Refrigerator

[jerry]

I need to have some mold remediation done in my home in a week or so that will require the air conditioning to be turned off for at least a few days. The electricity will stay on. I have some Chinese firebellies and some broken-stripe newts. I'm sure the temperature in the house will kill them if I don't do something. My idea is to put them in a small refrigerator I have. On "warmest" setting, the temperature in the refrigerator is about 50 F. Can I put the newts directly into the refrigerator, or would this be too much of a temperature shock? I can probably cycle them down to the cold temperature by plugging and unplugging the refrigerator, but I don't know how much time I should allot for this process, if it's necessary at all. Also, should I put the newts into containers with damp moss, or should they be in water? Finally, I have some about-to-morph larvae of both species, and some that have just morphed. Am I right in assuming that these little guys wouldn't be able to tolerate the refrigerator treatment?

 

[jennifer]

Putting them in damp moss or paper towels will be fine for up to a week. 50F should be fine, I wouldn't worry much about the shock. I have no idea what effect the change in temp would have on larvae/morphs but they should be able to stand it (after all, such temps occur in the wild). But they need to eat frequently, which might be a problem. Another alternative might be to take them to a friend's house with AC or a basement.

If the work includes chemicals billowing around, you should cover the tanks well and turn off any air pumps, so the chemicals do not get into the tank setups.