paddletail newt question...

[ZebraDruid]

hey i was wondering, how deep of water can i put my paddletail in? i have him in a container that looks to be 12"x6" and it can get about 4 inches deep. i have it about half way filled up (enough that he's completely submerged) but i was wondering if it could be deeper or not. lol i wasn't sure if paddletails have lungs or gills so i made it where he can get up on some rocks for air if he has lungs. Paddletails have lungs right? Cuz he doesn't have gills like newly hatched salamanders/newts, and when i feed him i see air bubbles come out of his mouth when he tries to eat (lol he's enjoyable to watch try to eat, he stalks the pellets XD). Anyways, just wondering if he could be in water that's like 4+ inches deep and swim to the top or not. Sorry if this sounds stupid lol.

also, he's pretty active so it seems like his water amount isn't bothering him (lol he comes out from under the rocks when i come to sit down at the desk he's on and he looks at me XD)

 

[ZebraDruid]

ok i just found the newt care sheet and i'd like to change my question about the water to ARE THESE CONDITIONS OK FOR MY NEWT? =D i hope so and it seems really active and healthy. thanks for any help =D

 

[ZebraDruid]

lol sorry for triple post but i have another container that's about 12"x6" also and it's about 10 inches deep. would my paddletail be happier in it? and my bro just gave me an aquarium that's about 22"x9" (note i'm guess measuring here lol) should i put the newt it that? (another note, i'm planning on trying to catch a tiger salamander and put it in the aquarium, so if i put the newt in that aquarium, there's no telling how long it'll be in it and have to be moved again, so should i just go ahead and put the newt in the bigger container that's not an aquarium? if so how deep should i fill it? i don't have to worry about hiding places and all that, i can get lots of those for the newt so all that i have to worry about is water depth, (and also, my newt comes to the pellets right when i put them in the water, and they float, so will the newt be able to get to floating pellets in 6"+ water? they can swim right? sorry for all these questions lol))

lol aww my newt is looking at me right now as usual lol precious

kk i'ma go finish washing both the second container and the aquarium, thanks for future help

 

[Jennewt]

Even a taller 12x6-inch container is really on the small side for an adult paddletail. Deeper water should be no problem, but I'm concerned about the small size of the container. What set of procedures do you plan for keeping the water quality good? Like, how much of the water will you change, and how often?

I'd suggest that you put the paddletail into the 22x9 tank (I think this is probably a 10 gallon, which is standardly 20x10"). Then DON'T get the tiger sal. I don't mean to sound like your mother here, but it's more important to take top-notch care of the animal you already have than to acquire more animals. If you can't afford another good-sized tank, maybe you shouldn't be getting more animals, particularly ones that are probably better off staying in the wild.

Good luck with the paddletail

 

[ZebraDruid]

kk thanks

the paddletail seems fine with the second container i mentioned (the bigger one but not the aquarium) and i change the water 1-2 times a week (more if it even looks to be getting a bit dirty) because i have no other filtration system other than the one on the aquarium my fish are in

but if it'd be better to put it in the aquarium i will

(btw, the tiger salamander was probably going to be a temporary thing because of feeding reasons lol)

kk thanks again

 

[Jennewt]

If you take a salamander out of the wild, it should NOT be taken on a temporary basis. There are 2 good reasons for this. First, tiger salamanders quickly become tame. Once it's tame, it loses its fear of humans (and maybe other predators) and this makes it more likely to be eaten after it's put back in the wild. Second, any captive amphibian is likely to pick up new germs from other amphibians in captivity. You have a paddletail that was imported from China, for example. If the tiger picks up germs from it, then takes those germs back into the wild, this could infect a large number of wild amphibians locally. This may sound far-fetched, but there have been amphibian die-offs traced to exactly this kind of contamination. If you take in a tiger sal, it's a long-term commitment. Please "give a hoot" about your local amphibians

 

[danmum]

I have a healthy active adult paddletail, and his environment is completely aquatic (about 6-7" deep). He has some plant material and driftwood he can climb to get to the surface, but has no true terrestrial habitat. He seems very happy, is there any reason to provide true dry habitat?

 

[ZebraDruid]

whew, after a lot of doing stuff to get his/her home ready (finding rocks in the woods, finding a stick that'll go from the bottom of the tank to above the water, to trying to get my bro's filter to work, to sanitizing everything for like 5298273 minutes (lol sarcasm )), the newt is finally in the aquarium . And i must say, I'm glad you told me to put him in it lol it's really cool looking (just need some taller plants =/ the stringy moss i have (lol it smells like celantro ^^) and two tiny little plants i found in the woods a few months ago when i bought the newt barely reach more than 4" high lol.

but there's two more things and i'll be done bothering you guys

would it be safe to put tiny little pond snails in the newt's aquarium? their from the fish aquarium so the only thing i could do to TRY to clean them is gently run water over them =/ the bacteria is why i didn't go ahead and put some in

and as for my newt's food

he eats small floating pellets when i had him in the smaller container so he saw it immediatly after i put one in, but now the water is much deeper so i am worried about him/her seeing the food. should i use the sinking pellets that i feed to my fish? or would that be unhealthy? i have NO access to bloodworms or anything (besides ordering them from internet or going to some out of town pet store) so yeah...


and about the tiger salamander, i DID NOT mean for that to sound uncaring i meant it as a if he's not eating then i'll let him go so he doesn't suffer, but now that you said the thing about them taming easily, i see that was kinda wrong lol kk thanks for all the help ^^

 

[Kaysie]

Snails are a bad idea. They usually have population explosions, and your salamander will probably not eat them.

Sinking pellets are fine, but earthworms are much better. You can find them at local Wal-Mart (where I get mine) or bait shops.

The tiger: if it stops eating, letting it go will not do any help. Tigers are GREAT captive animals. I have two, and they're among my favorites.

 

[ZebraDruid]

but i'm concerned about the sinking pellets i want to use as they're FISH FOOD pellets idk if they'll give my newt the right nutrition or not


and other than population explosions with snails, are there any other bad reasons? cuz i don't mind removing some of the snails when the population exceeds like 15 or so (random number, not being serious about 15, just using it as an example), cuz idk if any of you have a miraculous filter that gets down in the gritty gritty so to speak (lol just messing ), but i don't and that's why i wanted to put a few snails in the tank.


kk thanks for the help