Dead Newt

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Repguy27

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My Japanese firebelly newt has recently died from I don't know what. I went on a two day trip and when I came back he was literally skin and bones. It might be that he starved but I don't think that is likely because he had a worm he could have eaten but he didn't and he wasn't really skinny or anything when I left. I'm not sure if I can get another one though because my mom said no because this is the second one that died in a 5 month period. I was just wondering why he died I didn't see any visible infections or anything either and the water was fine. He was on land too when he died with easy access to the water.
 
Not really knowing all the details its hard to give a answer on why it happened. If this is the second one then something is really wrong. It also didn't happen because you left for two days, it had a problem way before this. The fact that it was skin and bones when you found it was a signs it was sick for a while. How did the other one die?

We need more information. The fact is that unless its a juvie firebelly it should be spending most of its time in the water. If its not then there is a problem with the water (ammonia buildup, temp, etc.)
You said that you fed it a worm but it didnt eat it, was this a problem before?

What are you feeding it excatly? How much water is in it? How offen do you change the water?

Give us a much info as you can and we can go from there.

Mitch
 
I am fairly certain it is a juvie. The first one died within a week of getting it from an infection from the pet store. I am testing the water again now to see if the worm may have also raised the ammonia level being that it drowned in the water although I think it is an unlikely death seeing as how it died on land. I would say he spent maybe 50% or so of the time in the water. The temperature is still within the acceptable range for it too so that couldn't have been the problem. I was feeding it calciworms and he wouldn't eat dead bloodworms so that was the largest part of his diet. He wasn't eating that much before but he also wasn't very skinny either. The store nearby was also gonna start selling live bloodworms and live blackworms soon too. He was in about 3 gallons of water that had maybe 20% water change weekly.
 
Well if it is a juvie it will need a different setup. You should have a little bit of water but the rest should be a terrestrial setup with lots of hiding spots. If it goes in the water more increase the amount of water until it seems to spend most of its time in water. I think it was more stress than age though, I would question water quality.

And the whole water situation in general has me the most concerned. Make sure you are treating/aging the water the right away before putting it into the container. Make sure to do more than 20% of the water and change it more than once a week. Make sure to test the water for ammonia. I would also check pH levels and Nitrite/Nitrate levels as well. If the first one died of infection I hope you cleaned the container out properly. As far as feeding goes, it would go with small earthworms and live blackworms/bloodworms. I have no real exp with calciworms outside of reptiles, it should be fine but try to mix it up. The only thing I can think of is if calciworms are like waxworms they will drown within seconds so if you leave it in there for a day or two that will increase ammonia.

I would also be caution of that pet store, if one was dead soon after you got it there no telling how all the rest are. But at the same time if your setup/care isnt right it will die everytime.

There is most likely more but thats all I got. Remember newts are not like fish, they are more sensative to water conditions and have more needs.

Mitch
 
Well the setup was fine as far as that goes because he was in the juvie stage going into the adult stage. I checked the water and it was fine. As far as everything else goes it was fine too although stress is a possibilty though. I have always treated the water bout you mentioned aging as well. Do you mean cycling because people before were saying that treated water is fine to add to cycled water?
 
If this one also came from a pet shop, I suspect it just was one of the unfortunate ones that didn't adapt to captivity. Did you ever actually see it eat? Small newts are tricky to adapt to a new situation, and they suffer untold neglect during import/wholesale/retail.
 
I agree with Jennewt, although you'll never know for sure, it is likely your newts were just too stressed from capture and import conditions. If you want to give keeping newts another go, I cannot advice you enough to 'invest' in a CB individual/group, you'll find them easily in the for sale section of this site.

CB newts from a breeder are a bit more expensive than WC ones, but you can be sure they have been looked after very careful, and should adapt to captivity in your set-up much more easily...

Good luck with your future endeavors! :blob:
 
Well the worm was an alive calciworm and yes he has eaten one before. As far as getting a cb newt I don't think my parents will let me get another one because of the cost seeing as my mom doesn't even want me to get one thinking it will just die again.
 
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