Eastern Newt Questions

J

jason

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Okay, so I found some adult Eastern Newts at a pet store near my house. I checked them out, and they seem very healthy. Now, I'm sure a 20 gallon tank would be best, but at the moment I only have a 10 gallon tank. Can 2 or 3 adults be kept in a 10 gallon for a few months? Also, what kind of plants do I need and what temp should the water be?
 
Here is the best place to start:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Notophthalmus/N_viridescens.shtml

To be brief, temperatures under 70F are best. As for your stocking predicament, I am not informed enough on that matter to say. Someone will be along with an opinion on that soon, I'm sure.

Good plants for newt tanks include elodea, java fern, java moss and hornwort. These are low light and easy to maintain plants. Clippings of pothos also works well in a tank.
 
I've kept eastern newts for a few years and I think you can keep three in a ten gallon. Just keep the water clean. I've used whatever plants I find at the pet store for them, Java, Elodea and stuff like that. I leave mine at room temperature, and just in the summer when it's really hot, I have an air conditioner I turn on in the room. Also the adults seem to like being aquatic most of the time, but like to haul out sometimes. You can use a floating piece of bark or whatever the pet store has that floats, or a decoration that breaks the surface of the water. Or they like to hang out in floating vegetation. Good luck, they are very sweet and friendly newts!
 
Okay, so I'm just about set. Just two more questions...does gravel size matter? Will they try to eat the gravel like my turtles do? Also, how about duckweed? I like how it carpets the water, but will it go well in a newt tank?
 
Duckweed is an okay plant for an auqurium. And gravel size does matter because some newts may take in some of the gravel when they feed so you want large gravel that won't be swallowed with the food.
 
You could also use a really fine sand that the newt can pass through its digestive system without a problem.
 
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  • Katia Del Rio-Tsonis:
    Dear All, I would appreciate some help identifying P. waltl disease and treatment. We received newts from Europe early November and a few maybe 3/70 had what it looked like lesions under the legs- at that time we thought maybe it was the stress of travel- now we think they probably had "red leg syndrome" (see picture). However a few weeks later other newts started to develop skin lesions (picture enclosed). The sender recommended to use sulfamerazine and we have treated them 2x and we are not sure they are all recovering. Does anyone have any experience with P. waltl diseases and could give some input on this? Any input would be greatly appreciated! Thank you.
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  • Katia Del Rio-Tsonis:
    sorry I am having a hard time trying to upload the pictures- I have them saved on my hard drive... any suggestions-the prompts here are not allowing for downloads that way as far as I can tell. Thanks
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    Katia Del Rio-Tsonis: sorry I am having a hard time trying to upload the pictures- I have them saved on my hard... +1
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