Feeding my orientalis fire bellys for the first time-need tips

[Neuter]

Hi. I just bought two fire belly newts(orientalis). The tank is a good temperature, I have the right conditions, I have some little islands via pots and some plants. I have a filter but the intake is too small for them to get sucked in.

The newts at the pet supplies were kept in a tank mostly filled with some sort of plant, with water. I doubt they could fully submerge much, most of them were partially submerged.

I got a male and a female. The male seems to be shedding a bit.

So I dethawed a cube of bloodworms and tried waving a few in front of their faces, both in the water and in the air and they showed no interest. I put a little on the island and a little in the corners of the tanks, they do not seem to be showing any interest, so far.

Should I be worried that they are not interested in eating?

One of them is actually hiding behind the filter. I tried putting some soft plastic plants behind the filter so it could not hide back there, but then it just climbed ontop of them.... the filter is steady and does not vibrate so I don't need to worry about it getting crushed back there.

The other is exploring a bit. Neither wants to eat.

I turned off the filter so that it does not suck up the food.

 

[dario213]

same here i bought one yesterday and it wont eat

 

[Neuter]

I panicked when they did not eat at first. Then I remember all the caresheets I read, including the one on this site, which said they may not eat for a few days after being moved. I think we have a few days till we have to worry.

The two I got seem healthy, I do not think the tank I got them from were diseased but they were taking poor care of them.

Any suggestions on what sort of food may help temp them best?

One of them has no problem at all going into the water but the other one seems to be trying to get out of it.... which is wierd because they both come from the same batch so presumably had the same conditions.

 

[spoons]

they can take a while to settle, the most important thing is that the temps are cool , and that you leave them totally alone for a few days , they can go for very long periods of time with no food so dont worry about them starving,
newly aquired newts should be housed in a quiet area of the house if possible (obviously if you put wild animals in a tank next to your stereo speakers and crank up the acdc , your poor newts will get the fright of their lives) when trying to feed them just drop a cube in the corner, and walk away, they may not feed in front of you for a while , sometimes its good to drop a frozen cube in , they can see it floating and taste it in the water , basically , once theyre settled , they'll be fine

 

[spendday]

dont worry too much i had one that didnt eat for just over a week, now all 3 are happy and heathly and good eaters.

 

[Neuter]

The temperature in the tank is somewhere between 67 and 70 degrees.

I’ve discovered that the animals were left in seriously bad conditions. In fact, 1 of them was missing a chunk of it’s head and had a broken leg. I took it back and got another one with a broken leg…. I took THAT back and sorted through the tank myself to find most of them were going to die soon, SERIOUS injuries…. more on that in another thread I’ll make soon.

I now have 2 which SEEM healthy. One is an orientalis and the other one is a Japanese fire belly which was put into the wrong tank. They seem to “like” each other, at least I’ve seen them laying on each other, the orientalis is male and I think the Japanese one is also, should I have to worry about them being different species? Their living conditions are basically the same, Japanese may be a little more terrestrial but I have plenty of land for it to go on.

Anyway, so I do not need to worry about feeding them today? I have no idea when they last got a good meal but it could have been 3 or 4 days or even 5 days, heck, it could have been a week. Should I leave them alone today and wait till tomorrow to try to feed them? They spent last night hanging out partially submerged on plants or partially in the water and the land. When I worke up this morning, they were both partially under cover at the bottom of the tank(not dead, I squirted a TINY bit of water with a turkey baster, they moved a bit).

I should really drop in a frozen cube-I should not let it thaw first? A whole cube seems like a lot for 2 newts, even every other day. If they are hiding under cover on the other side of the tank, will they still be able to find it?