Food and temperature

[tony]

I have been keeping two newts for the past year -- one is a paddletail and the other a southern crested (SEPARATE TANKS!! I know these two species would not get along). I have a couple of questions. First, temperature seems to be a constant topic on this site, and I am concerned about the effects of my stuffy apt. on the newts. The temp. is sometimes around 75, though I keep the tanks near a drafty window. In the summer I control the temp. with an air conditioner, so this is a winter problem. The two newts have not shown any sign of distress, but I still worry about them. Secondly, I feed them on a diet of live blackworms and chopped nightcrawlers (I tried redworms, but they did not consistently like them). Is this good enough? If not what can I add for these aquatic species? A friend says he feeds drowned fruit flies to his. Is that a good idea? What about small feeder guppies? All advice is much appreciated!

 

[jennifer]

When you say the temp is 75, is that the temp in the room, or in the tank water? There are some ideas in the FAQs at Caudate Central for lowering tank temp. The diet sounds good, you could throw in some frozen bloodworms for variety. The fruit flies are fine too, but I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. Feeder guppies often come with diseases, and the crested probably couldn't catch them.

 

[tony]

I meant the air temp. I have not measured the water temp., but I assumed they would be about the same. I have actually tried the blood worms, but the crested was spawned and raised by a biologist friend exclusively on live food and literally turns away in disgust from anything not wiggling (and she knows when it's me doing the moving!) Unfortunately, the paddletail also stopped taking non-live food after tasting the alternative, so I'm stuck. Thanks for the caution on feeder guppies!

 

[jennifer]

One other food idea is fly larvae (also called maggots or spikes). They have them at grubco.com and maybe some bait shops. They keep for month in the fridge and wiggle nicely.

The tank temp can be significantly higher or lower than the room temp, depending on appliances being used in the tank and how much evaporation can occur. I strongly recommend screen tops instead of aquarium hoods. And I stay away from most motor-driven filters.