SarahLovesSalamanders
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- Joined
- Jun 15, 2022
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- west virginia, usa
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- United States
Thank you admins for accepting my request.
Long time lurker, first time poster. Please bare with me as all this information is crucial, but it is a lengthy post.
For background:
3 weeks ago, my sister's kids visited their dad in Morgantown. We live 4 hours away in the Eastern Panhandle of WV. They brought back (to my dismay) what I have identified as 3 Eastern Newt efts, or, Red Spotted Newt efts.
I don't live with my sister so I had no idea about them for the first 3 days.
I'm the kind of person who believes the golden rule of nature - leave it where you found it. But once she told me about the "lizards" they found and that she tried feeding them chicken nuggets, I immediately drove to her house. I knew they were newts or salamanders of some sort just by looking at them.
I was absolutely p*ssed. She said they came home in an empty Pepsi bottle, and she had since put them in an old fish tank she used for her fish that died last month.
The chicken nuggets had molded over. The 3 poor babies were curled up, looked unnaturally dry despite being in their terrestrial phase. All I could think of was the trauma they must have endured and my heart sunk. I very carefully drove them home with me.
This woman couldn't keep a fish alive for 3 months, there was no way 3 more innocent animals were going to die if I had any say in it.
So I took them home. I have plants and a dehumidifier in my room. I don't use harsh sprays at home. I have no other amphibians at the moment; although from ages 8-17 I had turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, and a snake. I do have 2 pet garden snails, but they stay in a controlled tank on my kitchen counter so there would be no cross contamination of any kind.
So I took them into my room. I immediately washed a clean dish for them, put a very small shallow amount of spring water in it so they could drink since they looked dehydrated, and washed my hands, put on a safe pair of gloves, sterilized those as well, and carefully sat each newt in the small clean dish.
They were lethargic at first but after some gulps of water they were looking alive again. I got a tank set up for them, I actually had a new one sitting in my basement. I cleaned it and put in a ground up brick of fresh coconut coir. I use it for my snails and was lucky to have an extra brick.
After the newts had their fill of water and seemed more curious, I changed my gloves again, moistened them once more, and put the babies in the tank.
I googled animal vets near me that specialized in amphibians. The closest one is 2 hours away. And keep in mind, the place they were captured from is an 8 hour roundtrip. My car is in bad shape so I unfortunately had no option to put them where they came from.
My only choice I felt was to keep their stress as minimal as possible since they were already weak and traumatized. I was burning with rage the entire time for the poor choices of others that led to me being their caregiver. Although I have grown to love them dearly and they're very cute. All about an inch and a half long. I imagine they are younger efts.
Anyway, I decided to try my hand at rehabilitation for them while researching my other options. The least I could do was feed them and get them away from my sister. So I went to a pet shop an hour away because they have blackworms. They loved them! I was surprised to see them eating off tweezers already.
Everything up until this point happened about 2 weeks-a week ago.
Flash forward to Saturday, I wake up and see a strange lump in their tank. It was a black, hard lump. Looked like one of them had passed it as stool. I immediately removed it with gloves, and cleaned the bedding out. The only other thing that's been in the tank with them are a few leaves for hides, a small damp piece of paper towel for moisture, and the dry coir substrate.
I didn't think much of the strange stool, although it did give me a weird feeling, but I couldn't find much on here about it so I chalked it up to them maybe eating too many worms. I made sure they were okay and went about my day.
No major change in behaviors or movement, but they seemed a bit sluggish the last 2 days but I figured maybe I just needed to adjust the temp since it was a hotter day than usual. My room is currently 68 degrees. It was about 73 that day.
Yesterday, Tuesday, I did notice a strange nodule on one of the newt's left hind legs. I also noticed some (potential?) darker discoloration in the posterior area under the skin of the same newt, by his organs. My mind went back to the black lump of strange feces I found days prior. It should also be noted that he had several very small white flecks on him. I immediately set up a quarantine for him and separated him from the other 2 newts that appeared healthy and did a thorough deep clean for the tank they had all shared. Replaced the bedding and everything.
The nodule is the size of a skin tag so generally small but im scared because I read that it can be a fungal infection or bacterial. I found this quite perplexing as I made it 2 weeks with no signs of any unhealthy symptoms and the fact I was doing everything properly. I postulated two possibilities - 1) The newt had contracted some sort of parasite from the blackworms. I've looked into this and it seems possible but unlikely. The petshop I got them from has a good quality reputation and is regarded as highly ethical as far as pet shops go.
Or 2) Since my sister left them in the same tank she had kept her fish in before he died, my hypothesis is they could have picked up a parasite or infection of some sort from the remnants of the tank, and it laid dormant until temperatures had risen a bit or something happened to trigger an outbreak. Wanted to add - the fish died of ammonia burns. Not parasites. Still doesn't rule out the existence of parasites in the tank though. She didn't change its tank for 3 months. I came along and changed the water and filter but I think he ultimately succumbed to the ammonia burns.
I am calling the local National Conservation of Wildlife in the morning to get further advice although I am afraid they won't hear me out and will just want me to surrender them so they can euthanize.
I am glad I didn't release them locally as the affected newt could spread this to other populations. But my heart breaks for them. I cry every day. I feel helpless. All I want to do is help, and I thought things were going well, but now it feels as though I failed them even though it may have not been my fault at all.
So here I am. With a lonely newt in isolation. Awaiting answers. I bought some Indian Almond Leaves today. I read they're good for antifungal and antibacterial treatment.
So here are my questions:
- Should I continue to feed blackworms? Or is this risk ruled out? It's all they will eat.
- Does anyone know if the tiny white flecks on the newt and the black feces in tandem are a sign of a specific parasite? If so, what kind and what are my options.
- Will treating an external fungus with Tannin ultimately kill any potential internal parasites as well? How do you take care of internal issues?
- Are salt baths okay for newts? He seems to have some fluid retention, but not extreme edema. I know that salt baths for other species is said to help with fungus. I can't find much info for terrestrial eastern newts.
- Is cold or hot temperatures better to kill these infections? I've read cold temps bring these kinds of things out but I only noticed the growth nodules after a warmer day.
- How will I know if any treatment is working?
- What kinds of diseases are curable, chronic yet manageable, and incurable/lethal?
- It says that most of these parasites are lethal to fish. It doesn't say they're inherently lethal to salamanders. Does that mean they have a chance?
- Are they doomed?
I will be putting almond leaves in tonight after work. I discussed taking time off work to take them to the vet 2 hours away. I really want no judgement. I've done all the research I could and I just want to get them back to health. I can feel my mental health spiraling if anything happens to them. I've already bonded with them. I love them so much. I didn't come into possession of them willingly so keep in mind i had NO part in their capture. My options were limited for the most part otherwise so I've done everything in my power to stabilize them and increase their chances of survival. Any help is appreciated.
Long time lurker, first time poster. Please bare with me as all this information is crucial, but it is a lengthy post.
For background:
3 weeks ago, my sister's kids visited their dad in Morgantown. We live 4 hours away in the Eastern Panhandle of WV. They brought back (to my dismay) what I have identified as 3 Eastern Newt efts, or, Red Spotted Newt efts.
I don't live with my sister so I had no idea about them for the first 3 days.
I'm the kind of person who believes the golden rule of nature - leave it where you found it. But once she told me about the "lizards" they found and that she tried feeding them chicken nuggets, I immediately drove to her house. I knew they were newts or salamanders of some sort just by looking at them.
I was absolutely p*ssed. She said they came home in an empty Pepsi bottle, and she had since put them in an old fish tank she used for her fish that died last month.
The chicken nuggets had molded over. The 3 poor babies were curled up, looked unnaturally dry despite being in their terrestrial phase. All I could think of was the trauma they must have endured and my heart sunk. I very carefully drove them home with me.
This woman couldn't keep a fish alive for 3 months, there was no way 3 more innocent animals were going to die if I had any say in it.
So I took them home. I have plants and a dehumidifier in my room. I don't use harsh sprays at home. I have no other amphibians at the moment; although from ages 8-17 I had turtles, frogs, toads, lizards, and a snake. I do have 2 pet garden snails, but they stay in a controlled tank on my kitchen counter so there would be no cross contamination of any kind.
So I took them into my room. I immediately washed a clean dish for them, put a very small shallow amount of spring water in it so they could drink since they looked dehydrated, and washed my hands, put on a safe pair of gloves, sterilized those as well, and carefully sat each newt in the small clean dish.
They were lethargic at first but after some gulps of water they were looking alive again. I got a tank set up for them, I actually had a new one sitting in my basement. I cleaned it and put in a ground up brick of fresh coconut coir. I use it for my snails and was lucky to have an extra brick.
After the newts had their fill of water and seemed more curious, I changed my gloves again, moistened them once more, and put the babies in the tank.
I googled animal vets near me that specialized in amphibians. The closest one is 2 hours away. And keep in mind, the place they were captured from is an 8 hour roundtrip. My car is in bad shape so I unfortunately had no option to put them where they came from.
My only choice I felt was to keep their stress as minimal as possible since they were already weak and traumatized. I was burning with rage the entire time for the poor choices of others that led to me being their caregiver. Although I have grown to love them dearly and they're very cute. All about an inch and a half long. I imagine they are younger efts.
Anyway, I decided to try my hand at rehabilitation for them while researching my other options. The least I could do was feed them and get them away from my sister. So I went to a pet shop an hour away because they have blackworms. They loved them! I was surprised to see them eating off tweezers already.
Everything up until this point happened about 2 weeks-a week ago.
Flash forward to Saturday, I wake up and see a strange lump in their tank. It was a black, hard lump. Looked like one of them had passed it as stool. I immediately removed it with gloves, and cleaned the bedding out. The only other thing that's been in the tank with them are a few leaves for hides, a small damp piece of paper towel for moisture, and the dry coir substrate.
I didn't think much of the strange stool, although it did give me a weird feeling, but I couldn't find much on here about it so I chalked it up to them maybe eating too many worms. I made sure they were okay and went about my day.
No major change in behaviors or movement, but they seemed a bit sluggish the last 2 days but I figured maybe I just needed to adjust the temp since it was a hotter day than usual. My room is currently 68 degrees. It was about 73 that day.
Yesterday, Tuesday, I did notice a strange nodule on one of the newt's left hind legs. I also noticed some (potential?) darker discoloration in the posterior area under the skin of the same newt, by his organs. My mind went back to the black lump of strange feces I found days prior. It should also be noted that he had several very small white flecks on him. I immediately set up a quarantine for him and separated him from the other 2 newts that appeared healthy and did a thorough deep clean for the tank they had all shared. Replaced the bedding and everything.
The nodule is the size of a skin tag so generally small but im scared because I read that it can be a fungal infection or bacterial. I found this quite perplexing as I made it 2 weeks with no signs of any unhealthy symptoms and the fact I was doing everything properly. I postulated two possibilities - 1) The newt had contracted some sort of parasite from the blackworms. I've looked into this and it seems possible but unlikely. The petshop I got them from has a good quality reputation and is regarded as highly ethical as far as pet shops go.
Or 2) Since my sister left them in the same tank she had kept her fish in before he died, my hypothesis is they could have picked up a parasite or infection of some sort from the remnants of the tank, and it laid dormant until temperatures had risen a bit or something happened to trigger an outbreak. Wanted to add - the fish died of ammonia burns. Not parasites. Still doesn't rule out the existence of parasites in the tank though. She didn't change its tank for 3 months. I came along and changed the water and filter but I think he ultimately succumbed to the ammonia burns.
I am calling the local National Conservation of Wildlife in the morning to get further advice although I am afraid they won't hear me out and will just want me to surrender them so they can euthanize.
I am glad I didn't release them locally as the affected newt could spread this to other populations. But my heart breaks for them. I cry every day. I feel helpless. All I want to do is help, and I thought things were going well, but now it feels as though I failed them even though it may have not been my fault at all.
So here I am. With a lonely newt in isolation. Awaiting answers. I bought some Indian Almond Leaves today. I read they're good for antifungal and antibacterial treatment.
So here are my questions:
- Should I continue to feed blackworms? Or is this risk ruled out? It's all they will eat.
- Does anyone know if the tiny white flecks on the newt and the black feces in tandem are a sign of a specific parasite? If so, what kind and what are my options.
- Will treating an external fungus with Tannin ultimately kill any potential internal parasites as well? How do you take care of internal issues?
- Are salt baths okay for newts? He seems to have some fluid retention, but not extreme edema. I know that salt baths for other species is said to help with fungus. I can't find much info for terrestrial eastern newts.
- Is cold or hot temperatures better to kill these infections? I've read cold temps bring these kinds of things out but I only noticed the growth nodules after a warmer day.
- How will I know if any treatment is working?
- What kinds of diseases are curable, chronic yet manageable, and incurable/lethal?
- It says that most of these parasites are lethal to fish. It doesn't say they're inherently lethal to salamanders. Does that mean they have a chance?
- Are they doomed?
I will be putting almond leaves in tonight after work. I discussed taking time off work to take them to the vet 2 hours away. I really want no judgement. I've done all the research I could and I just want to get them back to health. I can feel my mental health spiraling if anything happens to them. I've already bonded with them. I love them so much. I didn't come into possession of them willingly so keep in mind i had NO part in their capture. My options were limited for the most part otherwise so I've done everything in my power to stabilize them and increase their chances of survival. Any help is appreciated.
Last edited:
His bloating went down and he was moving about like normal! No signs of infection, he's a lone survivor for sure. I was expecting the worse this morning but as soon as I saw him I said out loud "Wowww you look so good!" Lol. His spine is lighter in color now and he looks genuinely healthy. I think I'm going to reacclimate him to a his old tank later this week since it'll give him more room (after I sanitize it and let it air out, and monitor him of course.)