Help my newt has funny lumps!!

[Lydz]

hi everyone,

I have a young Chinese fire bellied newt, and he has lumps either side of his stomach and looks like his rectum is compacted or has constipation. He is on a diet of white worms, having trouble getting and growing fruit flies at the moment to vary it a bit. He has also been shedding his skin alot.
My newts live in a tank with gravel, a fern, drift wood and some water. Non are interested in the water and he is not as active as he once was. They also have a UV light. Any advice would be much appreciated thanks!

Lydz

 

[superfin]

Does he look familiar to any of these?http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness3.shtml my opinion you might be right about the constipation if not already get gravel that youre newt can't eat.My personel favirot subtate is sand or you could even keep the bottom bare.If there avilable try feeding him frozen or live blood worms chinese fire bellies love them




chris:wacko:

 

[oregon newt]

Do you have a picture? Also, UV light isn't required for caudates.

 

[Lydz]

Hey,

Thanks for the feed back, I will put a picture of him when I get home from work later this afternoon. I just have a fruit mix gravel mixture, I dont think he could eat it but I will see if there are smaller pieces of gravel in his tank. I tired giving them froozen blood worms before but i dont know if he ate them, it didnt look like it. He likes to go after moving prey!
I have heard mixed stories about the UV light. I only have one with a reptile bulb in because my last newt developed metabolic bone disease from a lack of vit. D and sadly he had to be put down because of it. The vet I went to see is an amphibian specialist in NZ so I took his advice.

Cheers
Lydz

 

[Jennewt]

Be sure to read the advice about non-eating and won't-go-in-water newts in the Newt FAQ (link in my signature line).

Having the UV light is not a bad idea... BUT... if the newt is sitting out of the water all the time, I think the UV light could be harmful to his skin. Does he have hides, or is he sitting in the light all the time?

Are the lumps symmetrical on either side? A photo would be helpful.

 

[Lydz]

Hi,

Here is a picture. He has two lumps on his left hand side and one lower down on his right.

 

[Lydz]

Heya,

Just incase anyone was interested with the outcome of my newt. I took him to a vet where he was operated on (and amazing survived being less than a gram) and was diagnosed in having metabolic bone disease which was causing his spine to be twisted and hence pushing his organs to each side of his body (lumps). He picked up and was doing really well after his surgery in November but has deteriorated the past week unfortunately. It is touch and go at the moment but the outcome sadlyt isnt look too good. One of my last newts that was put down contracted metabolic bone disease also apparently due to a lack in vit. D and UV light but it seems the UV light hasnt helped!

We are unable, as far as I know, to obtain adult newts in NZ, they all seem to be less than a year old, most around 0.2 - 0.5 g and the care for them also isnt well established, as well as food. So if anyone has any tips on feeding/housing it would be greatly appreciated, and if anyone knows anything about avoiding metabolic bone disease would be fantastic as I dont want to get any more newts and for them ending up by getting this aweful disease!

Cheers and I hope others are having better luck with these remarkable little creatures!
Lydia

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Thanks for the update, however it's ashame it has taken a turn for the worst. I hope everything turns out ok.

Later,
Justin

 

[oregon newt]

One of my last newts that was put down contracted metabolic bone disease also apparently due to a lack in vit. D and UV light but it seems the UV light hasnt helped!

That's strange. Amphibians do not require UV light. They also don't really require vitamins unless you're feeding them something with a poor calcium to phosphorus ratio. What were you feeding it?

 

[herpvet]

That's strange. Amphibians do not require UV light. They also don't really require vitamins unless you're feeding them something with a poor calcium to phosphorus ratio. What were you feeding it?

Hello,

I would have to add a cautionary note here, in that as far as I'm aware the jury is still out on uv for amphibians (with a few exceptions either way (i.e. some almost certainly benefit, some almost certainly don't). Certainly it shouldn't be too pervasive, but I would respectfully disagree with a blanket assertion that amphibians don't require uv. In fact I would tend to recommend a low level of uv (again, with plenty of chance to avoid it) for most amphibians until we get strong evidence to the contrary.

With regards to not requiring vitamins, most invertebrate foods have poor calciumhosphorous ratios (see http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/foods2.shtml for example) and therefore supplementation is often necessary. I still see quite a high proportion of amphibians with significant metabolic bone disease.

Hope this helps,

Bruce.

 

[Lydz]

Hi,

I was and am feeding my newt white worms and I only got a UV light when it was recommended to me by a vet as my hostle room at uni was dark and my newt wasnt getting adequate light and vit. D, hence causing the metabolic bone disease. This disease seems to be a constant problem with my animals so it must be something that I am doing wrong but I am unable to work out what it is, I have changed a number of things from what has been suggested so far but nothing has worked. I am very reluctant to get any more newts as I do not want them to die at such a young age and due to an unavoidable cause but would like to keep newts. I would prefer to get them as adults but that is very hard to do in NZ, thus far no one has ever offered them, the ones you can buy are either still in their larva form or have just passed it. This, to me, seems too young to be selling to joe bloggs and I think there should be an age/weight restriction for selling in NZ, I dont know if there is one else where in the world but we dont have one, as well as a how to care info would also be great for newts at this age.

Thanks for your feedback,

Lydz