Help with baby newts

[susan]

I need urgent help with our baby newts. We got a pair of newts for our daughter a year and a half ago, and despite being clueless about these animals, we didn't just get eggs, but they have been hatching into baby newts!

After reading here that the parents could eat the babies, I moved some of the eggs to another container, and left some of them in the tank. They hatched in both places. In the separate bowl, the first two died after about 2-3 weeks. I don't know if that's because the water quality wasn't good enough, or because I have no idea what to feed them. Now I have 6 more in there (about 2-3 weeks old), and I'm afraid they're starving to death.

I have been trying mashed newt pellets and frozen bloodworms, but these newts aren't like the baby newts on your web site. These guys don't swim around, they lie motionless on the bottom. If disturbed, they'll dart to another spot, then remain motionless again. I tried putting in tiny worms from a rotten apple, and the baby newts didn't budge. They also don't move even if a brine shrimp is swimming in front of their faces (in desperation, I have also been trying to raise seat monkeys).

To be honest, I'm really not sure what kind of newts they are. They have dark brown rough backs and red spots on their tummies. The guy at the pet store had said they were Hong Kong newts, but when I called the store about the baby newts they had no idea what to do. These are also the people who, when we bought the two adults, told us they only needed about an inch of water (we discovered they are almost entirely aquatic and rarely leave the water if ever), said they didn't need a filter (they definitely do), told us we shouldn't add anything to their tank (they became worlds more relaxed when we added an island and plants) and told us they ate newt pellets (they almost starved before we discovered, through sheer desperation, that they eat earthworms - live ones only).

What I really don't understand is that a couple of the baby newts are surviving despite it all. In the adult tank, I thought most of them had died (see: eaten), but I just spotted one in the tank tonight that's bigger than the other baby newts that hatched about two-three weeks ago. It has fluffy 'wings' above its front legs, and its body is definitely more substantial than the other babies. Like the others, it was motionless on the bottom, having darted out of the plant (scared out by a worm). It darted back into the plant, never to be seen again.

So does that mean the baby newts are eating...something? The plants are plastic, so is it eating the newt pellets I drop in the adult tank? Is there something else in the adult's tank water that's sustaining it? If so, should I put the isolated babies back into the adult tank then? I don't know what to do!

I have been putting this whole baby newt project on hold, until I knew I could sustain them. If I just knew that I could feed them successfully, I would buy another tank, filter, etc for the baby newts now living in the bowl (I am getting very tired of doing a 3/4 water change ever day & freaking out all the babies when I do it). How long can baby newts survive without eating after hatching???

As you can see, I am in serious need of help!!!

 

[joseph]

Congrats on the eggs and babies! They don't need food for several days. If you can obtain a culture of microworms that should work well. Chopped blackworms should work later on. Their are many others with more experience then me which could help out on this and perhaps ID the animals.

 

[joeri]

Live daphnia or artemia would be fine to start off with. Newly hatched larvae don't need food in first day as long as you can see a bright belly. (white greenish probably)
The larvae that have lived so far may have eaten other larvae.

Go visit this link and browse around, it seems there is a lot you'd like to know. That's encouraging. You'll see the more you know, the more you'll get fascinated by your newts. (and the more you laugh with your petshops advice

)
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml

good luck
Joeri

 

[benjamin]

The fluffy "wings" are actually gills, I'ld be very suprized if the other babies didn't have these as well. The description of your animals seems to match Hong Kong newts. Try daphnia (aka water fleas), or if you can't get those at your local pet store try brine shrimp, only try live foods. Don't raise them in their own tank with a filter. Split them up between tupperware containers in groups of ten. Hong Kong newts are seldom bred in captivity, so it would be great if you could raise and sell some.

 

[andrew]

Hi Susan, i breed Hong Kong newts and can only echo whats already been said. Try local aquatics stores, most can get hold of Daphnia. These newt larvae are not particularly hard to rear as long as you can get a good supply of live food, and yes i would too split them into several groups of similar sized young. The fluffy wings are indeed external gills and all newt larvae have these. There is a lot of information on this forum with regards to rearing caudates so i'd recommend having a look through it. Good luck with them and keep us posted!

 

[jennifer]

The larvae that are growing in the adult tank are eating tiny micro-organisms. If you look at some tank debris (that brown crud) under a microscope, you'd see all kinds of things wriggling around. For the first few weeks, this is enough. After that, try to throw in some live blackworms, if you can get them.

They should certainly eat the baby brine shrimp, as long as the shrimp are moving. Keep trying that.

 

[pdpdpdpdpd]

is frozen brine shrimp going to work or frozen daphnia? the pet store guy says it will but theyre not eating?
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[joe]

I think the problem with the petstore advice is they're assuming all aquatic creatures are alike: if fish or african dwarf frogs will eat frozen brine shrimp or other frozen foods, than newts must, right? In my experience, if it isn't alive and wiggling, you're not going to get your new to eat it (well, there are exceptions but they aren't going to apply to larvae). You'll need live cultures of something to feed them with.