How long can Fire Bellys stay underwater.

J

john

Guest
I just got 2 fire bellys and they love the water. I just was wondering how long they can hold there breath or if they can breath underwater. Mine have stayed under for like 2 hours and I never saw them come up for a breath.
Also, they are little babies and are both pretty skinny. One seems to be doing better than the other. One is just not as active, and seems somewhat emaciated. I'm not really sure if I should take the one back and get a healthier looking specimin or should I just give the little guy a couple of days to see if he improves?
 
salamanders and newts respire to a certain degree through their skin and mucous membranes. This varies from species to species. For example lungless salamanders breathe only through these membranes and the skin. Salamanders with gills tend to be able to respire more through the skin than lunged individuals. As for the condition youre newts are in, lemme guess, you got them from a major chain pet store ?
 
Jesse: Well, that doesn't matter too much...its the treatment they get when they are ripped from the wild and transported that does.

The longest I've seen is 5 minutes. This time shortens considerably if the newt is foraging, feeding, or doing other things that require more energy.
 
Ya I got them from a pet store, Aquatics Unlimited. Oh well. I took the one sick one back and got a different one. The 2 in there now seem to be just fine. As for how long they stay under water, the one seems to be able to stay under for over 20 mins. The other seems to stay under for about 10-15 mins or so. I'm not sure exactly because im not always right there watching them. If they stay under too long should I like pic them up and put them on the land?

p.s. thx for the help. I appreciate it.
 
Hi John. No, you should let them stay under water as long as they want to. There is absolutely no problem with it
wink.gif


I suggest that you give this article a read if you are keeping Cynops orientalis:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml

...and that you also have a look at these articles:

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/articles.shtml
 
i rarely see my orientalis on land. They occasionally swim to the surface for air but don't leave the water
 
Thx much. Heres some more questions. My temp is always around 70-75. When it gets up to 75 i put ice cubes in to cool it down. It goes down to 70 then but doesnt always stay there very long. I've only had mine for a couple of days. Do they stay super tiny. Cause if they do and they seem very hard to care for, I might just take them back to the pet store and get a bigger species thats not so fragile. I just hate to see little animals die.
 
They do stay small, up to 3 or 4 inches. You may be able to keep them cooler by moving them to a basement or lowest level of the house, using a screen lid, and NOT using a power-driven filter. Once they are established, they are quite hardy, but newly-purchased CFBN are fragile in some ways.
 
They are in the basement already, me and my girlfriend live down there. I will try the screened top though. I can't believe there isn't like a little mat or something that plugs in and gets cold. Like a little cold mat to put my beer on, now that's thinkin. LOL. I lost one newt already, they are so emaciated. I'm punchin my self in the gut here cause i went to the pet store down the street from were i got the newts and they have the same kind, but all of theres are fat, healthy looking newts. They were cheaper there to. I have one newt left, I got him to eat some bloodworms yesterday off a tweezers i held infront of his face. He's very active. Do you think putting another newt in there, one of the healthy ones i found, would stress him out. Or do you think he will be ok with a new friend.

(Message edited by nuggular on July 15, 2004)
 
I'd back you up, except this thread is over a year old. I'm sure John's learned plenty since then.
 
Jeff,
I deleted the post as this is 1) an old thread and 2) the comments were not necessary.

Ed
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top