H
heather
Guest
Bear with me here, I know you all probably get tired of hearing newbie questions. Ask me anything about pet rats and I can tell you but I'm extremely new to the world of newts and only by accident.
After I rescued a wild salamander from the classroom (a kid brought it in and wanted my teacher to keep it as a pet) and took it back to it's original place of living, someone brought my teacher a chinese fire belly newt. I've determined she's female and after weeks and weeks of reading, I'm still confused about a few things. Here goes.
First off, the little turd won't eat. She's been refusing food for about 8-9 days now. My teacher was feeding her pinhead crickets and mealworms. She ate a few small pieces of mealworm but no crickets. I bought some freeze dried brine shrimp and blood worms and some newt pellets. However, the newt pellets contain wheat flour and corn gluten meal, both of which I thought were not supposed to be fed because they will rot in the stomach? Should I feed newt pellets as a staple and what brand? If not, what SHOULD make up the majority of the diet? I know daphnia, earthworms, brine shrimp, black worms, gut loaded pinhead crickets can be fed once a week, bloodworms I read less often than that. I also don't know where to get waxworms, as I read here they can fatten up a skinny newt, and she is VERY skinny. It's been a week since my teacher NOTICED she hasn't eaten.. she could've been refusing food longer than that.
My second issue is she is in a VERY crowded and VERY noisy classroom. Can that stress her out so bad that she doesn't eat? I also read here they seem less stressed with a cagemate and she is alone. Right now, my teacher cannot even keep her water level more than 1/2" above the gravel. I've been bringing in well water and filling it about 2", with a small gravel slope towards a dry area. She has no plants either, real ones atleast(2 scrawny fake ones) and no hiding places(cowers under the internal filter which is not on?). My teacher is worried about her not eating and getting skinny so can anyone provide me with some backup info that this newt is not right for the classroom and would do better in a quieter and better furnished tank (both of which my teacher cannot provide)? I am hoping she will just give the newt to me. If she does, I have already planned for a setup. I've been searching setups for about 2 weeks now and got some awesome ideas. One thing I have NOT found the answer to is the tank is best when a fairly good amount of plants are in it. What plants though, how many for a 10 gal and where do I get them? Petsmart is the only place around and they seem like they're dying. Their newts look healthy and they eat good so I was going to get a tank mate for the female. Also, for the plants should I use a regular low watt bulb or will daylight that comes in the room be enough?
I think that's all the annoying questions I have now!
After I rescued a wild salamander from the classroom (a kid brought it in and wanted my teacher to keep it as a pet) and took it back to it's original place of living, someone brought my teacher a chinese fire belly newt. I've determined she's female and after weeks and weeks of reading, I'm still confused about a few things. Here goes.
First off, the little turd won't eat. She's been refusing food for about 8-9 days now. My teacher was feeding her pinhead crickets and mealworms. She ate a few small pieces of mealworm but no crickets. I bought some freeze dried brine shrimp and blood worms and some newt pellets. However, the newt pellets contain wheat flour and corn gluten meal, both of which I thought were not supposed to be fed because they will rot in the stomach? Should I feed newt pellets as a staple and what brand? If not, what SHOULD make up the majority of the diet? I know daphnia, earthworms, brine shrimp, black worms, gut loaded pinhead crickets can be fed once a week, bloodworms I read less often than that. I also don't know where to get waxworms, as I read here they can fatten up a skinny newt, and she is VERY skinny. It's been a week since my teacher NOTICED she hasn't eaten.. she could've been refusing food longer than that.
My second issue is she is in a VERY crowded and VERY noisy classroom. Can that stress her out so bad that she doesn't eat? I also read here they seem less stressed with a cagemate and she is alone. Right now, my teacher cannot even keep her water level more than 1/2" above the gravel. I've been bringing in well water and filling it about 2", with a small gravel slope towards a dry area. She has no plants either, real ones atleast(2 scrawny fake ones) and no hiding places(cowers under the internal filter which is not on?). My teacher is worried about her not eating and getting skinny so can anyone provide me with some backup info that this newt is not right for the classroom and would do better in a quieter and better furnished tank (both of which my teacher cannot provide)? I am hoping she will just give the newt to me. If she does, I have already planned for a setup. I've been searching setups for about 2 weeks now and got some awesome ideas. One thing I have NOT found the answer to is the tank is best when a fairly good amount of plants are in it. What plants though, how many for a 10 gal and where do I get them? Petsmart is the only place around and they seem like they're dying. Their newts look healthy and they eat good so I was going to get a tank mate for the female. Also, for the plants should I use a regular low watt bulb or will daylight that comes in the room be enough?
I think that's all the annoying questions I have now!
