Just got a free Mandarin!

[macphersoni]

I don't believe it! I've been working at Big Al's aquarium superstore for the past few months, and yesterday someone dropped off a gorgeous Mandarin newt complete with setup. The store wouldn't take it, so I took him home - for free! I've done lots of reading about them, but just wanted to clarify a couple things:

What is the ideal moisture level for the terrarium (terrestrial setup)?

When he came to the store, he was in a 10 gallon tank with a sand/clay/garden soil substrate; I moved him to a clean 20 gallon exo terra, and filled it with a gravel/screen/coco fibre substrate. Any potential problems?

The newt seems to be healthy, well-fed, and active, but is a slow eater. Are crickets too quick for him?

Thanks,

Iain

 

[Greatwtehunter]

Lucky!!!!

You'll want to keep one end of the tank wet but not saturated and then the other side of the tank should be relatively dry. This way your newt can pick and choose how much moisture it desires as needed.

The current substrate setup sounds ok but in all reality the gravel isn't really all that necessary.

Your best bet would be to feed him worms. Crickets need to be gut loaded before every feeding and then dusted once a week with calcium to even be worth feeding to your newt.