My newts died...and I need closure..

[eriku]

I had been searching for Mandarin newts for ages, finally found a pet store who had a pair. I built an enclosure, washed the rocks, used pure water, fed them pin heads, black worms and some silkworms. Both died in the night, I'd only had them for a few weeks, they did not look sick, but now I see a small discoloration on the nose of one. They seemed healthy and fat...I am really saddened by this and I want to know what could of done this! I don't know what could of caused this..I've had two firebelly newts for over 10 years now.

I'm starting to think I never should of bought them, I wanted to help them, but by creating demand for them, I actually killed them. As I understand, Tylotriton Shanjing are extremely hard to breed in captivity. So 99% of the ones sold in stores are captured in China and shipped over..they wouldn't have been shipped if demand didn't exist.

What could I have done better? What did I do wrong? What did I forget to check? I feel horrible..they were so beautiful and now they are gone.

 

[Azhael]

I´m sorry you lost them.
That´s the problem with wild caught animals....they usually arrive in a bad state, they may appear fat, but they are stressed out of their skulls, they probably have parasites taking advantage of the stressed animal, they carry illneses....
WC T.shanjing are famous for developing sores (the lighter patch you mentioned), it´s probably what killed them.
They are not that hard to breed, at least some of the members of this forum have succeeded.
Try placing an "wanted" advert in the forum´s section, i´m sure you´ll be able to find some captive bred juvies if you have a little patience.

 

[Jennewt]

It's really hard in a case like this to even guess what went wrong. The fact that both of them died in the same night is a little suspicious of something having specifically changed that day (new batch of food, neighbors sprayed some chemicals, something sudden). But it could just be coincidence. As Rodrigo pointed out, their stress from being new imports may have played a big part. Tylototriton are particularly susceptible to import problems.

We all have occasional mystery deaths. Sorry this happened to you. Your long-term interest and success with your firebellies surely indicates that you'll have future successes.

 

[Theoden]

You have my sympathy. :sad: I lost my favorite newt after living for years and years (He was my original Fig Newton). I didn't want anymore newts for a long time. Time seems to heal in my case, at least, and I'm back with newts again (thanks to lilsoul!). I wish you good fortune.

 

[petro]

That's a terrible thing wath happened to you.One thing for sure is that you yourself have probaly nothing to do with it.
Most of the wild newt's have already worms and skin infections when they get "prissonners" :wacko:
Its a bad thing,but happens a lot!
Specially when they have a worminfection;most of the time they look good and even eat some times,but die in several hour's.
Petro

 

[froggy]

You have my sympathy. I know the feeling of losing an animal without knowing why.

When you say mandarin newts, do you mean Tyototriton shanjing ? And when you say 'washed rocks' and 'pure water', do you mean you used an aquatic setup?

Did they animals appear stressed at all before their death; unusually active, refusing food, unusually lethargic..?