Newt has weird tail/Agressivness.

H

Helena

Guest
I noticed that my fire bellied newt has piece of his tail missing. It's nothing big,
just a little dip in his tail. looks like a bite mark or something. it doesn't look infected or anything, it just looks like normal skin, and he's acting normal, so I don't think he's in pain.
But I don't know if he was born with it or what, but I just noticed it. I did add another newt in with him like a month ago, cause I wanted him to have a friend, but the other newt that I added with him died shortly after and before he died I noticed that his whole hand was gone. (maybe other newt bit it?) It's just confusing to me because I thought that they are supposed to live together peacefully.

or maybe he bit his hand accidentally while feeding? because fire bellied newts are nippy creatures when eating, right?

It just seems like when ever I want to add another newt in the tank with him for a friend, it ends up dyeing, while the other newt stays perfectly healthy. Maybe my newt is a loner and want a tank only for himself???


any ideas of why this is? I will try to attach a picture later...

-Helena :)
 
I would not recommend adding another tankmate until you are certain your current newt is not the cause of the other newt's death. Though a newt may appear healthy, it can still carry parasites and diseases.

Does the wound appear to have healed? It's entirely possible it may have been bitten, or wounded when pinched between objects.

Though some species may, for the most part, be sociable, each animal may have it's own personality and it may certainly be territorial. If your current newt is healthy, the next step is to determine whether or not your newt is too territorial or aggressive towards others. The only safe way to do this is to have a clear divider between the newts (that they cannot get past) and see if there is any form of aggression or dominance displayed.

Even the most sociable animals have disagreements between one another, and weaker individuals may be dominated by stronger ones.
 
which species do you have? Could yours potentially be paddle-tails, not fire bellies? Those are known to be very aggressive..
Maybe if you had a picture we could ID your newts :)
 
the problem is that I keep them At my dad's house, so I can't always watch their behavoir,
and I only visit his house one a week. The day I added the new newt to the tank with him, they sorta swam over and under each other, and they were gentle towards each other and they found a spot in the tank and started eating some worms together nicely. I did notice one of them nip the others guys foot by accident, but I whatched and he seemed fine and they returned back to their feeding. but them I came back a week later and His foot was gone, and he looked sick and shortly after he died, but the other guy is ok. would plexiglass be ok to seperate them with, and is a 10 gallon tank big enough to split apart for two newts to have their seperate areas in the tank? I am 98 percent sure that my newts are fire belly's. I will try to post a picture of him. I cannot get a picture right now because I dont have a cameraor anything.

-Helena :)
 
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Honestly, I don't see how you can properly take care of them if you are not there on a regular basis.
 
Perhaps you should consider turning your animals over to someone who has the time and knowledge to care for them. Even if they are small animals, they are still a big responsibility. Unless you are able to monitor them more regularly, you cannot possibly ensure their well being.
 
10 gallon should be big enough for a couple fire bellies - if they really are fire bellies and not paddletails.
There are at least 3 or 4 species of newt commonly called "fire belly", so it's important to know which species you have.

Now, a 10 ga really isn't that big - can't you just take the newts to where ever you live? Alternatively, if you could teach your Dad to do some basic care and keep an eye on things such as turkey-bastering up poop, monitoring temperature, feeding etc, then you can possibly be okay with coming by once a week to do water changes etc.
 
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