Question: Newt, Help

[jac]

Recently, I acquired three newts from a petshop where they were labeled salamanders, im pretty sure that they are not salamanders but im not sure what they are really. One looks like a warty newt, but the other two i cant tell, it looks like a Japenese Fire belly but its spots are wrong.
If any one can tell anything from the photographs i would appreciate it alot.
Thank you.

 

[Azhael]

Hey, i´m afraid we are going to need to see those pictures and they aren´t showing xD
Try using the attachment manager inbuilt in the forum. I´m sure we´ll be able to tell you which species you have.
Just to avoid confussion, newts are salamanders. We call newts a specific set of species in the family Salamandridae, which are quite definitely salamanders, hehe. All newts are salamanders, but not all salamanders are newts. It is an artifitial classification with no real value...

By the way, whatever it is you bought, you need to provide excellent care to those animals so that they can recover from the horrible stress and terrible conditions they´ve been put through during their capture and their importation. Such animals are prone to all sorts of problems, and offering excellent, stress-free, conditions now is their best chance of builiding their inmune system back.
Check out the articles in my signature, you´ll find info on water quality, food, general husbandry, etc.

 

[jac]

Thanks, i´m trying my best but i can´t get any livefoods. I feed them frozen prawns once every two to three days, which they seem to eat. Are the photos showing now.

 

[Azhael]

Nope.
Prawn is a very inapropriate food source, more so if it´s the only one they get. I wouldn´t even offer it sporadically..it´s just not adequate for a fresh-water amphibian. You really need to get them something else, right away. Earthworms are the best food you´ll find, and they can and should be the staple of their diet. You can also find other suitable foods, to offer variety, in pet-shops or buying them online (like frozen bloodworms, crickets, waxworms, Daphnia...). You can also try bait shops, or even dig some worms yourself if you have access to a chemical free area.
I don´t mean to be rude, and i realize you are trying, but if you can´t provide them with what they need, you shouldn´t have bought them. Those animals have been torn from their habitats, transported in terrible conditions where many have died and many more fallen ill, and sold for a ridiculous price....the very least they deserve is a decent captive home. I´m sorry if it comes across as agressive, i realize it´s a mistake most of us have made, but i´m trying to wake you up a bit and make you see that now that those animals are your responsability, you need to improve their care.

You can try to send me the pictures and i´ll upload them for you. I´ll send you my e-mail in a PM.

 

[jac]

no sorry ive been offering them all sorts turtle sticks, mosquito larve, fish food but all they seem to eat is the prawns i guess thats what they where given before.

 

[Azhael]

I see. The turtle sticks are also unsuitable, as is the fish food (very unsuitable indeed).
Of the things you mentioned, only the mosquito larvae are apropriate and even those are not nutritionally complete.

I doubt they were fed at all during the importation or at the pet-shop, to tel you the tuth, and chances are that whatever foods they might have received were unsuitable.

You need to get some earthworms ASAP.

 

[Azhael]

They are all Paramesotriton sp. I´m not possitive of the species, but i´d venture that perhaps one of them is Paramesotriton chinensis, the other two, i can´t tell by the pictures.
These are territorial and aggressive newts that may or may not get along together. Be prepared for the possibility of having to separate them if they become aggressive because they can seriouly hurt or kill each other. Mind you, they might get along without problems, only time will tell. To prevent problems, make sure you have enough space, i wouldn´t keep 3 of these newts in anything smaller than a 60l tank, preferably larger.