Newt still won't eat

[Jbradybvb]

My newt won't eat

Last week I bought 2 fire belly newts and I named them Tyga and Usher. At first, the smaller one tyga wouldn't eat but when I bought them crickets, he ate right away. It's usher that I'm having trouble with now. He used to take bloodworms from tweezers but he doesn't do that anymore. He hasn't eaten in 4 days. Also he used to go in the water alot but now he's mostly on land with tyga. Tyga is pretty small so I think he still might be more terrestrial but usher is bigger and used to be in the water. I thought maybe the water was really dirty so I changed most of it and put in a filter. He still won't stay in the water. I always see the 2 newts together, either on top or each other or something tht looks like their cuddling. I don't know if that has anything to do with it...

Thanks for any help

Oh I forgot to mention, they're in a 10 gallon tank with big gravel so they can't swallow and plants and a log. I have probably 8 gallons filled and they have a floating turtle thing to stay on with bark on it so they can hide up there too.

 

[Azhael]

Re: My newt won't eat

In all likelihood they are both adults. There has been an increasing occurrence of small bodied animals in the imports of this species but they are still adult individuals collected from the wild. Anything larger than 5cm can be sexually mature in this species, particularly with males.
They are staying on land as a response to the very severe stress they have suffered throughout the importation process and at the shop and the fact that conditions are not ideal in your tank. They will only go back to the water when they have a chance to de-stress and only if water conditions are as optimal as possible. This means a fully cycled tank, heavily loaded with vegetation which should ideally reach the surface and form dense areas they can rest on.
The filter won´t help. These are still water newts that prefer negligible or no current.
You shouldn´t make water changes that huge because you will prevent the tank from cycling. Read the articles in CC (links in my signature). There you will find a caresheet for the species as well as excellent articles on cycling, water quality, feeding, etc. For further informartion, the forums contain many hundreds of threads that discuss the care of this species, you can use the search function to rummage around.

By the way, the best foods to entice them to eat are earthworms and waxworms, give those a try.

 

[Jbradybvb]

Re: My newt won't eat

In the tank there are plants that reach the surface and there are plenty of places to hide. I only leave the filter on for a couple hours to clean the water but even when it's off they don't go in. My smaller one is eating every other day and my other one was eating at one point so I just don't get why he stopped eating. He would eat bloodworms and newt pellets but he refuses them now

 

[Azhael]

Re: My newt won't eat

A filter turned on for a couple of hours is pointless. It will only remove debris from the water which is not a concern. The water could be heavy with sediment and debris and still be perfectly suitable. Clear, transparent water is not a guarantee of adequate water chemistry. If you have plants in there, you don´t need the filter. It will cause vibrations and produce some heat which won´t help the newts adapt and de-stress. A sufficient amount of live plants (don´t be afraid of filling the tank, seriously) will help tremendously in maintaining apropriate parametres by themselves, and even more so when bacteria colonize every submerged surface (plants included). That´s what you want, a healthy colony of bacteria which combined with the plants will guarantee optimal conditions with negligible effort.

Remember, it´s the water chemistry that´s important. They won´t go into the water until the parametres are within optimal ranges, and even then, they may take some time to do so (the poor buggers have been through hell).

A few days without food are not necessarily a problem at all. Aliviating stress and offering those necessary optimal conditions are a much more pressing concern, unless the animals are very thin.
Bloodworms are not nutritionally complete, so they are not the best food. give the newts some time, with no disturbances and then offer small earhworms or pieces of them. Hopefully they´ll take them.

Make sure to read the CC articles, they are excellent.

PS: Remember also to keep them cool. Temperatures around 15ºC are probably best for their recovery.

 

[Jbradybvb]

Re: My newt won't eat

Ok ill leave the tank alone for a few days so he can get more relaxed. Is them "cuddling" just a normal thing that newts do? I just want to make sure that its not like one of them bein more dominant or whatever

 

[Jbradybvb]

Re: My newt won't eat

And yah I've been feeding the bloodworms because he would take them. I know they're not the best thing but the worms I found outside were too big so ill try looking today since its a little warm out. Thanks for your help

 

[Jbradybvb]

I've been on this site before because one of my newts won't eat. I have 2 fire belly newts in a ten gallon tank, mostly filled with water but there is a floating thing for them. In the water there are plants and a log for them to hide in and on land I have bark for them. First of all, my bigger newt won't eat anything other than wax worms and I know that's not okay for them to be eating all the time. My other newt is fine and will eat crickets or whatever else I give. I don't know how to get him to eat any other food because when I put it in there, he doesn't seem to want it at all.

My other problem is that neither of them have gone in the water for a long time. The water conditions are good but they just stay on land all the time. It confuses me because when I first got them, the bigger one would always be in the water and would eat whatever I gave him but now he doesn't do either. I've had them for over a month and I don't bother the tank unless I'm feeding them (about every other day) so I don't see a reason for them to be stressed out.

Thanks

 

[Bellabelloo]

Hi

I've merged your two posts together so we don't ask you the same questions

Could you take a photo of their tank set up and the animals too please and add them to this post so we can see ?

 

[Jbradybvb]

Lets see if the attachment worked this time

 

[Jbradybvb]

The picture of the newts was taken a few days ago, not just now