Newts not eating

[kellee]

We've had our newts for a week now, and though the pet store claims they're japanese, they really seem to look like chinese fire bellies. Anyway, our newts seem to like it more on land than off...which concerns me, and we've tried frozen and live bloodworms without any success. We used just tap water for the tank, but used dechlorination drops (we live in a rural area where tap water isn't as bad as you think). We also have two aquatic african dwarf frogs in the tank who are quite happy and loving the live blood worms. In the past couple of days the larger newt (while skin is moist) is looking like he has some sort of white deposit on his head? After reading up on this it sounds similar to a 'stress sore' and we're going to try the quarantine method for both of our newts (thanks for whoever posted that link). Any tips?

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[teresa]

I hope you have better luck than I did. I purchased two pet store newts (CFBs) two weeks ago. One died within 48 hours, and I came home today to find the other one dead. The second one just wouldn't eat despite my best efforts. I tried frozen, and then live, but no dice. I guess he just couldn't handle the stress.

My only consolation is that I can get my money back.

Hopefully the knowledgeable folks around here will help you out. Good luck. As for me, I think I'll steer clear of pet store newts from now on.

 

[bruce]

<font color="ff0000"><font face="verdana,arial,helvetica"><font size="+1"> our newts love it on land. we feed crickets and meal worms.ive found that giving them alot of cover i.e. plants and large silk leaves with a chunk of driftwood seems to make them happy.we use a whisper micro filtration system and change water weekly.happy newting----bruce</font></font></font>

 

[shawn]

it sounds like your water conditions may not be correct take a water sample to your local petstore and have them check ph, amonia, and nitrate levels if your amonia or ph is too high or too low they wont go into the water. your ph should be around 6.7-7.2 7.0 is always best and the best way to regulate your ph if too low is to use ball pickling lime (found at your local grocery store) use a VERY little bit and adjust it little by little as to not stress the animals further if the ph is too high do a 30% water change. if your amonia is too high buy AmmoChips and the most effective way to use them is cut an old stocking (like a knee high) rinse it thoroughly and make a small golf ball or lil bigger sized ball with the AmmoChips in it and tuck it into a corner of your tank be sure to tie it up so the ammochips dont fall out. you'll want to change the AmmoChips at least once a week at first. Also make sure you use some form of filtration with carbon in it as that will help greatly in keeping the tank clean.
Hope this info helps.
Wolfie
p.s if your in the richmond va area let me know and i can walk you through everything over the phone or meet you at a local petstore and help you get everything figured out.

 

[i.]

Yes, do a PH check for sure, if you don't have a PH kit, get one at your pet shop, they go for 6-7$. Also check the PH of your tap water to see how it will affect your tank, PH in tap water varies from area to area.
You don't mention the temperature in your tank. Newts like it cold, below 70F usually, although japanese firebellies will tolerate mid-70s (but not the chinese firebellies for whom 68 is the maximum recommended). High temperatures are a major cause of newt disease. As for your african dwarf frogs, they require a temperature above 70F so maybe if they are happy and your newts aren't, I'm guessing you do have a temp issue. I would recommend housing them in different aquariums and calibrate the temperature for each species need.
I wish you the best of luck with your newts, I know how depressing it is to get animal and find them sick. I hope your newt recovers and lives happily everafter.

Try live earthworms (chopped if too big) for food, they're usual favorites

 

[kellee]

Thank you everyone! I'm sorry for the loss teresa!

But I have good news -- our smaller fire belly ate about four blood worms a couple of days ago, though I did buy some meal worms as an alternative. The water temperature in the tank ranges from 65-70, most of the time it's in the mid or upper 60s, our frogs seem to like it wherever they are...they're resilient little guys. And I noticed that there were a lot of 'your local ________' comments. The problem with this is that I live in a national park where the only thing we have is a grocery store that sells firewood and four dollar loaves of bread. I have to drive nearly two hours to buy what I need, so it's hard to keep live food for the newts, and to get the needed supplies. But regardless, I'm definitely going to get a pH testing kit. Thanks for all your help guys!

 

[shelby]

at least in a national park you have good clean bugs to feed them. In town we have all kinds of crickets, but they eat out of the garbage here and get nasty parasites. Crickets here can give worms to a cat. A national park ought to have some nice newt food just under the dirt outside...or go kicking up fallen logs. It's been my experience that a newt won't eat something unless it's supposed to (and sometimes not even then).

 

[kaysie]

National parks still harbor plenty of their own natural parasites. No animal is completely parasite free.

 

[amanda]

Im having the same problem and I'm worried my newt won't make it much longer,he's very very skinny. We got him last tuesday as well as 2 african dwarf frogs. He's a chinese fire belly. Part of his back foot is missing but it looks fine and doesn't seem to pose any problem. However he hasn't eaten at all. We've tried live blood worms, frozen blood worms, dried shrimp, and these little reptile sticks. We've tried feeding him at different times and in different locations. He usually stays on the land part of the tank so we cut a dixie cup and set it in the corner with some live worms. He never ate them. Our tank setup is a 10 gallon tank with about 3/4 of it water and then slope gravel land. There is a big tree branch thing going from the water to the land as well as a big shell for hiding in. We used tap water with these two kinds of drops ( they come together) and a filter and a heater and a aerator( can't spell it). We let that all sit before we put the animals in. PLEASE does anyone have any ideas? I really want Stumpy ( the newt) to make it, but I just don't know what else to do and the pet shops i've contacted are of no help anymore. One shop told us to raise the temp to around 75-80, but we thought that was a little hight. Its currently around 70. PLEASE HELP! thanks!

 

[jennifer]

Amanda, for starters, get rid of the heater and just keep trying to feed the newt. Do NOT raise the temp, better to lower it. Your best bet will be the live or frozen bloodworms and chopped earthworm, either placed in front of him or offered on tweezers.

In the long run, the "sloped-gravel" setup will cause you problems, but for now it's OK. It would be better to have separate setups for the newt and frogs. See:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/faq/faq.shtml
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/Mixing_disasters.shtml

 

[joseph]

Do they show any signs of not liking the temp? I added an ice pack to my C. o tank, and the newt was oblivious to the fact that it was there. He didn't spend any more time near it then he did on the other side of the tank. Hard to tell, but I don't think the effect was too great though.

Also, are the newts able to actually remove the food items from, say, a toothpick?

Thanks!