Question: Peninsula newt with gills help

[uf]

I caught 7 peninsula newts today and all of them are about 2 inches long and have external gills. I am currently housing them in a 20 gallon long tank with gravel bottom, i put a little block of bloodworms in the tank today. Am i doing an ok job raising them?? and how long untill they loose their gills?? Thanks, Scott

 

[Nathan]

Make sure the gravel is big enough that they can't choke on it. What kind of filtration do you have? What about long-term plans? That 20 gallon will be pretty crowded when all those newts grow up.

Perennibranchy (keeping gills into adulthood) is common in peninsula newts, so you may never see them transform.

 

[Jennewt]

I wouldn't worry too much about Notos swallowing gravel - they are fairly delicate eaters. But I worry more about the deadly mixture of gravel + frozen bloodworms. The bloodworms need to be offered in a gravel-free area so the leftovers can be cleaned out promptly. Otherwise, they will fall into the gravel and rot.

Whether or not a 20-long tank will be large enough depends on whether it has sufficient total water volume. How deep is the water?