Sigh....

[dipsydoodle]

I have a terrestrial fire bellied newt in an aquatic set up. I recently built him a large turtle dock thing (basically an upgrade from his turtle dock).

Half gravel with bog wood; half water; shallow end and deep end....will he touch the water NO. At least he used to sit in a little container on the turtle dock. Even moving the container to his new dock he will not go in it. I did see him swimming in the tank water the other day; calm as day; swimming nicely....BUT he just will not go in the water. I'm thinking of moving his turtle dock back in and the "Tiny dock" (as it's called) back out as at least he'd sit in the water.

I've had him 13-14 months now; he's an adult (or was a old juvi when I got him) - he was store bought (I know nowww....but not at the time). He was skin and bones; now he's a nice healthy weight....BUT he just won't go in the water or adventure anywhere....what can I do? Honestly the only thing he seems comfortable doing it sitting on my hand (I know handling is generally not recommended but if he climbs on himself and wont let go then it's not my fault lol).

 

[Azhael]

How big is he?

 

[dipsydoodle]

3-4 inches maybe; he is fully grown.

It's not my water conditions either; as I do check them and clean them regularly and have 2 others in there with him.

 

[Opacum]

What is the ammonia level, Ph reading, and temp of the water, DD? And how often do you switch the decorations around?

 

[dipsydoodle]

Ammonia = 0ppm
Nitrite = 0ppm
Nitrate = 5-10ppm (usual range)

Tank is 16 gallons, it contains 3 newts (2 fully aquatic and one terrestrial) – the terrestrial set up takes up half the tank (surface – it’s built on stilts to not lose any swimming space). Temperature at the minute is around 18-19degrees.

2 newts have been in there 13-14 months (an aquatic and terrestrial newt) and the other one maybe 10 months….All 3 are adults and all 3 are store bought. I got the first 2 not knowing about captive bred and all that….I bought the 3rd in total knowledge of that; she’d been in the shop for weeks and she was active and interested in swimming around; so after seeing her for weeks she needed to come home .

When I first got the first two; the deco was changed regularly and now the deco isn’t changed all that much (except for the new set up which has been in there 2-3 weeks).

The annoying thing is he was in the water the other day swimming around; but normally he won’t go swimming; he’ll sit in his shallow water dish and he will go in the water but he’ll float next to something and hold it with his arms/feet.

He has made it perfectly clear that he doesn’t like the water; so I want to try and make him as comfortable as possible; hence the DIY dock. I thought he’d love it; with its swimming ‘pool’ (half really shallow and the other half about 1.5 inches deep (so not too deep for him but deep enough so he can be submerged) – the plan was for him to take to that and then as he got more comfortable I’d change out the water dish to suit his needs (i.e. deeper if need be).

I should say he eats well; all apart from the first few weeks; but from then on he has been fine. Another thing is he won’t eat by himself; he needs to be hand fed; my other 2 (aquatic) will be hand fed or eat on their own; I usually hand feed them a few bits so they know there is food and then I leave them to it…

Oh I should add their is a filter in the tank but the flow is pretty pathetic from it; it's weak (angled towards the tank wall).

 

[Opacum]

Well it sounds like a wonderful set-up... I would venture to guess it may be a territoriality thing happening. Try a 25% water change and switch all of the decorations around as much as you can. Cleaning the substrate couldn't hurt either on the land area. Usually animals like to take possession of an area and use familiar terrain as reference markers. Change the playing field up enough and your odd man out can, perhaps, stake a claim in the water area. Anytime new occupants are added, do this little trick so the more familiar inhabitants are at the same disadvantage. Worth a shot...

 

[dipsydoodle]

I've tried it in the past; he's never gone in the water ever (and TBH I seem to recall when I got him in the shop he wasn't in the water either - last newt in there) - he is my problem child lol (but he is my baby ) - if only I'd know when I bought him; although TBH I'd still probably have bought him but as a rescue. If he is happy like that then I'm ok; I just want to make sure he is happy.

I've a thought; I have some java moss sitting in a bowl; I might shove some into his water dish to see if it's less scary for him . Again it's worth a shot.

If I put him (Tiny) into the water he'll cling to my hand; walk along the bottom for a while and them climb the plants to be next to the surface; and then out. Or he'll swim straight for the surface and out.

 

[Opacum]

Hmmm... well I would say that as long as he is healthy, just resign yourself to the possibility that he is just a bit more timid. I would guess that as long as the java moss doesn't acidify his water dish to much, then that would be worth a try too. Maybe he would be more comfortable in a water area that was more shallow in general and then you could gradually increase the depth? I'm grasping at straws here, but as we say, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'... LOL! Good luck, DD. From what it sounds like though, he has an awesome set-up. I'm sure he's fine.

 

[dipsydoodle]

I put a tiny bit of moss in the water dish to see if it would make a difference. I don't think it will but it's worth a shot.

 

[Opacum]

Well now I need to see how this plays out, so please keep us posted. Hang in there DD!

 

[dipsydoodle]

I put him in the water dish with some moss and he sat right on top of the moss for a few minutes and then he left it (I'm going to do a tank re-scape tonight).

I thought I'd lost him last night he wasn't on his dock and he wasn't in the water...all exit holes are blocked up (clever) he was in the little cave that the bog wood makes at least that was something.

I made the decision to take the dock out and put the turtle dock back in as at least he used to sit in the mini water dish he had. However since he was under the bog wood I might leave his dock in. Trouble is I need to take it out as it is leaking (I put gravel inside it so that if it leaked then there wouldn't be an issue with the soil going into the water). I'm going to re-seal the dock and maybe try and make him a really shallow water dish rather than the lovely one I made for him (it's got polystyrene underneath covered in pond liner so when I was shaping it, it looked like it had snowed inside...ooops). He is still eating well so it's not like he is distressed by the new dock .

 

[Opacum]

I guess the rule of thumb is is that if he is eating and looking healthy, you are giving him a good life. I think the shallow dish is a good idea to see if you can convince him to just get the idea in his head that water is 'OK'; then just gradually deepen the dish til he is ready for a real water environment. Good luck!

 

[dipsydoodle]

He will go in the shallow dish; but he wouldn't when I put his "new" dock in. So I moved his shallow dish to the middle of the new water dish (empty) so he'd learn the new water dish was ok; but he never went in it again; so I moved his trusted water dish somewhere 'safer' and he still didn't go in it.

When I was cleaning them yesterday I knocked a leg off the dock so I need to re-seal it, so he is back on the turtle dock until then (and straight into the water dish); I dont understand why he'll go in it there and not on the new dock...

Never mind!

Although he didn't seem too impressed that the turtle dock is wobbly and the dock I made him was nice and sturdy (I guess that is something)