Somebody please help... Newt found dead :(

BananaBearzz

BananaBearzz

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Hannah
Hello,
I've had a juvenile Japanese Firebelly newt for about 3 weeks. He was eating normaly everyday (I fed him frozen bloodworms), he was active, the water temp. was normal for a newt, and I only handled him when I had to. Last night he was sleeping on a leaf, and when I woke up this morning I found him dead underwater. Everything about him was normal except for when he molted. The molted skin wasn't full, it was breeaking off into little pieces and got stuck at his feet. (I got him from a breeder, not a pet store) Could the newt have gotten sick durning shipment? Can someone tell me what I may have done wrong or try and help me figure out an explanation for this? :(
Thank you,
Banana
 
I'm no expert, but for one you should have fed him something other than bloodworms especially for a juvenile. Newts should be fed chopped up Canadian night crawlers as a stable. Second thing I could guess is it's likely he might have drowned. Typically fire bellies can be introduced back into the water fairly quickly but it should still be shallow enough where they can't drown.


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If you could post some pictures of your tank it will make it much easier to give advice. Japanese or Chinese fire bellies are very easy to keep in a simple set up with live plants, but they do badly if things aren't quite right.
 
Sorry about your newt! I just wanted to chime in that even if you do discover a mistake you made, there's no need to feel bad when you gave well-intentioned good care. I personally have seen bloodworms widely recommended as a staple for firebellied newts, though. For it to go from active and eating to dead overnight, I wouldn't suspect disease because it would have declined more gradually. This care sheet has info about common causes of death in juveniles; sudden unexplained death and drowning are both rare, but if the water was deep the latter may be most likely. Other than that, a sudden death could be caused by eating something toxic or indigestable, is that possible?
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/raising_juveniles.shtml
 
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I am so sorry it took so long, I am still getting used to this site. I discovered that he drowned. :(
But he was molting very strangely aswell...

I got a new newt about 5 days ago and the water is COVERED with plants and is much more shallow! The only problem is with him... is he WONT eat. He also wont go into the water much, but he's getting there. Do you have tips on how to get him to eat and why he's refusing the food I'm giving him? (I am trying to feed him frozen bloodworms and I have also tried feeding him Nightcrawlers) Can you please help me? Thank you!
 
Thank you so much. I apologize for the super late reply, I'm still getting used to this site. I got another Chinease Firebelly newt about 5 days ago... The water is much more shallow and is covered with plants! His problem is though... is he's refusing to eat. Can you give me tips on how to get him to eat? He appears to be loosing weight. (I've been trying to feed him bloodwoms and Nightcrawlers)
 
Also, at least from your profile picture, it looked like a Chinese Fire-bellied newt, are you sure that it was a Japanese Fire-bellied newt?
 
That is my newist newt (Nolan). I know my last newt (who passed away :( ) was a Japanese FireBelly.

My latest blog tells about my new newt and my struggles feeding him. Do you have advice on it?
 
Wax-worms are a good thing to entice them. I will find the feeding caudates page for you though
 
Thank you so much! I'll try anything for the little guy.
 
Most of the info you need is in this thread, have a read through it and use the search function to find all the other threads about sick petstore newts that won't eat or get wet. If there's anything not covered there you can ask away, nobody minds answering questions or giving advice, but this is a common problem and there's thread after thread all answered with the same advice.


http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...-new-chinese-fire-belly-newts-not-eating.html
 
I've have a 20 year old newt that has only ever eaten blood worm with a very basic set up & he's still going strong. For years I thought he was a JFB Newt but I think now that he's a warty newt. Maybe yours is just picky?

I'm in the process of building him a new enriched enclosure.

Also 20 years ago I had a similar occurrence, I got a newt called Newton a few weeks later my Dad said we could get him a friend which I called Issac. A few days after I introduced Issac to the tank I found Newton seemingly dead. He looked like he had been scared to death at the back of the tank, petrified is probably a more appropriate word. My Dad did the usual & flushed him down the toilet ( I know not to do that now, but this was 20 years ago). Someone told me recently that Newts can often play dead?!? So if you haven't buried him yet maybe put him in a small tank on his own with a small rock & a little bit of water & see if he miraculously revives.

For years I've worried that Issac is a newt serail killer so have kept him in a tank on his own in solitary confinement ;) Now I wonder if I unleashed a newt master mind upon the world & Newton went on to mastermind some of the major crimes of the late 20th Century :) I guess we'll never know :)
 
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