SOOO confused!

D

desiree

Guest
hey guys, this is my first experience with a Newt, i have a fire bellied one, i thing:S.. anyways, i have had him/her??? for about 4 months now, and it doesn't seam to be eating. ANYTHING, i have 3 different kinds of food.. however it's loosing mass. i can see the sketelol structure already.. gets me a bit worried. however during the first month of my owning him, my frog had bitten off his frount leg, therefor probably putting alot of stress on it to grow it back. and lately, i have placed a lamp on its tank to make it a bit warmer, now it's moving alot more. it does these funny "stances" though, where it goes on its hind legs and opens its mouth as big as it can go, then launches forward and lands back on all 4s.. just wondering if that's normal. weird because it hardly moved before.. and now it just moves slowly but more often. i'm really not sure what to do at this point, i dont want it to just die of starvation.. oh another thing, when it does move, it looks really awakrd and un cordinated... if you could give me a bit of help that would be great.. i dont have a computer at home, so if you could email me some info that would be just DANDY..thanks in advance for all your help! :D
-dez
cutiedez@shaw.ca
 
GET THE FROG OUT OF THE NEWT'S TANK!!!!!!!!!!!! THE NEWT WILL DIE IF YOU DON'T!!!!! GET RID OF THE HEAT LAMP THE ONLY REASON YOUR NEWT IS MOVING AND ACTING STRANGE IS BECAUSE IT'S STRESSED!!!!! To eliminate stress move the newt to its own tank away from the frog. Don't put any light in there at all, indirect sunlight is all the newt needs if anything. Feed the newt frozen blood worms, not freeze dried but frozen nin ice cubes, if those don't work, do live earth worms from your back yard or where ever you can get them. Because you newt probably hasn't eaten anything in at least four months (which is a record in newt survival by the way, my book sources say they should only last about three months on nothing) you should start out by feeding it a little each day, then, after a while feed it larger meals at more spaced intervals. If you can see its skeleton imediate action is nescessary!!!!!
 
Listen to Benjamin. He is right on. NO FROG, frozen bloodworms, cool temps - 60 -68. Good luck.
 
well the frog died a long time ago, i think it chocked on the leg..:S..and the lamp isn't heating up the water much ...i live in Canada, and it's quite a bit colder than normal room temperature in the winter *now*... i tried getting some blood worms yesterday, and it doesn't seam like they're available in the small town that i live in...is there any other suggestions that you might have? right now i feed him "tubifex worms" in cubes.. and i also have reptile pellets... please help..
thnx
-dez
 
oh and the water, to touch, is still quite cool, before it felt really cold...
 
Your frog probably didn't choke on the leg, it was most likely the newt's poison. Blood worms are also sometimes called red mosquito larvae. You shouldn't rely on your hand to tell what temperature the water is, cool,cold, warm, and hot just aren't good enough. My sister once did this and ended up killing two perfectly healthy turtles that she had kept for two years. I'm sure your pet store sells thermometers.
 
i know, i will get one soon, i just never thought that it was a big deal before a couple of days ago... and i am a bit out of the small town that does exist close to me, without a car, so i have to wait a bit before the next time that i do head in...
 
btw, the lamp isn't a heating lamp, it's there for effect (day/night)..it's just a normal lamp to read under and is about 15cm above the tank..
maybe that helps you analyze the situtation a bit more
happy.gif

-dez
 
(This is moving to the help forum, where it should have been put in the first place.)
 
WEll, I guess this thread is over, but I would have suggested the same treatment, but I was also going to say that the whole swimming to the top and then floating down is perfectly normal, except I don't know about the whole open mouth thing while doing that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top