My newt vivariums

**Thirteen** · 2nd Mar 2008, 00:25

Hi,
this is my small and simple vivarium.
Constructed using 1 big drift wood which acts as partition between the Gex soil and water area. Stones and rocks to minimize substrate from dropping into water area. Hangon filter to create water flow and also allow some runoff into the land area.

Land area floras are HC, the common grass, a crypt which i do not know the name (id please?), spikey moss, 1 glosso and 1 rotala which i took from my 1.5ft tank.

Faunas are 1 betta, 2 fire bellied newts (from brother evo!

) and 3 juvenile guppies.

Here are the pics! pardon the photography. Abit dark huh?

Abit of a side track:
2 newts. One very fat and likes to stay underwater most of the time. Willing to eat frozen blood worm everytime i throw some into water. The other one is very very very skinny and is abit worrying. Stay on land most of the time. Will not touch the frozen blood worm which i place on land. Will often need to remove them before the food goes stink. Does anyone know why is it like that? Depression? Brother Evolutionz, any experience on this?

**vinz** · 2nd Mar 2008, 00:49

I used to keep CFBs. Twice I've had this experience of newts who refuse to go in the water for days. I did not do the following deliberately to solve the problem, but both times it did.

I take them out and let them crawl about for a while, usually on my hands. Maybe 5 to 10 mins. When I put them back, they will go back and stay in the water.

Newts won't eat food on land because they need the water to carry the smell to them. Solution:
1. Thaw some frozen bloodworms.
2. Pick a few up at the end of a stick, and wet them. Best if there is a drop of water stuck to the worms.
3. Put the worms or drop of water on his nostrils. The newt will smell the worms, and hopefully eat them.

I worry your newt may be too weak or sick to eat.

**Thirteen** · 2nd Mar 2008, 02:28

thanks for the tips!! didnt knew they smell through medium of water. I'll try asap cause this fella is really really skinny..

**Merviso** · 2nd Mar 2008, 02:58

Hi bro, i'm having 6 fire-bellied newts now in my vivarium. I feel that each newt have their own characteristic; some will like to go in water, while some will run out of the water as soon as they can. I would rather leave them to go as they wish.

I do have newts which go hunger strike for a long while; don't even know how they survived, but they did. I used to feed them with meal worm chopped into half, and use a pincer to push the chopped end towards their nose so that they can smell the blood of the meal worm...

Nowadays, I just throw the whole meal worm in front of them. The movement from the meal worm will attract their attention. Try to pick those that have just molted, and the size to be suitable for your newts. I personally find that the meal worm that I had bought from bird shop is usually smaller and more suitable for them.

I sometimes feed them with tubiflex worms too. Maybe you should try different food and see which is more attractive to your skinny newt. You can try putting the newts inside a small container with a little water, and put some tubiflex worms inside the water and leave it there for a short while. Do remember to cover the container thou. Maybe it takes a while for it to realize that the worms taste good.

Good luck!

**EvolutionZ** · 2nd Mar 2008, 12:08

those two newts are the one i passed to you right? the skinny one always hide in one dry corner.. i try putting it in water when i feed frozen bloodworm. but it dosn't like water at all.. once it touches water.. he/she will go panic and try to find ways to go up the land ASAP..

**Thirteen** · 2nd Mar 2008, 19:48

Originally Posted by EvolutionZ

those two newts are the one i passed to you right? the skinny one always hide in one dry corner.. i try putting it in water when i feed frozen bloodworm. but it dosn't like water at all.. once it touches water.. he/she will go panic and try to find ways to go up the land ASAP..

Yes!! Mr slim supposely seems to be on hunger strike. I followed the tip of dangling bloodworm in front of its nose. Nothing happen. It's almost til an extend of harrassing it but Mr Slim just wouldnt bite!! I eventually put it into the water which i dropped the chuck of frozen bloodworm. Once hit water, mr slim goes bonkas and swam back to bank and back to its cozy corner under the cryptocornea.

Sigh..It is really troubling. Hope it doesnt dies off.

I also read from some websites that fire bellied newt is a territorial creature which makes me wonder if Mr Slim is feeling stress due to being living together with another newt in such small tank (a little less than 1ft).
i often see it's skin dry-looking which also makes me worry if it will get dehydrated.

Mr Fatty is meanwhile dining happily on the frozen bloodworm. It shares the meal with 3 guppies and a female fighting fish.

I will put updated pictures of the vivarium soon. I'll also take pictures of Mr Fatty and Mr Slim to provide comparision of their size.

I'm preparing a backdrop for my vivarium too. So stay tune!

**EvolutionZ** · 2nd Mar 2008, 20:01

mr fatty is always eating

**planted86** · 2nd Mar 2008, 20:03

cannot see picture leh..

**Thirteen** · 2nd Mar 2008, 20:44

hmm..planted86, i'll post more pics soon.

**planted86** · 2nd Mar 2008, 22:37

haha... ok ok... thanks...

**Thirteen** · 5th Mar 2008, 22:16

since the day i've got the newts, Mr skinny has not been eating. Tried all the tips but to no avail.

Hereby, I am willing to give Mr Skinny away to someone else, who has better experience with newts. Any takers? He has proven to be much of a challenge and puzzle me to why he's on hunger strike. Even an common wall lizard can be fatter and active than it is.

**x3christian1** · 12th Mar 2008, 13:37

tubifex worms should work, none of my newts ever ate the frozen stuff, newts shouldnt be fat so i wouldnt worry too much

you can also try small crickets, my newts hunt the crickets at night when the crickets stupidly jump/fall in to the water, i think the newts are go for the paddling crickets even more than tubifex!