new fire belly newts

today i baught 2 firebelly newts and i was wondering why they won't stay in the water i put them in.. i have the tank about 1/4 land and 3/4 water and they both seem to be staying on the 1/4th of land. is this normal or is the water not good? the water is tap water so that might be it..? also how much water should be in the tank? andddd one newt is alot fatter then the other one and the skinnier one is ususally ontop of the fatter one.. maybe a sign of breeding??

help is appricated

-jenken

 

I have two fire bellied newts, one is smaller and one is fatter, I think this is just more so part of the alpha/omega process. Females don't have the red underbelly, so you would know if you had a breeding pair.
As far as the water, it needs to be treated the exact same way you would treat water for your fish. It needs to be dechlorinated and changed every few weeks. It needs to be about 80-85 degrees farenheit. My newts spend a lot of their time on land, but once I raised the water temperature, they started spending a lot more time in the water.
You also need a UV light, they need/like to sun bathe.

 

85?!?!?!??!?!?? my temp is at 70!! maybe thatsry there tryin to get outa the water.. how would u raise the temp with out a heater?

 

A heater is the only way. They make small, cheap heaters for this sort of thing. 80 is better than 85, but 70 is definetly too cold.

 

but everywhere i go it says firebelly newts are stressed and suseptibal to fungi and disease at anything over 75 and they breed in waters at 40 degrees!!! :shock:

 

Certain newts do, firebellies don't. I guess they are a strange breed.
I've had mine for a year now; no infections, active, growing. My tank is sitting at 76 right now because of the colder temperatures outside.

Try it, see what happens.

Also, what are you feeding them?

 

k well i put it at 75 for about an hour or so and they are still sitting around on the rocks... maybe the water is too chlorinated? i used what my mom said was distilled but what does she know :lol:... i am feedin them "wardley's reptile sticks".. it says Great For Amphibians and shows a picture of a firebelly newt on it so im guessing its the right stuff

 

It's only been a short while. Give it a few days, see how they act.
That's a good food for them, also try to give them little brine shrimp treats, I get them in the prepackaged frozen blocks and just set them in there, that way they can tear it off as they like.
You need to treat the water with the same chemicals that you would for you fish, You wouldn't want to live in a pool would you?

 

ive noticed that they also aren't eating... could this because of there newness to their environment?

 

How much water should be in the tank for the newts??

 

You have the right ratio. Mine also did not eat when the water temperature was down. Try some brine shrimp to tempt them.

 

are newts supposed to be underwater most of the time or just swimming around the surface? how much water should bein the tank?

 

big pig, you shouldn't listen to people on these forums. almost all of the information sakura has told you is dead wrong.

just go to different information pages online such as this one (http://centralpets.com/phpscripts/PrintFriendly.php?AnimalNumber=2541), and do your own research.