| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| mummyhamster |
Posted - 30/03/2010 : 13:16:12
Hello Everyone!
I'm new to all this but need a little bit of help if you please!
I have done a lot of research on Fire Bellied Newts, I set up my tank and bought 2 Chinese Fire Belly's. I bought them on Friday 26th March. It is now Tuesday 30th March and I still don't see them very much. They are not very big, a little over 2inches. I was wondering if anybody had a rough idea as to how long it would take them to feel settled in their new home and start being more active. Also I have been wondering if I have put in too many plants? They are just the fern like strands done up with a bit of metal to hold them in bunches. I have quite a bit and then towards the other end of my tank, not as much. I have given them a land area. It is a deep tub with a lot of gravel in it to give it weight, then some moss patted down so they can't get to the gravel, and then more loose moss on top with a couple of small plastic plant pots for them to hide in. The tub is then standing on four upside down plant pots holding it about 3 inches above the water. There is a big slate rock breaking the surface of the water and a rubber reptile pretend branch that is in the water and goes right out to the tub so they can get in there. There is a filter which has a very gentle output. They have feed once since I've had them but I don't think they ate a lot. There are plenty of places to hide - which ofcourse is why I never see them! Any ideas whats going on? Is there too many places to hide or are they just not settled in yet?
I hope someone out there can help!
Thanks in advance 
Veronica. |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| Kazerella |
Posted - 10/04/2010 : 10:35:38
You could also try classified sites because you may find some long-term captives which should be in a better condition |
| punkman |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 21:19:31
Hopefully you will have good fortune and have no problems, but check carefully any new ones you buy, and look out for sores or very lethargic specemins.
If any look dodgy keep seperate from the others untill you are sure its ok also check out this article
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/illness.shtm
You would be well advised to keep a close eye on all of them for the first month or two, again checking for any that arent eating or for signs of sores etc.
The problem with these newts is that not many people breed and sell the species as by the time they have been raised from eggs, then got through the first few terrestrial years[nobody seems to want them untill they are aquatic adults],they cant get buyers with them being so cheap wild caught from pet stores.
They can sometimes be found captive bred though if you look on sights like caudata
good luck with yours though, and who knows, maybe you will soon be one of the people offering captive bred |
| mummyhamster |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 20:54:55
Thank you. It's my local pet shop and I know the owner quite well, but of course that doesn't mean anything. The Newts should have been here this Thursday just gone, but when the delivery driver arrived, he had everything except the Newts... What with the Easter Holiday, it makes sorting everything out slightly more difficult and not to mention longer! They only get one delivery a week, so, I'll just have to wait and see what happens. If they look very unhealthy and stressed, where would you recommend getting more from? My current two came from a pet shop, although they and a some others were already in store and I watched them swimming around the tank, and they all seemed happy and healthy, but that pet shop was over 150 miles away from where I live and it was a very long day! Not to mention expensive, the Newts were £5.99 but it cost me £40 in fuel  I went to my local pet shop, and they got in touch with their supplier who said yes they had some. I've tried searching the internet for local breeders, but to no avail. |
| punkman |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 20:43:22
Be VERY carefull buying from a pet shop as they often come severely stressed and diseased due to the way they are collected and shipped.
If you do get a diseased one it could wipe out the lot of them
please see this written by ed kowalski
There is a long chain of custody of the animal prior to it reaching the hands of the private individual. The chain of custody usually follows these lines: collector to buyer to exporter to importer to distributor to pet store to keeper. The length of time spent at each of these points can vary considerably. However, one can be reasonably sure that the animal has received less than optimal care and feeding at each stop. Consequently, the caudate arrives in the keeper's hands with little to no fat reserves (personal observation). The animals are then usually kept in a warm (> 70°F) environment. The warm temperature speeds up the animal's metabolism, making acclimation more difficult for these already stressed animals. As the last of the fat reserves are depleted, the animal lacks the necessary reserves to stave off disease or forage for food in the enclosure, and death is a sure result
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| mummyhamster |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 20:23:16
Great tank. I must learn how to add pictures...! I don't have as much water as you do, about 7" worth. In total I want to get 7 Newts, as I'm sure you know one of their other names is the 'Dwarf Newt', so I would like to get 7 in total and name them after the 7 Dwarfs! I know that this tank would be too small for all of them, but I will be upgrading to a bigger tank in a few months or so, and then I hope to get the rest. Although I have already ordered 2 more. These ones should arrive at my pet shop next week, and I have been led to believe that they are between an 1" and 1.5". I do have a spare slightly smaller tank that they could go in, if they seem to small to put in with my first 2. I hate for one or both of them to be lunch!
Thank you so much for all your help, I really appreciate it, and I think that my Newts do too! At the moment they are both at the top of the land area of stones, which is still slightly submerged in the water - one of the Newts had his head above the water. Here's hoping that they feel happier now and will settle in properly.
Thanks again.
V' |
| punkman |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 16:53:51
Ive taken a not very good photo of m,y cynops orientalis set up, you can see one of the newts in the pic, as you see the land area is just a piece of corkbark covered in java moss and with some anubias growing on it.
I really should have cleaned the glass before tanking it though lol
pic here
http://www.theamphibian.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=448 |
| punkman |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 15:45:43
Ive found that for mostly aquatic newts like chinese fire bellied newts,the easiest way to provide a land area without having to cut back on the water is to just add a piece of floating cork bark.
You can even make these quite attractice by growing some java moss on them and maybe even adding an anubias plant which grows just fine this way.
As long as water quality is good you may find that the newts rarely if ever use this cork bark area
If you want more land area you can fix a shelf above the water level, which again means you can have more water.
see set up 6 and 7 here
http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/setups4.shtml |
| mummyhamster |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 15:32:35
Thank you! I am so pleased that you said 5.C. Unfortunately my house is West facing and all I have opposite is a field , so come about 3pm the sun is starting to shine into the house and warms it up. I bought a fan for the tank which is working well to keep the temperature between 15.C and 18.C, however I left it on overnight one night in an attempt to keep it cooler so that it wouldn't heat up too quickly during the day. When I got up I saw that it was 12.C! It was the lowest I had ever seen it and I was a little worried, but if you say 5.C with no real problems, I feel much better!
Also I have re-arranged the tank, and I think I've done it right this time. I've got rid of the moss and there is just some peat in there (no fertilisers or anything) that's until I can get some live moss to put on top. Then I have heaped the stones all the way up, so they come out of the water very gradually and then slightly spill over into the tub, and for the first time I have seen both Newts up on the stones out of the water. So I am assuming that is why they were 'floating' at the top, obviously wanted to get out of the water, but my previous method didn't work for them. Well I'm starting to ramble on! Anyway, I think they are happy with the new setup, so I will just leave them alone to explore
Thank you for all your help. |
| punkman |
Posted - 02/04/2010 : 15:18:41
I keep most of my newts in an unheated room, which goes as low as 10c in the winter, this along with the correct photoperiod brings most into breeding condition, but they can go as low as around 5c with no ill effects, although they probably wont eat as much at that temperature.
No problem at all asking all the questions, im always glad to be of help if I can be
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| mummyhamster |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 21:08:23
From what I've read, I think I have been able to pick out a few of the bad care sheets. Sorry to be such a pain asking all these questions, how cool can they be? I've read between 14.C up to 20.C is ok, but no higher than 24.C Any idea's how low the temperature can go without it causing a problem? |
| punkman |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 20:27:44
some of the care sheets you find online will be good, some not so good, while others can be downright missleading and wrong.
As long as you keep them cool, well fed and do regular water changes with dechlorinated, or aged tap water, this species are a hardy and long lived.[up to 20 years], although i did read one unbelievably bad care sheet that said they only lived for 2 years.
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| mummyhamster |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 19:31:00
Oh! I put a ruler up against the glass the other day to try and measure one, I think it was about 2 1/4 inches, so they could be adults then?! Well thank you for clearing that up. I have done research, in fact when I type in 'Chinese Fire Bellied Newt' into my internet, everything comes up in purple, where I have already been on the site! Obviously I just want to make sure everything is ok for them, and all the websites say different things!
Thanks again. |
| punkman |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 19:23:24
Orientalis are only a small newt, my adult male is just under two and a half inches[6cm] in length, although they can grow to three inches[8cm] at times
my female slightly larger than the male |
| mummyhamster |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 19:07:18
Hi, thanks for replying. I'll remove the land area until I can get hold of some different moss. There is still a rock so that they can escape the water if they need too. They are only just over 2 inches long and the other post reckoned they are less than a year old.... They seem to be floating in the water at the top but still submerged. I really hope they are ok.
V' |
| punkman |
Posted - 01/04/2010 : 17:48:03
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml
takle a look at the above caresheet.
sphagnum moss is generally too acidic to use in newt set ups, although most other mosses are fine.
They should only be used on land though.
If you are wanting a moss type plant for underwater get hold of some java moss or willow moss.
Once mature, Cynops orientalis are almost completely aquatic, but should have a land area just incase.If you got the newts from a pet shop they will be adults as they are collected from ponds to send around the world when they enter the ponds to breed.
Juveniles rarely enter water.
As the newts get used to you they will show more often, and will in the end probably look at you through the glass following you around the room whenever you go near. |
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