Fire-Bellied Newts

[mjmorg89]

I got a pair of fire-bellied newts the other day (I think they are chinese but it's difficult to tell) and I am feeding them on frozen blood worm which is what they were fed on previously and they definately seem to like them. My problem is I'm not sure the best way to feed them as only one will take from tweezers but not always and they both struggle to find the food on the gravel substrate at the bottom of the tank-they spend a long time with food right next to them but can't seem to sense it even though they become much more active when food is present in the tank so I'm pretty sure they know it's there somewhere. I have left some food on the land part of tank but as they have not been out of the water yet they've not found it. Also, I find it difficult to spot left over food so I can remove it from the tank to avoid toxin build up.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how to feed them?

There isn't much literature on feeding so any help would be appreciated

 

[Chlidonias]

if they're adults (in their primarily-aquatic stage) I shouldn't think they'd come out on land to feed anyway. They find their food in the water by movement (if it's alive) or smell (if it's not alive) so can find pretty much anything you put in there. Feeding them just on bloodworms isn't a good idea, so try to add more variety. They should feed on most meaty foods (little bits of fish, small earthworms, whiteworms, etc). If they are losing the food in the gravel, which could certainly be a problem with small items like bloodworms, you could try putting the food in a little dish such as a jam jar lid set on the bottom of the tank on top of the gravel

 

[mjmorg89]

if they're adults (in their primarily-aquatic stage) I shouldn't think they'd come out on land to feed anyway. They find their food in the water by movement (if it's alive) or smell (if it's not alive) so can find pretty much anything you put in there. Feeding them just on bloodworms isn't a good idea, so try to add more variety. They should feed on most meaty foods (little bits of fish, small earthworms, whiteworms, etc). If they are losing the food in the gravel, which could certainly be a problem with small items like bloodworms, you could try putting the food in a little dish such as a jam jar lid set on the bottom of the tank on top of the gravel

Thanks for your suggestions. They aren't fully grown yet (still 1-2 inch) but seeing as they've not come out of the water yet I recon they're into adulthood. The place where I got them said they had been fed only bloodworm so I had planned to keep them on that for a bit while they are still settling in and still quite young/small. I have added small rocks as a kind of food dish as I tried a lid and it just floats. I'm planning to try other food types in a couple of weeks when I've had a bit more experience with them. Do you keep them yourself? If so any other tips at all?

 

[Paulkarli08]

I had a pair of fire bellied newts for 7 years and kept them in a simple plastic fish tank. I fed them fresh bloodworm from the pet shop either every 3 days or 1 week, dependin on how hungry they where. i simple just drained the fresh bloodworm water out, and placed it into the tank, and watched the newts eat. I didnt have gravel in my tank, as the bloodworm got trapped, and the newts were unable to feed. I had about half the tank as water and one large rock in the centre for basking. the newts did well, with regard to lifespan, they excelled the petshop guide of 1-2 years and live for 7 years!

I fu need any more info on them, then i'll help u how i can