fidler crabs and fire bellied newts

[myles]

hey there, i work at a petstore and we seem to be having troubles with the newts and fidler crabs. they dotn seem to have much of an appatite, and they seem to be losing alot of weight and we cant seem to figure out whats wrong. so fare we have been feeding them crickits, bloodworms, and im not sure but maby meal worms and thats all i kno about so fare, its not acualy my department, but they asked me to look up on the net for some clues, eny input will be greatly appriciated! thanx alot.

[Scuba Kid]

i dont have any experience with these guys but i just wanted to say:
can you please fix your spelling? it's really annoying to read that.

[flark]

i'm not too sure about newts, but fiddler crabs need to have access to dry land (outside of water). stick something in with them that will allow them to crawl up and out of the water. without this, they'll live two weeks max. most people don't know this, but a little research on the net will yeild that and some other helpful facts. try feeding them some snails or zuccini. mine eat both most the time, snails crushed or still in shell.

[Fishfirst]

Newts need something to crawl out on too... (they love bloodworms) and also they are not very fond of warm water... cold water is the way to go with them... as for crabs I would use shrimp pellets or raw shrimp...

[flark]

forgot about the shrimp pellets...they work wonders!

[maxpayne_lhp]

We;;, for fiddler crabs, you can try chopping fish into pieces (not very nice ). And yeah, the evirontment suggested above is required. The subtrate of sand can come to handy. As they always dig their caves like in the nature.

[UgLy_eLf]

I've had my newts for 5 years so here's what I know.

-They like a hiding spot, like a dark cave, somewhere to sleep and relax.
-They need to come out on land, mine don't like to, but it would be best if they had an area to come out of the water and bask like turtles
- It's best to hand feed them at first (with tweezers) so they get used to the food you're feeding them, and later they can pick it up off the the gravel, but if you're dumping the food in watch out for aggression they might attack eachother and lose some limbs.
- They prefer blood worms to anything else.
- The water shouldnt be too warm, 70-75 degrees works best for them.

[John]

I am keeping a 10 gallon aquaterrarium (A.K.A. Paludarium, Vivarium) at my middle school with my friend. We have:

3 Fire Bellied Newts
2 Fiddler Crabs (different species)
2 Silvertips

The tank is set up with medium-fine gravel sloping up into the middle out of water with two areas of water on either side. There are three black PVC-like pipes extending from one of the areas of water to the other through the land. The newts and crabs both love these and use them like caves and for getting around quicker. The silvertip tetras use them a little less frequently as they seem to prefer the side of the tank with the micro-filter installed.

The 3 newts have not eaten in front of anybody yet, and we've had them in the science class about two weeks. Well, not exactly, since we got them at different times over the last two weeks.

We have tried feeding them frozen bloodworm cubes, which I have seen the silvertips and I think possibly at least one of the crabs eat. There is a possibility that the newts are eating particles of decay from the food overnight but since this species of newt is not really known as extremely nocturnal I very much doubt it.

The bottom line is that this species of newt (although there is a similar species commonly called the Fire Newt that grows larger and is more aggresive) is, although readily available in the hobby, not a very good one for it. They aren't very hardy unless the owner is really lucky when purchasing them. They are not very tolerant to many foods, and although some, like bloodworms, work for some newts, this isn't very consistent between individuals and many will not take food in captivity
at all and most are at least a little picky.

I talked to numerous specialist stores in my area, and most say it is a pain stocking this species since they lose almost 80% of their stock every time they recieve a shipment. A couple of my stores only stock them in the spring because they are cheapest then due to breeding and if they were any more expensive they might not stock them at all.

I am going to try mealworms and crickets tomorrow, and if I can get my hands on some brine shrimp or live bloodworms I'll try those too.

I hope some of this information helps.

-John

[John]

Hmm, the newts still won't eat. They don't like the mealworms - not even interested in those. I'll try small crickets soon.

Does anyone know how long a Fire-Bellied Newt can live without eating?