# Fire bellied newt not eating



## Assaye (Sep 23, 2009)

I've had 5 fire bellies for several months now. They came to me in very poor health and 2-3 of them were very thin. Since being with me each has re-grown a missing limb and they've all put on weight. 4/5 are now plump, active and healthy. The fifth has never really caught up with the others but he has put on weight and regrown his missing arm. However, he's stopped eating. He was never a big eater but he is now so thin again, almost as emaciated as he was when I got him. I've offered him loads of different foods from a wide range of frozen foods such as brineshrimp, tubifex and bloodworms and also some sinking pellets (which the others love). I've tried getting him to feed in a seperate tub so he doesn't feel threatened by the others but he's just not interested. 

I'm getting really worried about him. HELP!


----------



## fionayee (May 1, 2009)

I've got 5 fire bellied newts too,3 Chinese Fire Belly newts and 2 Blue Tailed Fire Belly newts.The 2 Blue Tails don't eat alot and are thinner compared to the CFB newts however one of the Blue Tails has a bigger appetite then the other.When the one who has a smaller appetite dosent eat,I seperate her into another tank and until she eats i'll put her back.Have you tried mealworms?Small mealworms though,mine loves them...I have a mealworm colony(no beetles yet)as they are food for my leo.You should really try mealies,tell me if it still dosen't eat.


----------



## Assaye (Sep 23, 2009)

fionayee said:


> I've got 5 fire bellied newts too,3 Chinese Fire Belly newts and 2 Blue Tailed Fire Belly newts.The 2 Blue Tails don't eat alot and are thinner compared to the CFB newts however one of the Blue Tails has a bigger appetite then the other.When the one who has a smaller appetite dosent eat,I seperate her into another tank and until she eats i'll put her back.Have you tried mealworms?Small mealworms though,mine loves them...I have a mealworm colony(no beetles yet)as they are food for my leo.You should really try mealies,tell me if it still dosen't eat.


Thanks for the mealworm tip! I thought about them but was worried they were too big. Will have a look through my tub for some little ones. 

This little newt is practically anorexic. I can see all his bones ='( I don't have a spare tub at the moment as one of my bettas is in the isolation tank but I'll definitely try the mealworm tactic.


----------



## fionayee (May 1, 2009)

no problem  hope your little guy eats


----------



## clairethorn (May 2, 2008)

Hope you manage to get them to eat!
To get my newly morphed FBN's to eat, i defrost frozen bloodworm then wiggle a couple in front of each newt's face on a pair of long tweezers, this usually encourages them to snap at them. Once they get used to this, they seem to know what's coming and will walk over to the tweezers and happily eat:2thumb:


----------



## samurai (Sep 9, 2009)

Can you get live daphnia or bloodworm from a local aquatics shop? if so give it a try, it worked for one of mine when he wasn't eating (when i first got him) i rinsed it through a tea stainer, don't put the scanky water it comes in, in the tank. Also try tetra fresh delica, its little sachets of daphnia etc in a tasty jelly sold for fish. If you can get another tank for him, i would seperate him as the others maybe stressing him out. I would put lots of plants in there (preferably real) for cover as well as a few places to leave the water and put the live food in and leave him alone, too much disturbing him will make it worse. Also could perhaps have parasites and i don't know if you can treat that for such a tiny animal. Good luck i hope he makes it.


----------



## demonvanity (Aug 19, 2008)

i had this problem with one of mine last year, the only thing i could get it to eat was waxworms, i thought they would be too big but he managed it, i gave him a couple a week until he started eating again.


----------

