Newt Questions:

[Brent]

Well, my baby, whom I've had since the age of 5, died today... Or rather, last night at about 1:00 AM... He was 8.

Now, I'm wondering about a couple of other things (for my other newt):

Can Fire-Bellied Newts eat pellets that sink (Newt and Salamander Bites), as I ran out of blood worms last week, and am currently feeding them (or was, in one's case) them?

Can Fire-Bellied Newts actually breathe underwater, or can the drown?

I got a new tank for them last week, and the depth of the water was pretty much doubled; could this have been a factor in his death?

I always leave the water out for 48 hours rather than dechlorinate the water for my newts- is this bad?

He was nearly 9 years old... Could he have simply died of old age?

Thanks,

Brent

[Pufferpunk]

Yes, that is quite old for a little animal like that. Newts are born with external gills, but I believe they cannot breathe underwater, when adults. Leaving the water out, may not get rid of chloramines. Best to just dechlorinate, with Prime. If there is a prepared pelleted food for newts & they eat them, that's fine.

[Brent]

Thanks. (:

Nothing really left to say on the matter... But to be safe, I'm going to try and find the old food. I haven't (or hadn't) seen either eating the pellets.

[Brandon8521]

They were probably used to the old food and wont eat the pellets. One way to adjust them to it is to feed them a lil of the pellets with there old food and let them get the taste for it. I cant garuntee that will work though but worth a shot. He did live a long life thats a year past there life span really(the average is 6-8 years.) They can breathe under water as long as the water is very oxygenated. They breathe through there skin as adults just as much as they do there lungs. Its bet to give them some sort of escape from the water preferably in a shaded. I used to be in love with reptiles and amphibians in my teens and had many diferent types. They are very fascinating on how different they are from everything else you can keep comfortably at home. Another thing is that the areas that are provided to let them ascape the water should always stay moist(wet leaves and moss do well for thi application.) And just incase it was toxins that killed one of your newts ghost shrimp are a good tank mate for them to help with waist so toxins dont build up as fast in between water changes that are needed.