hey yal. im thinkin about gettin a 10 gal for some firebellied newts. i need to know specifics from people that keep them bcuz every website i go to says something different. and instead of making a land portion. can i fill the tank 3/4 and not have a land area, but have something floating for him to climb on?
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml This is the information I used when creating a habitat for my newts, my newts prefer to be on land (but land portion is ALWAYS wet), their forums has great experts on FBN care. Also make sure what species you are getting; Chinese FB, or Japanese FB both are similar but have slightly different needs
also keep in mind their are MANY different FB newt species, all of which belong to the class Cynop and all have the classic orange/ red belly.
C. oriantalis (chinese fire belly newt) and C. pyrrhogaster (japanese fire belly newt) are the most common, w/ C. pachytriton (padlle tail newt) being the next most common, those are the norm for petstore newts, the other species are ussually obtained through trading w/ other herp keepers.
most likely you will get either a CFB going to any petstore, but their care and JFB newt care, as well as paddle tail newt care is somewhat alike.
in a 10g you could keep 4 C. orientalis, 2 C. pyrrhogaster OR 1 paddle tail (the most aggerssive). the setup you described sounds fine, but i would use a cork bark island covered in java moss for the land area.
As for the land/water stuff, I've only seen mine go on land twice since I got him several months ago. He usually hangs underwater and underneath something, coming out if I'm near the tank to eat or see what I'm up to. Sounds like your setup would be fine.
