Meet Squiggy the fire-bellied newt...

[Alicewave]

Squiggy was sort of an accidental acquisition to our herp collection. My b/f's sister on impulse wanted a fish so she picked out a betta fish and one of those tiny little quart sized bowls. While we were at the pet shop the salesman told her that she could add a firebellied newt to it (in that tiny little bowl) and have them peacefully coexist..... It didn't sound right and I tried to talk her out of it but no dice. So we get the thing home and it swims around in that little bowl frantiacally so I get on the internet and browse a few care sheets and take my b/f's sister to a closer pet shop to buy all the things it really needed. 5.5 gallon tank for now, something for him to bask on land, bloodworms, various other decor, etc. $89 dollars later (this pet shop is a complete rip off) we've got Squiggy in a more appropriate environment and now Chris is taking care of him. *sigh*. Well, I just think he is the cutest thing but I don't know much about them beyond the caresheets I read. When he gets a bit bigger we'll move him up to a 10 gallon. Anyway, here are a couple pics.

[Blackwidow69]

Nice pics.. Awww cute little guy.. I bet Squiggy is just lovin it with such a nice home..

[marisa]

So cute! How nice of you to make sure he is set up properly!

Marisa

[Emily-Fisher]

AWW! So adorable! Just out of curiosity...do you have a lid on that aquarium? Once I left the lid off and the next day, I saw three firebellies crawling down the stairs!

[Alicewave]

Yup we've got a lid! When he was in the tiny little bowl with the betta he somehow got out (musta really hated it!) We found him under a desk covered with dust, poor lil guy.

I didn't have a lid on my old tank that I kept my firebelly in. It didn't escape for like 6 months until one day when I went to put some worms in there, he was gone! I found him across the room all sticky and gross. He was never the same after that. He never ate the same or acted the same.

Poor little guy!


P.S. Great pics!

[Beejay]

Look like a bit of a fun setup for the little guy.

Hope your boyfriend's sister enjoys it after all that work setting it up!

Bj

[Alicewave]

Haha well it's Chris that is taking care of it, not her. Oh well

[marylyn101]

What a horrible pet store. He's lucky you were concerned

[Edwin]

Ahh, this brings back memories. Really beautiful setup, Alicewave!

[Alicewave]

Thanks. Chris actually want to redo it. We've got an undergravel filter and we're gonna set that up in a ten gallon and have one side be all land and the other side water. Not sure how he's gonna do it but any suggestions are welcome. We also got these artificial lily pads for him to climb on. That was my contribution, I hope squiggy likes em, they were pricey.

[17730turtlegirl]

u should totally complain to the manager about who ever told u that a betta and a newt could live together
that person should be fired also if you put live plants (non poisonous) both floating and planted in the bottom of the aquarium he will love u for ever
have u tried feeding him live food? u can catch your own for free with a fine mesh fish net . mosquito larva, small tadpoles, worms and even small crickets email me i know a ton about animals ask me any thing

[Alicewave]

he feeds on frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp which he seems to enjoy so we're gonna stick with that for now. We just moved him into a 10 gallon although he sits in one spot most of the time. we may get into the live plant thing eventually. First he has to prove he's gonna live longer than three months.

[sunset]

Good for you taking care of the poor little guy! If you want to do a 50/50 setup, you can either cut a piece of plexiglass as tall as you want the water to go up, and buy aquarium safe silicone and stick it in the middle, then do your land/water, or you can do it the easy way and use gravel and just pile it up high on one side. I used the plexi glass, it looks really cool, and I think it's easier to clean, and you get to use whatever substrate on the dry side you want, but it costs a little more to set up (though still not much, if you can get a small piece of plexiglass, you can even ask for scraps at a hardware store,cause you wont need much) and takes longer, the silicone ususlly takes 1 or 2 days to completely dry. Good luck with him!

[jncoclub]

He's really cute! Hope he beats 3 months!