fire bellied newt

Question
We have two fire bellied newts and we love them - Santa brought the tank for
my son this past Christmas.  We just noticed yesterday - a baby !!  We're really
excited and can't believe it.  Its really tiny, but has the cutest little legs and
some "fringe" around its head.  We're wondering if we should do anything
special for it.  We also have three fire bellied toads and are a bit worried they
might try to eat the baby.  Any suggestions?  Is it common for newts to breed
like this and so quickly.  Is their usually just one baby or do they have
multiples?  Just wanting more information - like are newts male and female?  
Not unisex?  Do they lay eggs - do they have live births, etc?

Thank you!

H

Answer
Hello Heather, Congrats on the little baby newt!
I will start from the last question and work my way up. They do lay eggs, and there is a male and female newt not one in the same. However if you only have one newt and are confused on how this happened with out mating. If in December you got her and she had already mated with a male at the pet store or where ever you got her. She keeps them with her until they are ready to lay. She laid the egg and then hatched now 5 months later. They go from egg to tadpole so is it tadpole looking or does it acutally look like a tiny newt?
They can lay multiple eggs but usually one at a single time. Well I really don't know of a lot about Newts or breeding but I did find some good information and have included links.

You must remove the hatchling from the tank. The mother and other animals in the tank can and will try to eat it. So it does need its own home.

I hope that helps, Good luck





LINK:
http://www.caudata.org/cc/species/Cynops/C_orientalis.shtml
(scroll down on the above link)
http://www.jounipaakkinen.fi/breeding.html