Fire Belly Newt

Fire Belly Newts
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Caudata Family: Salamandridae Genus: Cynops Tschudi, 1838

The Fire Belly Newts (Cynops), or Fire Newts, are a genus of newts native to Japan and China. All of the species show bright yellow or red bellies, however this feature is not unique to this genus.

Species

• Chenggong Fire Belly Newt (Cynops chenggongensis )
• Blue-Tailed Fire Belly Newt (Cynops cyanurus)
• Japanese Sword-Tailed Newt (Cynops ensicauda)
• Chinese Fire Belly Newt (Cynops orientalis)
• Dayang Fire Belly newt (Cynops orphicus)
• Japanese Fire Belly Newt (Cynops pyrrhogaster)
• Wolterstorff's Newt (Cynops wolterstorffi)

Fire Bellied Newts as pets

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Fire Bellied Newts are sometimes sold at pet stores. They do best in room-temperature freshwater aquariums with a small area of land or wood for them to surface on. Contrary to the way in which they're often sold at pet stores, Fire Bellied Newts do not require terrariums, and actually thrive in misty aquatic environments. Fire Bellied Newts can be fed blood worms, brine shrimp, or chopped-up earthworms. In order to prevent potentially fatal toxins from getting into the water, the newts should not be fed more than once a day. Some newts can go two to three days without food. Or, you can go to your local pet store and purchase ghost shrimp. They are quite inexpensive and will eat any excess food that the newts don't. Its important to note that mystery snails were previously suggested for this role, but are inadvisable as snails can eat the protective mucus that coats a newt's skin. Also, the snail has a fair chance of still being alive when eaten and may stick to the inside of the newt's esophagus causing aphyxiation. They also do well in groups, provided there is proportional space in the environment.

Taxonomic controversy

It has been suggested that the genus cynops is due for a split, the Chinese species being placed in a separate genus from the Japanese ones.^[1] The species Cynops cyanurus is at the centre of all this. There is much debate about the validity of Cynops cyanurus and Cynops chenggongensis. All the known captive animals could be something different from cyanurus as they do not entirely match the original description of the species.^{[citation needed]} The only known animals that match that are animals originating from Chemnitz Zoo but the problem is that they have not been able to get the F2 animals to breed well, which could suggest that they are in fact a hybrid of cyanurus and chenggongensis or an undescribed Cynops species. There have even been suggestions that the animals thought to be cyanurus in collections is in fact chennggongensis.^{[citation needed]}

Aquarium Proportions

Both Japanese and Chinese Fire Belly Newts tend to require 3/4 land and 1/4 water. This set-up is known as a vivarium, a mixture of land and water, in which the newt(s) can 'bask on the banks'. This can be achieved by using plexiglass, piled up gravel, or even ceramic media. The vivarium should include caves or other places for the newts to hide when they are frightened. This helps to relieve stress or even death.

References

External links

• Order:Caudata at livingunderworld.org [2]
• Fire Bellied Newts as Pets at exoticpets.com [3]
• Fire Newts, Care and information at aquascape.co.uk [4]