Getting Excited about Newts!

I recently saw a picture on Facebook that stirred up some old excitement in me. It was of the fishies I had in high school, living in their new aquarium with their new owner (a friend of a friend). I was pleasantly surprised to see how well they were doing (one of them is already 6 years old!), and it reminded me of how much I loved having fish.

Aww, he's smiling!

I do want to get a big aquarium someday when I have my husband and I have our own house, but in the meantime, I've been getting excited about an old dream of mine- to own a fire-belly newt.

Newts are really interesting creatures. They're amphibians, meaning that they're mostly aquatic, but they still need some space to come up on land. They're awfully cute, and I'm drawn to the fire-bellies in particular because I just love that bright pop of color on their tummies. The newts that I've interacted with have been friendly and have even let you hold them in your hands. How sweet!

So, I started doing some research on owning a newt. An interesting fact that I found is that newts have very thin and semi-permeable skin. This means that they are more susceptible to changes in their environment, which is a big difference from when I owned fish. I mean, yeah, I came to understand the nitrogen cycle and how it affected my fish, but it sounds like newts are even more sensitive to things like that. I hope I can care for a newt properly!

I love the sloping gravel rising up to meet the surface of the water- so cool!

Lastly, in my searching, I came across various tank setups for allowing newts access to both land and water. They look soooo cool, and it has fueled my excitement even more! If I got even just a 5 gallon tank, I could make a home for my cute lil' fire-belly newt. Hopefully I can realize this dream sooner than the big aquarium- if I save up my money, maybe even in just a few short months! I'm getting excited all over again!!