Bloated Newt

I have a chinese fire bellied newt called Kevin who I've had for about 13-14 years now. We feed him mainly on bloodworm and the very occasional waxworm.

About a week ago now I noticed that he looked quite swollen around his abdomen. His legs looked a little swollen too. We haven't changed anything in his diet and other than the swelling he is acting perfectly normal and eating fine. There is no chance of him being pregnant (we call him a he, but who knows!) as he has lived on his own for a good few years now.

Has anyone experienced anything like this with fire bellies?

 

Tell us more about his enclosure. Temps, lighting, substrate and water source.

 

What Liz said...

 

Sorry about the slow reply, work doesn't seem to want me to have a home life!

The substrate is large smooth pebbles, built up on one side to make a 'beach.' Theres also a floating turtle dock in there that they enjoys. I keep him at room temp and don't use any heating. I use just a low wattage fluorescent tube for lighting. For water I use dechlorinated tap water.

 

How often are you cleaning and sanitizing?

Does anyone know if newts get dropsy?

 

Could he be impacted?