Giant T. karelinii larva

Jennewt

Jennewt

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I raised a large group of T. karelinii this year. About 45 of them morphed about 2 months ago, but this one seems to have other plans. I don't normally name my newts, but this one has to be Peter Pan.

I'm not feeding it much, trying to keep it from growing way beyond the size of the morphed ones... to no avail!

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Wow! You weren't kidding when you said he/she is big. I vote on feeding it as normal and seeing how big it gets before morphing(if ever.....)

Btw, was this originally a big guy or was he a straggler as far as growth?

Sure is cute too
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(Message edited by fishkeeper on May 29, 2005)
 
geeze Jen!! what's in your water??
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Mine are laying again, what do you do with all those eggs in the tank? Eventually let nature take it's course?
 
This one was an average size when its siblings morphed.

I counted all the eggs from my karelinii adults (2:3) this season. They were laying continuously from November to April, and produced over 1100 eggs. I sold the adults in April, and I believe they are now still laying for their new owner.

All the eggs were collected on plastic strips removed from the tank every week or two. I will admit that I threw away a couple of weeks of eggs when I was too busy to deal with them, but all the rest were shipped to other people. I kept and raised about 100 eggs, from which I got the 40-some morphs mentioned above.
 
Very cool animal. I'm curious to see what it will look like/how large it will be as an adult.
~Mike
 
My worst fear is that it's a mutant that will never morph and I'll be stuck with it forever
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Hey Jen! I want him/her! I wanted a rare color morph of Axolotl but this would be just as good. Of course, I am getting three juvie Karelineii from Meghan so if he did morph he can be back with family. Im serious. Contact me!
Sean Wall
 
Here is an updated photo of my "mutant". It's gotten more adult-type color, but still no sign of metamorphosis.

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It's been living all its life in a plastic tub on the floor, as I don't have the tank space for better accomodations for it. However, it's very tame and seems as happy as any newt. I hand-feed it axolotl pellets and worms.

Sean, thanks for the offer, but I'm not going to ship it. It probably has both lungs and gills, meaning that it needs to have both water and air. Frankly, I'm not even sure if it's POSSIBLE to ship it. Axolotls can live through shipping without access to air, but I'm not sure this one could. If you want to drive to New Mexico to pick it up, let me know
smile7.gif
In the meantime, it's going to go live with a local friend who has a spare tank for it.


(Message edited by jennewt on September 25, 2005)
 
Hmm i posted something before but it did not turn up.
Was saying: "These photos of overgrown larvae are beginning to be scary". It looks like its happening to a few people.
 
They are known from the wild by the way. I have seen a picture from a T. carnifex from former Yugoslavia (don't know exactly fromw here). Would be nice to see if it turns out to be able to reproduce.
 
Wow...I personally think it is quite a looker! I wonder if it will successsfully breed?
 
you seem to be dissapointed about this rare and unusual non morphing newt where as i think i would be proud
 
Very impressive looking. Do neotenic forms of this species typically grow larger than one's who naturally morph?
 
Update. In November 2005, I gave the monster larva to a friend locally. It changed rapidly after that - it got much darker in color and appeared to lose the gills. It spent some time out of the water. I assumed it had completed metamorphosis, induced by the change to a different tank setup.

To my surprise, it still has remnants of gills as of today. Either the morphing process is slow, or else it is neotenic.

Here are current photos of Gillbert (who I suspect is female):

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(Message edited by jennewt on February 08, 2006)
 
Hi Jenn, it is getting more clear that the water you use seem to create this neotene features. Your strauchii larvae also stayed longer larvae as larvae from the same clutch developed normally at a friend of yours. Now you changed this animal to a friends tank and again...
 
Well, this newt still has the same tap water source in its new home. It must be something in my pipes, or the dust in my basement
wink.gif


(Message edited by jennewt on February 09, 2006)
 
Send me some of that magic dust, Jen!

That's such a cool-looking animal. I hadn't noticed this thread before now...

Impressive breeding success!
 
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