A noto can't change it's spots.... or can it??????

[william]

i purchased two pairs of notophthalmus viridescens a few weeks ago to put in an outdoor vivarium with my ambystoma opacum. i've got two pieces of interesting behaviour to report. First of all. of the four animals three were the normal colouration, with the black blotches on their bodies, one however had no black spots at all. after a few weeks outside, i've discovered that the unspotted female has grown black spots all over it's body like the other three.

the second piece of interesting info, is that in my outdoor vivarium, instead of having one pool, i sunk two plastic boxes into the ground, each box was kept exactly the same, apart from that one box has a gravel substrate and the other has a soil substrate. i put a pair of notos in each box, after a few weeks all four notos were in the gravel based box. as a further experiment, i've put all four notos into the soil based box to see if they move.

i hope this is of interest to people!

 

[TJ]

Interesting, William

Looking forward to hearing the results!

 

[william]

after one week there has been no sign of movement

 

[hayden]

Interesting William. So by no movement you mean they are staying in the soil based pool? What kind of vegetation are you using in this vivarium?

 

[alan]

Does the water freeze or is the viv protected?

 

[william]

Hayden- yeah, they haven't moved into the gravel based pond yet. As for plants, I hand a large bundle of elodea in each, and a minature water lily in each, i'll need to get some photos....

Alan- when we had that really cold spell a few weeks back the water froze to a depth of about half an inch, but there are bits of broken tiles covering some of the corners and it will take a really cold night to freeze the water under there so they always have breathing holes. the vivarium is protected by a sheet of green netting, the sort of thing you put on a greenhouse which lets the light in, but it also protects from the worst of the frosts and ice.

 

[alan]

I suspect they won't move around much in these temperatures. It may be a different story in the Spring.

Let's see some pictures then!



(Message edited by ajc on December 07, 2005)

 

[william]

patience Alan

term ends on friday so i'll get some photos then!

 

[william]

okay checked today, three are in the mud box, and one in the gravel box...

 

[hayden]

Okay William, Interesting. Looking forward to the results.

 

[william]

just thought i'd do a little update, it appears that the notos switched without rhyme nor reason throughout the year. however today after dipping in both pools i found the gravel based tub full of larvae and the soil based tub devoid of any larvae. i'm off to do further dipping now to see if i can find any larvae in the soil based tub

 

[william]

here are some (poor) piccies:

adult

I have about 35 larvae from a few days old to specimens with all four legs

 

[jennifer]

Nice babies

 

[alberto]

Bravo William!

Nice pictures!
I have some Notos that I am planing to breed this winter!

 

[mark]

Congratulations Will! Good luck raising your larvae

 

[william]

well this past month has been full of ups and downs! first i loose some of my plethodontids and my female alpestris at the start of the heat wave now i discover my ambystoma in the outdoor vivarium which i haven't seen for over half a year and discover these larvae (final total 36) and finally july dealt it's final blow with the death of one of the female notos probably due to drowning, even though they have lily pads and rocks to get onto.

it's enough to make one think about quitting the hobby