Alpine newt behavior change.

[marina]

Well the cold weather has just started to draw in and im wondering if this is the cause of my alpine newts lack of life recently. I have two male and up until now they had been very active swimming and wandering about. These days they spend all their time on dry land and are shoing little interst in their food so much so they are both loosing weight.

I worried would it be advisable to raise the temp of the water slightly to bring about a bit morre life or should i encourage natural behaviour.....how?

Marina

 

[kaysie]

when the environment is cool, the metabolism slows down, so the activity is less and the need for food is less.

i'm all about letting nature do its thing. after all, she's had however many millions of years to perfect her technique. but its all a matter of preference.

 

[marina]

So i should just leave them to it in your opinion??

Marina

 

[mark]

sounds like they could be getting ready to hibernate.
what is the exact temp?

Mark

 

[marina]

They are kept at average british house temp, i was told this was the right thing to do as they are from a very cold climate and dont like the heat.

This is the first year i have had them and would really value some in depth advice on what to do here.

Marina

 

[chris]

Mrina, perhaps give them a terrestrial setup.
Chris

 

[marina]

What purpose would that serve?? Plus Mine eat in the water so how would i overcome that obstacle?

Marina

 

[chris]

I was thinking that in nature, most naturally come on land for the winter. I lost 3 of mine because I tried to keep them aquatic (2 escaped and 1 drowned

).
Chris

 

[kaysie]

chris, if she doesnt lower the temperature to hibernation temps, they wont try to hibernate and wont need the land.

maybe if you offered them more of a choice., by putting in a bigger land mass. if they show the preference of being on land, move them to a land based setup for the winter.

 

[marina]

Well mine have a 60/30 set up right now most of it is land with a small pool for them to eat and swim in.

Thanks for all your help but still no-one has addressed my main worry, if they are not going to in to the water to eat and are loosing weight should i increase the heat and light cylce of their day and night??

Marina

 

[chris]

What are you trying to feed them that they are showing no interest in? This time of the year even my most finicky alpines are eating well trying to fatten up a little before hibernation. I keep my T. a. alpestris in a 20 gal tank with about 60% water, 40% land. Occasionally my most active newts will come out of the water for a day or two, then go back in, but they continue to eat when they are out of the water. If you are trying to feed them turtle pellets or some freeze dried stuff they might not be stimulated to eat it out of the water. My only real suggestion atm is to try different foods, usually small earthworms and crickets are irresistable.

 

[marina]

They are on frozen gamma foods such as bloodworm ect and occasionally i buy brine shirp but they havent really taken to these. I have occasionally tried pinheads but they havent long been morphed and im not sure they are eating them at all.

Marina

 

[chris]

So, these are young juvies that we are talking about? Well it`s normal for young juvies to prefer land over water if given the option. Give white worms or small earthworms a try, and I would continue to throw in some pinheads, they are probably eating them.
Some of the finicky animals won`t eat freeze dried foods outside of the water b/c they don`t move like an insect. The reason they eat them while in the water is b/c they can smell or taste the food.

 

[marina]

Okay shall do thankyou!!

Marina

 

[marina]

Ive moved them this afternoon in to a bigger set up with a smaller pot of water and more land mass hopefully they will both beable to move on to crickets and have more land will encourage this further, this enclosure is also light so will be slightly warmer and brighter for longer periods.

Marina