Am I a baby newt-knapper??

[lunarisplendere]

Hello! So, my cynops orientalis that I've had for years suddenly laid eggs for the 1st time back in May and now 10 of the 12 have morphed into juveniles. (and for years I had thought I had two males... ) Anyway, the new tank is sitting right next to the parent's tank and almost all of the babies are sitting on the edge of the tank staring at their former tank and trying to get back over there. I feel like I've kidnapped them! And I didn't realize newts were so parental (or at least they seem so). I've read posts on here about parents eating their eggs and whatnot. But the daddy newt was almost always with the little larvae in the water and the mom huddled in a pile with the juveniles on the land. Sooo cute! Even now, the dad rarely leaves the side of the two remaining larvae underwater... So yeah. Here I am feeling like I've somehow stolen them away... am I alone with this feeling?

 

[Nowicki418]

Not many amphibians take care of there young. You did the right thing by separating them. Many salamanders and frogs will eat whatever they can fit into their mouths even if this includes a member of the same species.

But you say that the babies are much older now. Housing multiple newts in the same tank has been done before but I don't have any first hand experience. If you put them together you will probably have to buy a larger enclosure though.

 

[Jennewt]

It's nearly impossible to feed newly-morphed newts properly in the same tank with the adults. They need very different sizes of food. Even if the adults didn't eat the morphs, they would eat the morphs' food. You did the right thing. Good luck with the little ones!

 

[lunarisplendere]

Thanks for the reassurance.

Don't worry, that's only their temporary home. The newts just barely morphed a week ago, so they're super tiny still. I don't plan on keeping them all. I hope to find them good homes when they're bigger.

And speaking of what they eat... I've been putting the bloodworms on the bottom of the tank, but I don't ever see them walking along the bottom like their parents do to eat. They always stay closer to the surface of the water on the java moss and other land areas. I lowered the water to 3/4th of an inch. Should I maybe lower it even more so that they can walk around and keep their nose above the water at the same time?

 

[Jennewt]

Are these live bloodworms (a.k.a. blackworms), or frozen/thawed?

There are various schools of thought on the subject of raising metamorphs. This is surely the most difficult part of producing captive-bred caudates. Firebellied newts are especially difficult because of their small size and general unwillingness to enter water.

My preferred method is to keep morphs fully-terrestrial for at least a year (soil substrate and pinheads or FF as primary foods). If you choose to keep them semi-aquatic, you can try putting the food into small shallow containers within the enclosure. I don't think you can reduce the water level of the tank much more than you already have.

 

[lunarisplendere]

Ah, I meant to say blackworms, not bloodworms. They're live.

Hmm, I've never had a terrestrial tank before. How often would you need to clean a little bowl with the worms and a bit of water. Daily? I have a bowl that is a circle with a diameter of 8 inches I could use.

The only thing I'm worried about if I use a terrestrial setup is that it's really dry where I live. Would the moss/dirt dry out if I'm gone during the day? As it is, I'm already adding water to both my tanks each day.

Thanks for your help!